Experimental study, design and production of purple basil drying system with solar power and comparison with alternative methods

Master Thesis EXPERIMENTAL STUDY, DESIGN AND PRODUCTION OF PURPLE BASIL DRYING SYSTEM WITH SOLAR POWER AND COMPARISON WITH ALTERNATIVE METHODS Merve Nur POLAT Inonu University Graduate School of Natural and Applied Sciences Department of Mechanical Engineering 57 + ix pages 2019 Supervisor: Assist. Prof. Dr. Tarkan KOCA Hygienic drying of food is of great importance. The spreading of agricultural products on the ground in the open area causes harmful effects such as aflatoxin. It is aimed to protect the product quality with product dryers. Within the scope of this study, solar energy supported basil drying system was designed and manufactured and purple basil plant drying experiments were carried out. The experiments were carried out in three groups. In the first group of experiments, the basins having an initial mass of 21 g were placed in the drying chamber and kept constant when the temperature reached the desired value. When the temperatures reached 45 ºC, 50 ºC, 55 ºC on different days, the mass was measured at one hour intervals. In the second group of experiments, when the temperature reached 45 ºC, 50 ºC, 55 ºC, 60 ºC in the dryer, the basins having an initial mass of 21 g were put into the dryer and dried. In the third group of experiments, the drying oven was kept in the sun and when the same temperatures were reached in the first group of experiments, the basins having a starting mass of 50 g were placed in the drying cabinet and dried. As a result of these experiments, drying times were between 3 and 7 hours depending on the temperature increase. After the drying process, water activity and color analysis of the dried products were performed. As a result of color analysis experiments, L*, a*, b*, C*, H˚, ΔE, BI values of fresh and dried basil leaves were obtained. As a result of the experiments, the water activity values were found to be between 0,454 and 0,405 and drying was provided in the product since it was smaller than 0,6 in the literature. The results obtained from the experiments were compared with the results of other studies in the literature. As a result of the analysis, it was found that this system, which was manufactured, enables the drying of the basement successfully. KEYWORDS: Purple Basil, Drying System, Solar Energy