REPORT

ON

STUDENT INDUSTRIAL WORK EXPERIENCE SCHEME (SIWES)

CARRIED OUT

ON

DRYING PROCESSES AND METHOD

BY

NNAMDI DIVINE FAVOUR

91E/0032/AE

SUBMITTED TO THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURAL AND BIO-ENVRIONMENTAL

ENGINEERING, SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY, FEDERAL POLYTECHNIC
NEKEDE, OWERRI

IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE AWARD OF NATIONAL

DIPLOMA (ND) IN AGRICULTURAL AND BIO-ENVRIONMENTAL ENGINEERING

SEPTEMBER, 2021

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 DEDICATION

This report is dedicated to Almighty God for His infinite mercy towards the
successfully completion of my four (4) months industrial training and to my
parents and relations for their encouragement and support during this period of
attachment.

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I must thank Almighty God for His love and kindness particularly for protection,
guidance and good health He granted me from beginning of this I.T to the end,
may His name be praised forever more.

I have to express my sincere and profound gratitude to my I.T coordinator, Engr.

Ndubuisi C.O who made this work a successful one, who saw me through the
various stages this report, may the Almighty God bless and protect you.

Also, my special thanks goes to my lovely family for their prayers and supports
throughout my stay in school and to my lovely friend who supported and believed
in me for success. My prayer is that Almighty God will continue to protect and
keep you all, Amen.

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Title Page

Dedication

Acknowledgement

Table of Contents

CHAPTER ONE

Introduction

Drying and Food Preservation

CHAPTER TWO

Applications of Drying

Food

Non-food products

Sludges and fecal materials from sanitation processes

Drying Mechanism

CHAPTER THREE

Drying Methods

Sun Drying

Disadvantages of Sun Drying

Solar Drying

Direct solar dryer

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Indirect solar dryer

Hot-air dryers

Spray dryer

Tunnel dryer

Bin dryer

Rotary dryer

Fluidised-bed dryer

Osmotic Dehydration

Smoking

CHAPTER FOUR

Problems in Applying the Osmotic Dehydration Process in the Food Industry

Product Sensory Quality

Syrup Management for long application and reuse of syrup.

Conclusion

References

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 CHAPTER ONE

Introduction

Drying is a mass transfer process consisting of the removal of water or

another solvent[1] by evaporation from a solid, semi-solid or liquid. This process is

often used as a final production step before selling or packaging products. To be

considered "dried", the final product must be solid, in the form of a continuous

sheet (e.g., paper), long pieces (e.g., wood), particles (e.g., cereal grains or corn

flakes) or powder (e.g., sand, salt, washing powder, milk powder). A source

of heat and an agent to remove the vapor produced by the process are often

involved. In bioproducts like food, grains, and pharmaceuticals like vaccines, the

solvent to be removed is almost invariably water. Desiccation may

be synonymous with drying or considered an extreme form of drying.

In the most common case, a gas stream, e.g., air, applies the heat by convection

and carries away the vapor as humidity. Other possibilities are vacuum drying,

where heat is supplied by conduction or radiation (or microwaves), while the vapor

thus produced is removed by the vacuum system. Another indirect technique

is drum drying (used, for instance, for manufacturing potato flakes), where a

heated surface is used to provide the energy, and aspirators draw the vapor outside

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the room. In contrast, the mechanical extraction of the solvent, e.g., water,

by filtration or centrifugation, is not considered "drying" but rather "draining".

Drying and Food Preservation

The preservation of foods by drying is the time-honored and most common method

used by humans and the food processing industry. Dehydration (or drying) is

defined as ‘the application of heat under controlled conditions to remove the

majority of the water normally present in a food by evaporation’ (or in the case of

freeze drying by sublimation). This definition excludes other unit operations which

remove water from foods (for example mechanical separations and membrane

concentration, evaporation and baking as these normally remove much less water

than dehydration.

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 CHAPTER TWO

Applications of Drying

Food

Foods are dried to inhibit microbial development and quality decay. However, the

extent of drying depends on product end-use. Cereals and oilseeds are dried after

harvest to the moisture content that allows microbial stability during storage.

Vegetables are blanched before drying to avoid rapid darkening, and drying is not

only carried out to inhibit microbial growth, but also to avoid browning during

storage. Concerning dried fruits, the reduction of moisture acts in combination with

its acid and sugar contents to provide protection against microbial growth.

Products such as milk powder must be dried to very low moisture contents in order

to ensure flowability and avoid caking. This moisture is lower than that required to

ensure inhibition to microbial development. Other products as crackers are dried

beyond the microbial growth threshold to confer a crispy texture, which is liked by

consumers.

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 Drying of fish in Lofoten in the production of stockfish

Non-food products

Among non-food products, some of those that require considerable drying are

wood (as part of timber processing), paper, flax, and washing powder. The first

two, owing to their organic origins, may develop mold if insufficiently dried.

Another benefit of drying is a reduction in volume and weight.

Sludges and fecal materials from sanitation processes

In the area of sanitation, drying of sewage sludge from sewage treatment plants,

fecal sludge or feces collected in urine-diverting dry toilets (UDDT) is a common

method to achieve pathogen kill, as pathogens can only tolerate a certain dryness

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level. In addition, drying is required as a process step if the excreta based materials

are meant to be incinerated.

Drying Mechanism

In some products having relatively high initial moisture content, an initial linear

reduction of the average product moisture content as a function of time may be

observed for a limited time, often known as a "constant drying rate period".

Usually, in this period, it is surface moisture outside individual particles that is

being removed. The drying rate during this period is mostly dependent on the rate

of heat transfer to the material being dried. Therefore, the maximum achievable

drying rate is considered to be heat-transfer limited. If drying is continued, the

slope of the curve, the drying rate, becomes less steep (falling rate period) and

eventually tends to become nearly horizontal at very long times. The product

moisture content is then constant at the "equilibrium moisture content", where it is,

in practice, in equilibrium with the dehydrating medium. In the falling-rate period,

water migration from the product interior to the surface is mostly by molecular

diffusion, i,e. the water flux is proportional to the moisture content gradient. This

means that water moves from zones with higher moisture content to zones with

lower values, a phenomenon explained by the second law of thermodynamics. If

water removal is considerable, the products usually undergo shrinkage and

deformation, except in a well-designed freeze-drying process. The drying rate in

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the falling-rate period is controlled by the rate of removal of moisture or solvent

from the interior of the solid being dried and is referred to as being "mass-transfer

limited". This is widely noticed in hygroscopic products such as fruits and

vegetables, where drying occurs in the falling rate period with the constant drying

rate period said to be negligible.

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 CHAPTER THREE

Drying Methods

Classification of dryers according to heat mode transfer

Sun Drying

Sun drying tomatoes

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Disadvantages of Sun Drying

1. -Contaminations from the environment

2. -Product losses and contaminations by insects and birds

3. -Floor space requirements

4. -Difficulty in controlling the process

5. -Inconsistent sensory quality

Solar Drying

Direct solar dryer Indirect Solar Dryer

Direct solar dryer

Direct solar dryers expose the substance to be dehydrated to direct sunlight.

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Indirect solar dryer

Indirect driers are constructed so the sun shines upon a solar collector (a shallow

box, the insides painted black, topped with a pane of glass) heating air which then

moves upward through a stack of four to six trays loaded with produce.

Hot-air dryers

Spray dryer

A fine dispersion of pre-concentrated food (40–60% moisture) is first ‘atomized’ to

form fine droplets and then sprayed into a co- or counter-current flow of heated air

at 150–300ºC in a large drying chamber.

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Tunnel dryer

Layers of food are dried on trays, which are stacked on trucks programmed to

move semi continuously through an insulated tunnel. Able to dry large quantities

of food in a relatively short time However, the method has now been largely

superseded by conveyor drying and fluidized bed drying as a result of their higher

energy efficiency, reduced labor costs and better product quality.

Bin dryer

Bin dryers are large, cylindrical or rectangular containers fitted with a mesh base.

Hot air passes up through a bed of food at relatively low velocities

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Rotary dryer

The food stuff is contained in a horizontal cylinder through which it travels.

Heated either by air flow through the cylinder or by conduction of heat from the

cylinder walls.

Fluidised-bed dryer

Warm air is blown upwards directly underneath the food, causing it to flow and

remain separated. This procedure is suitable for small items.

Osmotic Dehydration

This dehydration process generally does not produce a product of low moisture

content that can be considered shelf stable. Need further processing (generally by

air, freeze-, or vacuum-drying methods) to obtain a shelf-stable product, or the

dehydration process could be used as a pretreatment for canning, freezing, and

minimal processing. Osmotic dehydration is the process of water removal by

immersion of water-containing cellular solid in a concentrated aqueous solution.

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 Water and solutes transfer in osmotic process

Smoking

One of the most ancient food preservation processes, and in some communities one

of the most important. The use of wood smoke to preserve foods is nearly as old as

open-air drying. The heat associated with the generation of smoke also causes a

drying effect. Smoking has been mainly used with meat and fish.

The main purposes of smoking are:

1. -It imparts desirable flavours and colours to the foods.

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2. -Some of the compounds formed during smoking have a preservative effect

(bactericidal and antioxidant) due to the presence of a number of

compounds.

3. In many cases, smoking is considered as a pre-treatment rather than a drying

process.

4. -Smoke is effective in preventing lipid oxidation in meat and fish products.

5. -Smoke contains phenolic compounds, acids, and carbonyls, and the smoky

flavour is primarily due to the volatile phenolic compounds.

6. -Wood smoke is extremely complex and more than 400 volatiles have been

identified.

7. -Wood smoke contains nitrogen oxides which are responsible for the

characteristic colour of smoked foods, whereas polycyclic aromatic

hydrocarbon components and phenolic compounds contribute to its unique

taste. These three chemicals are also most controversial from a health

perspective.

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 CHAPTER FOUR

Problems in Applying the Osmotic Dehydration Process in the Food Industry

Product Sensory Quality

1. Salty products when uses salt.

2. Sweet products when uses sugar.

3. Loss of acidity.

4. Controlling solute diffusion and optimised process may be useful to

overcome this problem

Syrup Management for long application and reuse of syrup.

1. Syrup recycling

2. Solute addition

3. Syrup composition and concentration

4. Reuse of syrup

5. Syrup disposal

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Conclusion

Drying is another common method of meat preservation. Drying removes moisture

from meat products so that microorganisms cannot grow. Dry sausages, freeze-

dried meats, and jerky products are all examples of dried meats capable of being

stored at room temperature without rapid spoilage.

Proper drying is therefore ensured by adjusting air circulation, temperature, and

humidity. Drying procedures differ for long and short macaroni. In the continuous

process, after a first hour in which a crust is formed to protect against mold

infection, slow drying is practiced.

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References

Daly-Koziel, Kathy and Fudeko Maruyama. Drying Food at Home. University of

Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service. H.E.3-501. 1997. Accessed

January 2018 at

https://johnson.ca.uky.edu/files/drying_food_at_home_0.pdf

Drying - definition of drying by the Free Online Dictionary, Thesaurus and

Encyclopedia". Farlex. Retrieved 23 April 2011.

Mosbacher, Sue. UCCE Central Sierra Program Representative. Master Food

Preservers & Master Gardeners. Drying Fruits and Vegetables. PowerPoint

Presentation. Slide 5. Accessed January 2018 at

https://ucanr.edu/sites/cottagefoods/files/209273.pdf

Onwude, Daniel I.; Hashim, Norhashila; Janius, Rimfiel B.; Nawi, Nazmi Mat;

Abdan, Khalina (2016-02-04). "Modeling the thin-layer drying of fruits and

vegetables: A review" (PDF). Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and

Food Safety. 15 (3): 599–618. doi:10.1111/1541-4337.12196.

Strande, L., Ronteltap, M., Brdjanovic, D. (eds.) (2014). Faecal Sludge

Management (FSM) book - Systems Approach for Implementation and

Operation Archived 2017-10-14 at the Wayback Machine. IWA Publishing,

UK (ISBN 9781780404738).
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