CROAKER FISH DRYING USING ARTIFICIALLY ROUGHENED SURFACE COLLECTOR SOLAR SYSTEM

Nsikan  Ime Obot; Ahmed  Abdulyaqub Ajiboye; Sulaimon  Adekunle Akanbi; Michael  Anthony Chinedu Chendo

Authors

Nsikan Ime Obot Solar Energy Physics Group, Physics Department, Faculty of Science, University of Lagos, Akoka, Nigeria.
Ahmed Abdulyaqub Ajiboye Solar Energy Physics Group, Physics Department, Faculty of Science, University of Lagos, Akoka, Nigeria.
Sulaimon Adekunle Akanbi Solar Energy Physics Group, Physics Department, Faculty of Science, University of Lagos, Akoka, Nigeria.
Michael Anthony Chinedu Chendo Solar Energy Physics Group, Physics Department, Faculty of Science, University of Lagos, Akoka, Nigeria.

Keywords:

Solar dryer, Artificially roughened surface collector, Croaker fish, High moisture content reduction, Chamber energy conservation

Abstract

Issues like health hazards, curtailed product taste and durability, atmospheric pollution, pest attack, and truncated efficiency of drying a product with firewood fuel or open-sun can be overcome by the solar dryer, where electricity is unavailable for microwave-assisted drying. In this study, croaker P. Elongatus was solar-dried using a system with an artificially roughened collector. Drying chamber energy was conserved with deposited black gravels and aluminium foil wrapper while a feedback system was deployed for air recycling and exchange with the environment. Whereas chamber, plate, and collector hourly temperatures had respective average increments over the ambient in the ranges of 4-21C, 1-45C, and 1-10C, the fish mass reduced from 1.445 kg to 0.264 kg. The optimal collector and drying efficiencies for the system were approximately 0.65 and 0.45, respectively, while the sample was dried for 13 days to withstand up to six months of storage. Though adverse weather can reserve moisture removal, atmospheric cloudiness affects solar radiation but not ambient temperature, whereas the rains affect both. Moisture content in wet-basis reduced from 82% to 15%, while the gravels sustained durable drying from 8:00 to 20:00. Although solar drying is a viable option, efforts should reduce its long drying period for better attractiveness.

References

Andreassen, R. and Høyheim, B. (2017). miRNAs associated with immune response in teleost fish. Dev. Comp. Immunol., 75:77-85.

Bal, L.M., Satya, S., and Naik, S.N. (2010). Solar dryer with thermal energy storage systems for drying agricultural food products: a review. Renew. Sus. Energy Rev., 14(8):2,298-2,314.

Duffie, J.A. and Beckman, W.A. (1991). Solar engineering of thermal processes. John Wiley and Sons, NY. 928p.

El-sebaii, A.A. and Shalaby, S.M. (2012). Solar drying of agricultural products: a review. Renew. Sustain. Energy Rev., 16:37-43.

Etim, I., Uwe-Bassey, B.U., and Brey, T. (1994). Population dynamics of the West African Pseudololithus elongatus in the Cross River estuary. Nigeria Sci. Mar., 58(4):315-321.

Hubbert, M.K. (1971). The energy resources of the earth. Sci. Am., 225:60-73.

Kalogirou, S.A. (2009). Solar energy engineering: processes and system. 2nd Edition. Academic Publishing, Elsevier, 815p.

Lingayat, A.B., Chandramohan, V.P., Raju, V.R.K., and Meda, V. (2020). A review on indirect type solar dryers for agricultural crops-dryer setup, its performance, energy storage and important highlights. Applied Energy 256, doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2019.114005.

McManamay, R.A., Bevelhimer, M.S., and Frimpong, E.A. (2015). Associations among hydrologic classifications and fish traits to support environmental flow standards. Ecohydrol., 8 (3):460-479.

Omodara, M.A. and Olaniyan, A.M. (2012). Effects of pre-treatments and drying temperatures on drying rate and quality of African Catfish. J. Biol. Agric. Healthc., 2(4):2,224-3,208.

Oparaku, N.F. (2010). Comparative study of sun and solar cabinet fish dryer of three freshwater fish. Cont. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci., 4:8-16.

Prakash, O. and Kumar, A. (2013). Historical review and recent trends in solar drying systems. Int. J. Green Energy., 10(7):690-738.

Tian, Y. and Zhao, C.Y. (2013). A review of solar collectors and thermal energy storage in solar thermal applications. Appl. Energy., 104:538-553.

Vansconcellos, A.V., Lima, D., Bonhomme, F., Vianna, M., and Solĕ-Cava, A.M. (2015). Genetic population structure of the commercialised most important dermersal fish in the Southwest Atlantic: the whitemouth croaker (Micropogonias furnieri). Fish. Res. 167:333-337.

Vijayan, S., Arjuman, TV., and Kumar, A. (2017). Fundamental concept of drying in Solar drying technology, green energy and technology, Prakash, O. and Kumar, A, (eds), Springer Nature, p 3-18.

Yadav, A.S. and Thapak, M.K. (2014). Artificially roughened solar air heater: experimental investigations. Renew. Sus. Energy Rev., 36:370-411.