NAME: Tuiza, Roma Felice D.

Date Performed: September 25, 2019

SAIS no.: 10058564 Date Submitted: October 02, 2019

Exercise No. 5
Sample Drying

I. MATERIALS AND METHODS

In this laboratory exercise, only a few materials were used to perform the sample drying. In the many
types of dryers presented in the lecture class, two types of dryer are chosen to desiccate the samples.

The following are the list of materials used in the laboratory:

 Laboratory dryer
 Air oven
 Analytical Balance
 Knife
 Cutting Board
 Tin Can
 Tray
 Safety gloves
 Banana samples

Before getting the samples dried, we first cut the banana samples into batches of thin-sliced (3-4 mm) and
thick sliced (about 8mm). The upper part and the lower part of the banana, separated from the fixed-sliced
samples, is weighed until it reaches 25 g. This samples are dried by using the oven-drying method. The
initial weight was recorded and the final weight were observed for 6 days and then recorded.

The batches of thin-sliced and thick-sliced were placed in the laboratory dryer. The samples were checked
for every 15 minutes in a span of 75 minutes. The changes in weight were recorded in the analytical
balance upon checking.

II. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Since every crop contains a certain amount of water (moisture percentage), drying plays an important
role to preserve the shelf-life and the quality of the crop by reducing its moisture content until it can be
stored properly. (Folnovic, n.d.) Drying involves lessening the water content by using heat as its medium.
There are several drying methods used such as the traditional method in which the sample grains are
placed under the sun for a couple of days, and also the use of various dryers such as the cabinet dryer,
tunnel dryer, spray dryer, drum dryer, fluidized bed dryer and the freeze dryer.

In this exercise, some important concepts such as moisture content, moisture reduction rate and drying
rate. Through the method of oven drying, the initial moisture content (wet-basis) of 62.26% on average
was determined by using the initial and final weight:

𝑊𝑖 − 𝑊𝑓
%𝑀𝑜𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝐶𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑤𝑏 = 𝑥100
𝑊𝑖

By using the initial moisture content, the moisture content and the weight of water left was computed for
the thin and thick-sliced bananas for every 15 minutes. It can be observed that as time passes, the weight
of the samples are reduced thus implying significant amount of water lost wherein the weight difference in
thick-sliced is 50.6g and 44.1g for the thin-sliced. The moisture content and the amount of water left also
decreases as it loses amounts of water.
 To compute for the final moisture content, we used the initial moisture content of 62.26% and for the
weight of the water left, the total weight will be multiplied by the corresponding moisture content. The
moisture content has decreased by 19.93% for thin sliced and 11.53% for the thick-sliced banana
samples.

The drying rate and the moisture reduction rate was computed by the formulas as follows:
𝑀𝐶% 𝑎𝑡 𝑇𝑖𝑚𝑒 1 − 𝑀𝐶% 𝑎𝑡 𝑇𝑖𝑚𝑒 2
𝐷𝑟𝑦𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑅𝑎𝑡𝑒 =
𝑑𝑟𝑦𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 (ℎ𝑟)

𝑊𝑒𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡(𝑔)𝑎𝑡 𝑇𝑖𝑚𝑒 1 − 𝑊𝑒𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 (𝑔)𝑎𝑡 𝑇𝑖𝑚𝑒 2

𝑀𝑜𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑅𝑒𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 =
𝑑𝑟𝑦𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 (ℎ𝑟)
The graphs can be seen in Figure 1.1 and 1.2 where we can see that there is the
highest moisture reduction rate at 15 minutes interval and also both graph shows as that the
moisture content and the rate of drying reduces over time.

III. Conclusion
Drying is a very important in the processing of crop since it deals with the perishability of its shelf-life
and is used to determine when a product is safe for storage. Moisture content, the moisture reduction rate
and the drying rate must be computed to know the level in which the product can be stored.

In addition to this, there are several methods that can be used in drying that varies in their
characteristic but offer same function in drying.

IV. Reference/s
Folnovic, T. (n.d.). Drying as a Key Process in Post-Harvest Technology. Retrieved from
https://blog.agrivi.com/post/drying-as-a-key-process-in-post-harvest-technology.

V. Appendix

Table 1. Data for moisture content determination

Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 3 Average

Weight of Tin Can 9.6 10.2 9.6 9.8

Initial weight of sample 25.1 25.4 25.3 25.27

Final weight of tin can + sample 19.26 19.77 19.04 19.36

Final weight of sample 9.66 9.57 9.44 9.56

MC(wb) 61.51 62.57 62.69 62.26

Table 2. Weight of sample every 15 minutes.
Time Thin samples, g Thick samples, g
0 127.7 216.1
15 112.9 201.2
30 102.1 189.2
45 94.7 178.7
60 88.8 171.7
75 83.6 165.5

Table 3. Moisture Content

Weight of Water Lost, g Weight of Water Left, g Moisture Content, %
Time
Thin Thick Thin Thick Thin Thick
0 0 0 79.5 134.54 62.26 62.26
15 14.8 14.9 64.70 119.65 57.31 59.47
30 10.8 12 53.90 107.65 52.79 56.90
45 7.4 10.5 46.50 97.15 49.10 54.37
60 5.9 7 40.60 90.15 45.71 52.51
75 5.2 6.2 35.4 83.95 42.33 50.73

Table 4. Moisture Reduction Rate and Drying Rate

Moisture Reduction Rate, g/ hr Drying Rate, %MC/hr
Thin Thick Thin Thick
0 0 0 0 0
15 59.2 59.6 19.8 11.16
30 43.2 48 18.08 10.28
45 29.6 42 14.76 10.12
60 23.6 28 13.56 8.64
75 20.8 24.8 13.52 7.12
Figure 1.1 Moisture Reduction Rate, g/ hr

Moisture Reduction Rate

140

120

100

80

60

40

20

0
0 15 30 45 60 70
Thin Thick

Figure 1.2 Drying Rate, %MC/hr

Drying Rate
35

30

25

20

15

10

0
0 15 30 45 60 75

Thin Thick