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ABSTRACT
The effect of various pretreatments on drying kinetics as well as quality parameters of selected vegetables and fruits was studied experimentally in a convective dryer. The pretreatments tested include application of pinholes and drilled holes of different diameters and densities, blanching and freezing. Potato, cassava, dragon fruit and red chilli were used as the sample drying materials. As expected, increase of the diameter and density of the holes under fixed drying conditions increased the drying rate. Samples with drilled holes showed better drying performance than those with pinholes. The improvement of the drying rate was found to be dependent on the physical properties and the initial moisture content of the material. Results show that the drying performance of the products that possess a skin of low moisture diffusivity, such as chilli, can be improved significantly by blanching and making perforations in the skin. Overall changes of color and volume shrinkage during drying of the samples with and without holes were similar. The effect of different modes of heat input, such as convection, conduction and radiation, on the drying performance of the treated samples was also experimentally investigated. On-off type controllers were used to regulate the power of the heaters and maintain the product temperature within a range of pre-set values. Convection combined with radiation displayed the highest drying rate.