PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF SOLAR DRYER OF FOR FISH/MARINE

PRODUCTS

WILFREDO B. ALGONES

A TITLE PROPOSAL SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE COLLEGE

OF ENGINEERING AND FOOD SCIENCE, CENTRAL BICOL STATE
UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT
FOR THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN
AGRICULTURAL ENGINEERING

JANUARY 2019
 Introduction

A fish is any member of a group of animals that consist of

all gillbearing aquatic craniate animals that lack limbs with

digits (Flajnik and Kasahara, 2009). Included in this definition

are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony

fish as well as various extinct related groups (Helfman et al.,

2004). Tetra-pods emerged within lobe-finned fishes, so

sadistically they are fish as well. However, traditionally fish

are rendered obsolete or paraphyletic by excluding the tetrapods

(i.e., the amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals which all

descended from within the same ancestry) (Helfman et al., 2004).

Fish is one of the protein foods that need careful handling

because fish spoils easily after capture due to the high

tropical temperature which accelerates the activities of

bacteria, enzymes and chemical oxidation of fat in the fish. The

spoilage process starts immediately after the death of fish.

Spoilage can be prevented with the use of different preservation

methods like drying.

Drying is the removal of moisture contents of fish. The

basic essence of drying is to preserve the fish for further use

or processing.
 There are two common traditional methods of fish drying

namely: solar drying and smoking. Solar drying is the oldest

method of conserving fish because it is the easiest and the

cheapest method of preserving fish. In this drying method fish

are soak in a brine solution and then spreading the fish

products on raised bamboo platforms. Some of disadvantages of

the traditional solar drying are exposure of the fish to rain

and dust, infestations of insects, and attack of animals.

To reduce the processing losses during the drying and to

retain the quality of dried fish, it is necessary to dry the

fish in a closed chamber with controlled condition. The solar

dryer for fish/marine products may be the best viable option for

drying of fish using the abundantly available free solar energy

in the country.

Evaluation of the solar dryer for fish/marine products is

necessary and essential to determine the performance of the

equipment.
Objectives of the Study

Generally, the objective of the study is to evaluate the

performance of solar dryer for fish/marine products.

Specifically, it aims to determine the:

(1) drying capacity and efficiency of the fish/marine solar

dryer.

(2) quality of the by-products of the fish/marine solar

dryer.

Significance of the Study

The study will test and evaluate the performance of the

solar dryer for fish/marine products. The results will be served

as information and basis for dried fish producers in order for

them to learn the best equipment used in producing quality dried

fish products. The output of the study will also serve as

reference for other researchers who want to design and fabricate

solar dryer for fish.

Scope and Delimitation of the study

The study will be focused primarily on the performance

evaluation of the fabricated solar dryer for fish/marine

products in terms of efficiency, capacity and quality of the by-

products of the machine.

Time and Place of the Study

The study will be conducted at Central Bicol State

University of Agriculture, San Jose, Pili, Camarines Sur from

November 2019 to March 2020.