Solar Energy 233 (2022) 221–229

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Solar Energy
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Evaluation of operational parameters for drying shrimps in a cabinet

hybrid dryer
Ehsan Abedini a, *, Hamed Hajebzadeh a, Mohammad Ali Mirzai a, Amir Arsalan Alahdadi a,
Hossein Mir Ahmadi a, Mohammad Amin Salehi a, Mostafa Zakeri b
a
Mechanical Engineering Department, University of Hormozgan, Bandar Abbas, Iran
b
Mechanical Engineering Department, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: This paper presents the design and performance evaluation of a cabinet hybrid shrimp dryer. The required energy
Dried shrimp of the hybrid dryer is provided through solar and an auxiliary infrared source by the solar collector and drying
Hybrid dryer chamber. Three types of pre-treatments and four drying modes are applied in the hybrid dryer. The results of
Solar energy
different cases are presented, compared, and evaluated in terms of drying time, amount of received energy,
Infrared source
drying efficiency, and appearance of dried shrimp meat. The results reveal that using 2% (w/v) water-salt so­
Color evaluation
lution pre-treatment and hybrid drying without shade provide the best drying process and appearance of dried
shrimp meat. Also, to use the dryer in the optimal condition with the highest mass of shrimp and dryer efficiency,
the dryer capacity is determined. According to the results, the maximum capacity of the dryer is 2500 g, which
has an efficiency of 16.37% in this capacity. In addition, the effect of using the infrared lamp as an auxiliary
source on the drying process and the final quality of dried shrimp are investigated.

1. Introduction
The high moisture content of shrimp and their high protein content
make them prone to rapid spoilage. Shrimp start to spoil immediately
after capturing unless they are adequately preserved (Niamnuy et al.,
2008). Keeping in low-temperature places is one of the suitable methods
of preserving shrimp, which requires continuous electrical power. This
method has limitations in areas where electricity generation and high
consumption are challenging and costly (Srinivasan and Muthukumar,
2021; Srinivasan et al., 2021).
Drying is one of the best choices to preserve a wide range of food
products, especially shrimp. Drying leads to moisture loss, thus pre­
venting microbial growth, slowing down enzymatic and autolytic
chemical reactions that preserve the health and quality of shrimp meat
against spoilage (Duan et al., 2004; Naidu et al., 2016; Oosterveer,
2006).
Dried marine products have always been one of the most popular
foods in restaurants all around the world. In the south of Iran, dried
shrimp meat has a proper share in daily meals as one of the significant
protein sources. Dried shrimp meat can be used in different forms to
flavor various foods, salads, and sauces. It also can be used as nuts. Dried
shrimp meat provides some essential vitamins and minerals that make
up a healthy diet (Delgado et al., 2021; Sriket et al., 2007).
Studies have shown that solar heating systems are suitable choice to
dry products in an acceptable period with appropriate quality. Solar
dryers have two significant advantages over other dryers in economic
aspects due to their cheapness to buy and free energy source to use
(Jairaj et al., 2009; Mohana et al., 2020). From a systematic point of
view, solar dryers are divided into natural and forced convection cate­
gories (Ekka et al., 2021; Hidalgo et al., 2021).
Performance investigation of a solar tunnel dryer to dry marine
products was done using forced convection by Bala and Mondol (Bala
and Mondol, 2001). The hot air was supplied directly through solar
collector into the drying tunnel utilizing four D.C. fans. It took five days
to reduce the moisture content of products from 67 to 17% (w.b.) in the
solar dryer. Niamnuy et al. (Niamnuy et al., 2007) investigated the ef­
fects of shrimp size, the salt solution concentration, and boiling time on
the drying kinetics and shrimp meat quality. The results showed that the
2% (w/v) salt solution concentration and 7 min boiling time used to dry
small shrimp provide the best quality. Reza et al. (Reza et al., 2009)
developed a model using a Hohenheim-type solar tunnel dryer to dry
various fish and shrimp species in high quality. The drying process was

* Corresponding author at: Mechanical Engineering Department, University of Hormozgan, P.O. Box: 3995, Bandar Abbas, Iran.
E-mail address: Abedini@hormozgan.ac.ir (E. Abedini).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2022.01.045
Received 26 October 2021; Received in revised form 12 January 2022; Accepted 17 January 2022
Available online 23 January 2022
0038-092X/© 2022 International Solar Energy Society. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
E. Abedini et al.
performed at the temperature ranges of 45–50 ◦ C and 50–55 ◦ C and after
36 and 32 h, the moisture content measured 16%, respectively. Dried
products at 45–50 ◦ C were more suitable based on flavor, color, and
texture. Oparaku and Ojike (Oparaku and Ojike, 2013) determined the
drying rate dependency of marine products to brining and spicing with
ginger or garlic in a solar dryer. The results showed that the constant of
drying rate reach the highest value when the brining process was used.
Musembi et al. (Musembi et al., 2016) carried out a study to determine
the performance efficiency of an indirect solar dryer that was designed
based on natural convection. The apparatus took 9 h to dry products to
the final moisture content of 8.12% with an efficiency of 18%. Akonor
et al. (Akonor et al., 2016) conducted the variation of shrimp physical
and nutritional properties when the utilized drying methods are solar
and air-oven dryer. The results showed that the solar dryer had a faster
performance in removing the moisture from products, but the protein
content of dried shrimp was in a similar range for both methods. Arun
et al. (Arun et al., 2020) tried to assess the influence of a tray-sequencing
pattern on the drying behavior at different combinations of flake
thickness, multi-tray spacing, tray mesh size, and mass flow rate in the
forced convection solar cabinet dryer.
On the other hand, the lack of permanent access to proper solar
energy and the variable intensity of solar radiation during the day led
researchers to use an auxiliary heating system in hybrid dryers.
Furthermore, adding an auxiliary heating system to hybrid dryers can
enhance the quality of dried products, decreasing the drying time and
increasing the performance of dryer. The auxiliary source can be chosen
in a wide range of systems such as an electrical heater, gas and biomass
burner, Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) heater, infrared lamp, and heat
exchangers (Al-Kayiem and Gitan, 2021; Hawa et al., 2021; Lamrani
et al., 2021; Sekhar et al., 2021; Singh and Gaur, 2021).
Amer et al. (Amer et al., 2010) used an auxiliary electric heater to
design and manufacture a hybrid dryer with a hot water storage system.
The hot water storage system during sunny hours could raise the water
temperature by about 15 ◦ C. An electric heater is also used to keep the
water temperature at an acceptable level during low sunshine hours and
nights. The system dried products in sunny day from moisture content of
82% (w.b.) to 18% (w.b.) in 8 h, where in open sun drying method the
final moisture of content reached 62% (w.b.) in the same period. Lopez-
Vidana et al. (López-Vidaña et al., 2013) presented an evaluation of a
hybrid drying system where LPG heater was used as an auxiliary source.
The hybrid dryer efficiency was not different from the LPG drying sys­
tem, but the 20% saving of fuel consumption without losing the quality
of dried products was obtained. Hubackova et al. (Hubackova et al.,
2014) presented the comparison of the drying process of marine prod­
ucts in natural convection solar drying system against conventional
drying in an electric oven. The efficiency of the solar dryer was obtained
at about 12% with a mean temperature of 55.6 ◦ C. The results showed
that the modified Page model provides better agreement in the electric
oven drying system, but the solar drying system is considered an
acceptable method in this field, too. Motevali et al. (Motevali et al.,
2014) compared energy parameters in various dryers including
convective, infrared, convective–infrared, microwave, micro­
wave–convective, microwave–vacuum, vacuum, and hybrid photo­
voltaic–thermal solar (with/without heat pump). The results showed in
the infrared and hybrid infrared–convective dryers increasing radiation
lead to the increment of the drying efficiency. Aktas et al. (Aktaş et al.,
2016) added solar air collector and air-to-air heat recovery unit to the
infrared dryer to reduce specific energy consumption. They analyzed the
dryer and concluded that a combination of solar energy, infrared energy,
and heat recovery is efficient in food processing. Nabnean et al. (Nab­
nean et al., 2016) used water as a thermal energy storage material in a
hybrid dryer system in order of keeping the dryer temperature above
50 ◦ C when reducing the amount of radiation, especially at night. This
study showed that a noticeable decrement in drying time would be ob­
tained in the hybrid dryer in comparison to the natural sun drying.
Daghigh and Shafieian (Daghigh and Shafieian, 2016) presented a heat
222
Solar Energy 233 (2022) 221–229
pipe solar dryer’s design, manufacture, and test with a heat recovery
system. This study used water as a working and recovery fluid, and the
air was used as an intermediate fluid. The collector’s maximum outlet
temperature and exergetic efficiency of the system were obtained at
about 71 ◦ C and 12%, respectively. Anum et al. (Anum et al., 2017)
conducted a study on a hybrid solar dryer. The dryer required energy
was supplied by the sun when the radiation level is appropriate and by a
backup gas burner when the amount of radiation is low or at night. A
considerable improvement in the dryer performance and efficiency was
obtained when the gas burner was used. Kuan et al. (Kuan et al., 2019)
presented a numerical model to predict the energy performance of a heat
pump assisted solar dryer under continental climates. The results
showed conventional solar dryer is not suitable for continental climatic
conditions and assisted heat pump solar dryer is more energy efficient.
Murali et al. (Murali et al., 2020) presented the performance evaluation
of the solar-LPG system for shrimp drying. Solar and LPG water heater
auxiliary systems supplied about 74% and 26% of required energy,
respectively, to decrease shrimp moisture content from 76.71% (w.b.) to
15.38% (w.b.) in six hours. The Design and manufacture of a heater with
a tube-type absorber plate integrated with a drying chamber were car­
ried out by Sozen et al. (Sözen et al., 2021). The main goal of this study
was to increase the performance of the solar dryer cost-effectively.
Considerable efficiency improvement and drying time decrement were
the result of using aluminum wool inside the tubes of the dryer.
Due to the difference between marine products in terms of moisture
and susceptibility to spoilage with other products (such as vegetables,
fruits, etc.), the design of dryers with the conditions of these products
has particular importance. In this paper, the design and performance
evaluation of a cabinet hybrid shrimp dryer is conducted in Bandar
Abbas city’s hot and humid climate. The main parts of a hybrid drying
system are solar collector, flow channels, drying chamber, and infrared
source as an auxiliary source. Different types of pre-treatments and
drying modes are applied to compare and evaluate drying time, the
amount of received energy, the drying efficiency, and finally, the
appearance color of the dried shrimp.
Câu này trong bài sấy sâm
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Dryer description
The schematic diagram of the hybrid drying system consisting of a
solar collector, four flow channels, a drying chamber, and an infrared
source is presented in Fig. 1. The solar collector is covered with glass to
absorb solar energy, where the solar collector walls and flow channels
are insulated to avoid wasting energy. There is a black corrugated plate
in the middle plane of the solar collector to increase absorptivity and
increase air temperature by passing above and below it. The collector’s
height, width, and depth are 16 cm, 100 cm, and 120 cm, respectively,
which is inclined at an angle of 20◦ .
Four flow channels connect the collector outlet to different depths of
the drying chamber to have uniform air flow over shrimp on the tray.
Also, a divider box at the bottom of the chamber is used to distribute the
air in the chamber properly. The drying chamber consists of insulated
walls, a glass-covered gable, two outlet gates, a divider box, a tray on a
load cell, and an infrared source. The height of the drying chamber, the
horizontal cross-section width, and the depth of the drying chamber are
60 cm, 60 cm, and 100 cm, respectively, where the gable is inclined at an
angle of 60◦ with the length of 60 cm. The tray is located at a height of
30 cm from the bottom of the drying chamber, and the 250 W infrared
lamp (with at least 90% thermal efficiency) is located on top of the tray.
2.2. Experimental procedure
Pre-treatment has a significant effect on the drying process and the
quality of dried marine products (especially dried shrimp) and their
shelf life after drying to consumption. Based on previous studies, three
E. Abedini et al.
Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of the hybrid drying system.
types of pre-treatments are considered for shrimp, which are:
• Without the pre-treatment
• The pre-treatment with boiling in pure water with a boiling time of 7
min
• The pre-treatment with boiling in 2% (w/v) water-salt solution with
a boiling time of 7 min (Nguyen et al., 2019; Niamnuy et al., 2007)
• For the above pre-treatments, four drying modes are considered,
which are:
• Solar drying with shade: the collector is exposed to the sunlight, but
the drying chamber is covered.
• Solar drying without shade: the collector and drying chamber are
exposed to the sunlight.
• Hybrid drying with shade: the collector is exposed to the sunlight,
but the drying chamber is covered and exposed to the auxiliary
infrared source.
• Hybrid drying without shade: the collector and drying chamber are
exposed to the sunlight, and the auxiliary infrared source is used, too.
Therefore, to evaluate the dryer’s performance, three types of pre-
treatments and four drying modes are needed, which requires at least
12 experiments. It should be pointed out that the experiments of the
solar drying with shade for all three types of pre-treatments were
declassified because due to insufficient supplied energy, they were very
time-consuming, and dried shrimp have no appropriate quality. Finally,
chosen experiments (nine cases) were considered as follow:
• Case 1: solar drying without shade, without pre-treatment
• Case 2: solar drying without shade, pre-treatment with boiling in
pure water with a boiling time of 7 min
• Case 3: solar drying without shade, pre-treatment with boiling in 2%
(w/v) water-salt solution with a boiling time of 7 min
• Case 4: hybrid drying with shade, without pre-treatment
223
Solar Energy 233 (2022) 221–229
• Case 5: hybrid drying with shade, pre-treatment with boiling in pure
water with a boiling time of 7 min
• Case 6: hybrid drying with shade, pre-treatment with boiling in 2%
(w/v) water-salt solution with a boiling time of 7 min
• Case 7: hybrid drying without shade, without pre-treatment
• Case 8: hybrid drying without shade, pre-treatment with boiling in
pure water with a boiling time of 7 min
• Case 9: hybrid drying without shade, pre-treatment with boiling in
2% (w/v) water-salt solution with a boiling time of 7 min
Every nine experiments started at 10:00 a.m., where the temperature
and product mass measurements were performed at 10 s intervals. A
load cell under the tray was used to measure the instantaneous mass of
shrimp samples. Also, solar radiation measurements were conducted at
30 min intervals. Drying experiments were stopped when the required
final moisture content value of the samples was attained.
2.3. Sample preparation
In this study, fresh marine shrimp were purchased from the Bandar
Abbas fish market. The shrimp were transferred to the laboratory in an
insulated icebox. The shrimp heads were removed and discarded, and
then the shrimp were cleaned by washing in potable water and finally
stored before the drying process. The shrimp used in the experiments
were in the medium size (335 shrimp/kg) (Devahastin et al., 2006),
which have an initial moisture content of 75% (w.b.).
2.4. Efficiency calculation
This research involves experiments with different pre-treatments and
drying modes that should be compared with each other based on the
dryer efficiency. The dryer efficiency has defined the ratio of the output
energy from the drying chamber to the total input energy to the dryer
(Eltawil et al., 2018).
E. Abedini et al.
Eout
ηdryer = (1)
Ein,total
The output energy from the drying chamber is the energy of removed
moisture from the shrimp during drying. The total input energy to the
dryer includes the absorbed solar radiation by the collector and the
drying chamber, and the infrared source. Therefore the dryer efficiency
can be expressed as following (da Silva et al., 2020; Prasad et al., 2006):
MW Lv
ηdryer = (2)
(ITd Ad + ITc Ac + Ein,Aux ) × t
Where Lv is the latent heat of vaporization of water (J/kg), ITd and ITc are
the solar radiation (W/m2) captured by the drying chamber and the
collector respectively, Ein,aux is the energy consumption of the infrared
source (W), t is the time (s), Ad and Ac are the surface area of the drying
chamber and the collector exposed to the solar radiation (m2), respec­
tively. Mw is the total amount of removed moisture from the shrimp
during drying process (kg) that can be calculated from the following
equation (Akpinar, 2006):
(Mi − Mf )
MW = Mp (3)
(100 − Mf )
In the above equation, Mp is the total mass of shrimp (kg), Mi and Mf
are the initial and final moisture content of shrimp in w.b. (%),
respectively.
The uncertainty analysis of the dryer efficiency can be determined
from the measured parameters as follow (Nguyen et al., 2019):
√̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅
)2̅
∑n (
Uη =
∂η
U (4)
i=1
∂xi i
Where Uη is the uncertainty in the calculated dryer efficiency, and Ui is
the uncertainty in the measured quantity xi.
2.5. Climate description
Bandar Abbas city as the capital of Hormozgan Province is located on
the south of Iran, in the Persian Gulf (27.18◦ N, 56.26◦ E). The average
maximum and minimum ambient temperatures of summer in Bandar
Abbas are 39.8 ◦ C and 31 ◦ C, respectively. Also, the average maximum
and minimum ambient temperatures of winter in Bandar Abbas are
24.7 ◦ C and 13.3 ◦ C, respectively, while the average relative humidity
over the year is 65% (Hormozgan Meteorological Administration,
2020).
2.6. Color test of dried shrimp
Color is one of the most important parameters in measuring the
quality of dried shrimp meat. The color test is used to investigate and
compare the color of dried shrimp meat in different cases. The tests are
done using a CR-400 Minolta tristimulus color meter, and three
dimensionless values a*, b*, and L* are extracted in the CIE color scale
(The International Commission on Illumination abbreviated as CIE from
its French title Commission internationale de l’éclairage) (Niamnuy
et al., 2008).
a* represents the redness or greenness, if a* is positive, the sample is
more red (or less green), and if a* is negative, it would be more green (or
less red). b* means the blueness or yellowness; if b* is positive, the
sample is more yellow (or less blue), and if negative, it would be more
blue (or less yellow). L* shows the lightness; if L* is positive, the sample
is lighter than the standard, and if negative, it would be darker than the
standard (Alizadeh et al., 2019; Atalay, 2020).
By having these parameters, and parameters a0*, b0* and L0* (values
for raw samples of the shrimp) and using Eq. (5), the dimensionless
value ΔE can be calculated, which represents the net change of the
product color compared to the initial state (Alizadeh et al., 2019; Atalay,
224
Solar Energy 233 (2022) 221–229
2020).
1
ΔE = [(a* − a*0 ) + (b* − b*0 ) + (L* − L*0 ) ] (5)
2 2 2 2
2.7. Specifications of measuring equipment
DHT22 capacitive sensors are used to measure temperature and
relative humidity during the drying process. These sensors can measure
temperature from − 40 to +80 ◦ C and measure the percentage of relative
humidity in the range of 0% to 100%. These sensors have a maximum
measurement error of ±0.5 ◦ C for temperature and a maximum mea­
surement error of ±5% for relative humidity. Also, the response time of
these sensors to changes is two seconds, which is suitable for drying
operations. Four DHT22 sensors are contrived to measure required data
that are located at the solar collector inlet and outlet, inside and outlet of
the drying chamber.
TES-1333 solar power meter is employed to measure the intensity of
solar radiation during the drying process. The solar power meter has a
resolution of 0.1 W/m2 with an accuracy of ±10 W/m2 or 5%. The
operating temperature and humidity of the solar power meter are in the
range of 0 to +50 ◦ C, and below 80% RH, respectively.
Zemic L6D C3 load cell is used to measure the instantaneous mass of
shrimp and thus calculate their moisture. The load cell is located under
the tray and calibrated with the mass of the tray. The load cell can
measure shrimp mass up to 5 kg with a maximum combined error of
±0.02%, suitable for the drying operations.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Energy and efficiency
The drying time of shrimp in the dryer chamber in different cases are
presented in Fig. 2. It should be noted that the initial mass and initial
moisture content of all samples are considered equal to 300 g and 75%,
respectively, and the final moisture content of all cases reported is 15%.
According to the results, cases 1 and 4 with more than seven hours have
the longest drying time. On the other hand, cases 8 and 9, with an
approximate time of three hours, have the shortest drying time among
the studied cases.
Fig. 3 compares the amount of energy received from the infrared and
solar sources in different cases. Since the first three cases are solar
drying, the infrared auxiliary source is not used. Given that the power
output of the infrared source is constant, the amount of energy used by
the auxiliary infrared source is directly related to the usage time.
Therefore, case 4 has the longest drying time among cases, has the
highest energy received through the infrared source. Similarly, cases 8
and 9 have the shortest drying time and have the lowest energy received
through the infrared source.
Unlike the amount of energy received from an infrared source, which
was only a function of time, the amount of energy received through the
sun functions time, the intensity of solar radiation, and the surface
exposed to solar energy. From the comparison of the results in Fig. 3, it
can be seen that despite that cases 8 and 9 have received the solar energy
in lesser time, but because cases 5 and 6 have been exposed to solar
energy for a longer time with a lower surface, have the lowest amount of
energy received from the sun.
The total input energy to the dryer in Fig. 3 equals the sum of the
infrared and solar energy sources. Considering that case 5 receives less
solar energy (because the surface of the dryer chamber is covered), and
on the other hand, the difference in the energy received from the
infrared source of this case is less than 1 MJ compared to cases 8 and 9,
the total amount of energy case 5 receives less than other cases.
Fig. 4 presents the drying efficiency and its uncertainty in different
cases. Since the initial weight, initial and final moisture content of all
samples are equal, as a result, the amount of energy output from the
E. Abedini et al. Solar Energy 233 (2022) 221–229

28800

7h 8min 7h 12min
25200

21600

5h 6min
Time (sec) 18000 4h 45min
4h 24min 4h 20min
3h 54min
14400

3h 0min 3h 1min
10800

7200

3600

0 0 9

Case 1 Case 2 Case 3 Case 4 Case 5 Case 6 Case 7 Case 8 Case 9

Fig. 2. Comparison of drying times in different cases.

40
35.83
35.83

Infrared Source Input Energy

Solar Input Energy

31.41
Total Input Energy
30.48

30

26.82
25.53
25.53
23.99
23.99

24.00
Energy (MJ)

20.59

19.61
19.41
18.77

20

16.89
16.69

16.71
15.26

10
6.48

4.59
3.90
3.51

2.70

2.72
0.00

0.00
0.00

0 0 9

Case 1 Case 2 Case 3 Case 4 Case 5 Case 6 Case 7 Case 8 Case 9

Fig. 3. Comparison of energy received from the infrared and solar sources, and total input energy in different cases.

dryer is equal in all cases, which is 0.551 MJ. Consequently, a case with Also, with increasing the initial mass of shrimp, a significant increase in
less total input energy (total energy received from the infrared and solar the dryer efficiency was achieved. As the mass of shrimp increased to
sources) will have higher efficiency. In this study, cases 5, 8, and 9 have 2500 g, the drying time and dryer efficiency increased, too, but the tray
higher efficiency, respectively. Also, the maximum calculation error is capacity reached its maximum. Consequently, using the apparatus with
0.1705%, which belongs to the case 5. an initial mass of 2500 g is the optimal condition of the dryer, which
By reviewing Eq. (3), it can be seen that the initial mass of shrimp is provides higher efficiency and maximum dried meat. Uncertainty
one of the most influential parameters in dryer efficiency. Due to per­ analysis of the dryer efficiency shows a maximum error of 1.025% in the
forming experiments at a capacity lower than the nominal capacity of optimal condition of the dryer.
the dryer, the dryer efficiency is obtained at a low limit (Musembi et al.,
2016). 3.3. Color test of dried shrimp

3.2. Dryer capacity determination In this study, four dried shrimp samples for each of the nine cases and
four raw shrimp samples (40 samples in total) were transferred to the
The dryer capacity must be determined according to the optimal laboratory to measure the color quality of the samples.
condition with the highest mass of shrimp and dryer efficiency. Exper­ Table 2 depicts the results of the color test of dried shrimp samples.
iments are performed with different masses of fresh shrimp to determine According to the extracted values, the color of dried shrimp samples in
the capacity of the dryer. Table 1 summarizes the results of the dryer cases 6 and 9 (hybrid drying method with shade and without shade with
capacity determination experiments. pre-treatment of boiling in 2% (w/v) water-salt solution, respectively)
According to the results, with the increase in the initial mass of are closer to the orange color. Also, the color of dried shrimp samples in
shrimp from 300 g to 1000 g, the drying time of shrimp remained almost cases 1 and 7 (solar drying method without pre-treatment and hybrid
constant, which indicates that the dryer’s capacity should be higher. drying without shade without pre-treatment, respectively) are less close

225
E. Abedini et al. Solar Energy 233 (2022) 221–229

2.5

Drying efficiency (%) 2

1.5
1.43 ± 0.0898

2.13 ± 0.1334

2.00 ± 0.1254

1.68 ± 0.1053

2.72 ± 0.1705

2.48 ± 0.1552

1.63 ± 0.1023

2.63 ± 0.1649

2.61 ± 0.1637
1

0.5

0 0 1 0

Case 1 Case 2 Case 3 Case 4 Case 5 Case 6 Case 7 Case 8 Case 9

Fig. 4. Comparison of the dryer efficiency and its uncertainty in different cases.

with pre-treatment of boiling in 2% (w/v) water-salt solution) demon­

Table 1
strate a significant difference for the color value of dried samples in
Results of dryer capacity determination.
cases 6 and 9 (where the auxiliary source are used) versus case 3 (which
Mass of Drying Solar Input Energy Dryer the auxiliary source is not used) in the tendency to the orange color.
shrimp time input energy output from efficiency
(g) energy from the the dryer (%)
(MJ) lamp (MJ) (MJ) 3.4. The effect of infrared source on the drying process
300 3h0 16.71 2.70 0.511 2.63 ±
min 0.165 The infrared lamp is used as an auxiliary source in the hybrid drying
1000 3 h 15 19.05 2.93 1.72 7.82 ± process. One of the main goals of this research is to find out the
min 0.489 advantage of infrared source usage on the drying process and the final
2000 4 h 23 24.37 3.95 3.42 12.06 ±
min 0.759
quality of dried shrimp.
2500 5 h 46 21.00 5.19 4.29 16.37 ± Fig. 5 presents the comparison of the infrared source to total input
min 1.025 energy in different cases. According to the results, in cases of hybrid
method is used, averaging 16.88% of the total energy received by the
dryer is supplied through the auxiliary source.
Table 2 According to the color test results of dried shrimp in the prior section,
Results of color test of dried shrimp samples. it can be concluded that the qualitative effects of using an auxiliary
infrared source on dried shrimp are as follow:
Samples a* b* L* ΔE

1 4.12 15.15 44.98 10.30

▪ Using an auxiliary infrared source for pure water pre-treatment
2 17.68 26.83 49.05 27.12
3 12.55 20.53 60.47 22.45 or without pre-treatment does not have a remarkable effect on
4 5.88 17.94 44.56 28.47 the color quality of dried shrimp.
5 18.08 22.32 58.02 26.56 ▪ Using an auxiliary infrared source for 2% (w/v) water-salt so­
6 24.05 26.57 54.83 35.31 lution pre-treatment significantly affects the color quality of
7 15.39 28.82 56.77 13.56
dried shrimp.
8 19.4 24.35 48.22 26.02
9 25.52 30.49 51.08 32.16
Raw shrimp − 0.3 6.54 48.51 0.00 3.5. Case 9; the best case

to orange. Notably, the closer dried shrimp color to orange is more The reported results reveal that case 9 is the best case in the hybrid
desirable. In addition, the net changes of the product color compared to dryer in the terms of drying time, drying efficiency, and appearance of
the initial state in cases 6 and 9 are more than the other cases. dried shrimp meat. Fig. 6 presents the variation of solar radiation and
Comparing the color test results of cases 1, 4, and 7 (which are dried moisture content of shrimp during the drying process in case 9. It can be
without pre-treatment) show that shrimps in case 7 that are dried seen that solar radiation reaches its maximum value of 940 W/m2 at
without shade have a higher color value than the orange color of the 12:30p.m., where the average amount of radiation during the drying
other two cases. process is about 861 W/m2. Variation of the moisture content of shrimp
Comparing the color test results of cases 2, 5, and 8 (which are dried during the drying process shows decreasing slope over time because the
with pre-treatment of boiling in pure water pre-treatment) do not show a moisture of the shrimp evaporates from the underlying layers of the
remarkable difference for the color value of dried samples in the ten­ meat at a slower rate.
dency to the orange color. Variation of the ambient, outlet of solar collector, and drying
Comparing the color test results of cases 3, 6, and 9 (which are dried chamber temperature during the drying process in case 9 are depicted in
Fig. 7. The maximum ambient temperature value during the drying

226
E. Abedini et al. Solar Energy 233 (2022) 221–229

25

21.26

Infrared source to total input energy (%)

20
18.70 18.94

15 14.61
13.91 13.87

10

0.00 0.00 0.00

0
Case 1 Case 2 Case 3 Case 4 Case 5 Case 6 Case 7 Case 8 Case 9

Fig. 5. Comparison of the infrared source to total input energy in different cases.

process is 39.0 ◦ C at about 11:20 a.m., where the average value is

1000 80
35.1 ◦ C. Maximum temperatures of the solar collector outlet and inside
the drying chamber during the drying process are 53.8 and 59.0 ◦ C at
Moisture content of shrimp in w.b. (%)

900 70
about 11:35 a.m. and 12:15p.m., respectively, where the average values
60 are 52.9 and 57.1 ◦ C, respectively. (Murali et al., 2020) have reported in
Solar radiation (W/m2)

800
previous studies that the average value of drying air temperature was
Solar radiation
50 recorded as 30.9–55 ◦ C, where the thermal energy stored as sensible
700 heat in the water was used in this period.
Moisture content
40
On average, the solar collector and the drying chamber increase the
600
30
temperature by 17.4 and 5.2 ◦ C, respectively. The Maximum tempera­
ture difference between the solar collector outlet and the ambient is
500 20 20.3 ◦ C, where the maximum temperature difference between the drying
chamber and the ambient is 25.9 ◦ C.
400 0 4 0 0 0 8 0 0 0

10 (Namsanguan et al., 2004) reported of dried shrimp color charac­

12:30 p.m.

13:31 p.m.
10:30 a.m.

11:30 a.m.

teristics for seven cases in the combination of the superheated steam

dryer (SSD), heat pump dryer (HPD), and hot air dryer (AD), where the
maximum values of a* and b* were 11.47 and 14.95, respectively. These
Fig. 6. Variation of solar radiation and moisture content of shrimp during the values, in case 9, are 25.52 and 30.49, respectively, which shows
drying process in case 9. improvement in the appearance of shrimp meat. It should be noted that
higher a* and b* values represent the higher quality of dried shrimp
meat.
60 Table 3 presents the results of microbial and chemical tests of dried
shrimp in case 9. Results of microbial tests reveal that dried shrimp in
50 case 9 is not contraindicated for human consumption. Also, results of
chemical tests show that dried shrimp are of good nutritional value in
40 terms of ash, protein, peroxide, fat, and TVB-N (Total Volatile Basic
Temperature (°C)

Nitrogen). (Akonor et al., 2016) have reported in previous studies for the
air-oven and solar dryers that the dried shrimp meat contained 5.98 and
30

20 Table 3
Drying chamber
Collector outlet Results of microbial and chemical tests.
Ambient
10 Test description Parameter description Unit Value

Microbial Vibrio parahaemolyticus CFU/g Negative

0 0 6 0 0 1 2 0 0 1 8 0 0 Total microbial count CFU/g 10>
Escherichia coli CFU/g 3>
12:30 p.m.

13:31 p.m.
10:30 a.m.

11:30 a.m.

Salmonella CFU/g Negative

Chemical Ash % 10.95
Protein % 69.15
Peroxide meq/kg ~0
Fig. 7. Temperature variation during the drying process in case 9.
Fat % 2.47
TVB-N mgN/g 23.99

227
E. Abedini et al.
5.74% fat, respectively, while case 9 provides about 2.5% fat. Also, the
ash and protein content were reported about 85% and 7% for both air-
oven and solar dryers, where case 9 provides about 70% and 11%,
respectively.
3.6. The effect of final moisture content and water-salt solution on the
TVB-N of dried shrimp
The TVB-N test is a common way to evaluate marine products’
freshness to assess the quality and progressive decline in shelf life. The
TVB-N of dried shrimp has a crucial influence on human health. This
section is carried out to investigate the effect of final moisture content
and water-salt solution in pre-treatment of fresh shrimp on the TVB-N of
dried shrimp. Table 4 depicts the TVB-N values of dried shrimp that are
dried using hybrid drying without shade (case 9). Increasing the water-
salt solution in pre-treatment of fresh shrimp from 2 to 5% and
decreasing the final moisture content from 15 to 5% does not change
TVB-N values much, although the TVB-N values in all experiments were
in the permitted range.
4. Conclusion
Due to the difference between marine products in terms of moisture
and susceptibility to spoilage with other products (such as vegetables,
fruits, etc.), the design of dryers with the conditions of these products
has particular importance. In this paper, the design and performance
evaluation of a cabinet hybrid shrimp dryer has been done. The required
energy of the hybrid dryer is provided through solar energy and an
auxiliary infrared source in the solar collector and the drying chamber.
The overall outcome of the performance evaluation of the dryer can be
summarized as follows:
• Cases 1 and 4, with more than seven hours, have the longest drying
time. On the other hand, cases 8 and 9, with an approximate three
hours, have the shortest drying time and cases 5, 8, and 9 have higher
efficiency, respectively. The color test of dried shrimp samples re­
veals that cases 6 and 9 have the best quality in appearance and
tendency to the orange color. The reported results show that case 9 is
the best case in the hybrid dryer in terms of drying time, drying ef­
ficiency, and appearance of dried shrimp meat.
• Based on the results of case 9, on average, the solar collector and
drying chamber increase the temperature by 17.4 and 5.2 ◦ C,
respectively. The maximum temperature difference between the
solar collector outlet and the ambient is 20.3 ◦ C, where the maximum
temperature difference between the drying chamber and the ambient
is 25.9 ◦ C.
• The results of microbial and chemical tests of dried shrimp in case 9
reveal that dried shrimp are not contraindicated for human con­
sumption and are of good nutritional value in terms of ash, protein,
peroxide, fat, and TVB-N.
• Investigating the effect of final moisture content and water-salt so­
lution on the TVB-N of dried shrimp shows that increasing the water-
salt solution in pre-treatment of fresh shrimp from 2 to 5% and
decreasing the final moisture content from 15 to 5% does not change
TVB-N values much, although the TVB-N values in all experiments
were in the permitted range.
• The experiments of dryer capacity determination show that using the
apparatus with an initial mass of 2500 g is the optimal condition of
the dryer, which provides higher efficiency.
• Investigating the effect of infrared lamp show that using the infrared
lamp does not have an extreme effect on the drying process (less than
20%), but has a considerable effect on the appearance of dried
shrimp meat when 2% (w/v) water-salt solution pre-treatment is
used.
228
Solar Energy 233 (2022) 221–229
Table 4
The effect of final moisture content and water-salt solution on the TVB-N of dried
shrimp.
Test number Water-salt solution (%) Final moisture content (%) TVB-N (%)
1 5 15 23.04
2 4 15 25.88
3 3 15 25.11
4 2 15 23.99
5 2 10 22.19
6 2 5 20.92
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgements
This research is supported through the National Elite Foundation
(Islamic Republic of Iran) under Contract No. 2308 (02.24.2021).
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