Enhancing drying conditions of dwarf Cavendish and Fijian vudi bananas in a developed indirect active solar heating dryer through insulator installation

Drying, a heat-mass transfer process of removing water from crops, is a key preservation step to extend the crop’s shelf life and avoid food losses. This article presents improvements in the performance of banana (Musa spp.) drying in a developed Indirect Active Solar Heating Dryer (IASHD). The IASHD’s dimensions were 1.04 m × 0.62 m × 0.57 m, connected to a flat-plate collector, while unsaturated air was supplied through a battery-powered air blower. This initiative covered insulators’ installation of elastomer foamed insulators on the hot air-carrying copper pipes and the covering of the dryer’s interior with polynum thermal reflective blankets. 100 kg each of vudi (S1) and dwarf Cavendish (S2) bananas were peeled, sliced lengthwise, diagonally, and crosswise at 3–5 mm thickness. Samples were weighed with a KO-BN balance before being loaded inside IASHD at fifty slices per tray without overlapping. Drying temperatures and the air humidity were measured using Temperature/ Humidity Meter (MT-4616), whereas moisture contents (MC) were determined through the oven-dry method. The trend of the maximum drying temperatures recorded was insulated IASHD (60–75oC) > non-insulated IASHD (50–60oC) > the sun drying temperatures, 30–42oC respectively. The MC removal was 80 to 10% within 8-15 h of drying