Assessment on Hybrid Solar Dryer for an Effective Red Chili Drying Process

¹ Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Diponegoro University, Jl. Prof. Sudarto No.13, Tembalang, Semarang 50275, Central Java, Indonesia
² Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Animal Science and Agriculture, Diponegoro University, Semarang, Jawa Tengah 50275, Indonesia
³ National Institute of Technology Malang, Jl. Raya Karanglo, Km. 2, Malang 65143, Indonesia
⁴ Laboratory of Power and Energy System Simulation, National Institute of Technology Malang
⁵ Department of Agriculture Science, Postgraduate Program, University of Muhammadiyah Malang, Jl. Raya Tlogomas No. 246, Malang 65144, East Java, Indonesia
⁶ Graduate School, Darma Persada University, Jl. Taman Malaka Selatan No. 8, Special Region of Jakarta 13450, Indonesia
⁷ Department of Biological Sciences and Biotechnology, Faculty of Science, The Hashemite University, 13115, Zarqa, Jorda

^* Corresponding author: hermancrb@gmail.com

Abstract

This study aims to assess hybrid solar drying method for processing red pepper compared to sun drying and solar drying. Independently selecting heat variables of 40 °C, 50 °C, 60 °C, 70 °C, and 80 °C, the temperature profiles, drying curves, thermal efficiency and effectiveness, and energy and exergy were analyzed to meet the standardized moisture content of the product as well as other features (color, vitamin C content, and β-carotene content). It was found that the drying rate decreased when the temperature rose, while the drying chamber efficiency and drying effectiveness were inversely proportional to the duration. The collector became the most efficient at 40 °C. The drying air temperature is directly proportional to utility, energy efficiency, exergy input, exergy ouput, exergy loss, exergetic efficiency, and development potential while inversely proportional to the energy utilization ratio. Drying red pepper with a hybrid solar dryer at all observed temperatures was deemed able to meet the nationally standardized water content of ≤ 10.78 %. Processing red pepper at 80 °C resulted in the L, a, and b values of color analysis of 30.37, 27.45, and 10.63 respectively, vitamin C content of 14.79 g 100 g^–1, and β-carotene content of 4.43 mg 100 g^–1.