Solar Valorisation of Carob Leaves (Ceratonia siliqua) Using a Solar Convective Dryer

摘要

The preservation of biological products during storage and transportation is a major issue taking into consideration theshort shelf-life of most natural foods and plants. Hot air dryingusingthermalenergy derived from the sun is the most operated technique to extend the shelf-life of plants and food materials. The investigation of this study proposes to consider solar drying as a technique of carob leaves preservation, by determining its drying kinetics and using a solar drier designed for agricultural products. The experiences were conducted under four temperatures of drying air 40, 50, 60 and 70°C and airflow of 300 m3 h–1 inside the drying chamber. Throughout the drying studies, the air-drying temperature was ranged from 26 to 39°C and the relative humidity of the ambient air was in the range of 10 to 37. Consequently, the diffusion of water inside the product was increased with the augmentation of air-drying temperature. In order to evaluate the temperature effect on the water diffusion, the activation energy value was determined for carob leaves.