Development of A Dual-Fired Dryer for Augmentation of Fish Preservation

Abstract

Food serves as one of the basic requirements for the well-being of every living being, but improper handling during post-harvesting stage to cater for the rainy day in the midst of insufficient energy source, is one of the factors responsible for food insecurity, especially in the developing countries. This study focused on the construction and evaluation of an adaptable dual-fired fish dryer. The dryer, designed to reduce moisture content of fish from 80% to 8% for proper product shelf life, has a rated drying capacity of 12 kg of fish per period of 4 hours per batch, while working on either electricity or natural gas as source of heat energy. Locally available materials were used in the construction of the device. The rig developed cost one hundred and forty-eight thousand eight hundred and twenty Naira (N148, 820.00). It was evaluated using salmon fish. The dryer is more efficient when electrically fired than when gas-fired and has the maximum drying and thermal efficiencies of 84.67 % and 92.93 % when operated at 85^oC while the corresponding values when operated on gas are 36% and 62.65% respectively.

Keywords: Food insecurity, Fish, dryer, Performance evaluation, Preservation, Income