Improved Agricultural Products Drying Through a Novel Double Collector Solar Device

Monica Patricia Camas-Nafate, Peggy Alvarez-Gutiérrez, Edgar Valenzuela-Mondaca, Roger Castillo-Palomera and Yolanda del Carmen Perez-Luna
Additional contact information
Monica Patricia Camas-Nafate: Centro Universitario de Tonalá, Universidad de Guadalajara, Av. Nuevo Periférico 555, Ejido San José Tatepozco, Tonalá 45425, Mexico
Peggy Alvarez-Gutiérrez: CONACYT, Tecnológico Nacional de México/Instituto Tecnológico de Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Carretera Panamericana km 1080, Tuxtla Gutiérrez 29050, Mexico
Edgar Valenzuela-Mondaca: Facultad de Ingeniería, Universidad Autónoma de Baja California, Boulevard Benito Juárez y Calle de la Normal s/n, Col. Insurgentes Este, Mexicali 21280, Mexico
Roger Castillo-Palomera: Ingeniería en Energía e Ingeniería Agroindustrial, Universidad Politécnica de Chiapas, Carretera Tuxtla-Villaflores km 1 + 500, Las Brisas, Suchiapa 29150, Mexico
Yolanda del Carmen Perez-Luna: Ingeniería en Energía e Ingeniería Agroindustrial, Universidad Politécnica de Chiapas, Carretera Tuxtla-Villaflores km 1 + 500, Las Brisas, Suchiapa 29150, Mexico

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 11, issue 10, 1-13

Abstract: Backyard agricultural systems are frequently used for food production in rural tropical regions all over the world. The implementation of these systems has been used as a strategy to increase food security, to preserve the phyto and zoo diversity and to provide an alternative income for poorer rural families. Nevertheless, the absence of appropriate preservation mechanisms and nonrenewable energies can lead to significant production losses that could be prevented by the implementation of solar drying devices. The objective of this project was to design, build and validate a double collector solar device for improved drying performance. To evaluate the double collector solar device, four backyard products frequently used in the Mexico Southwest regional diet were used: carrots, chayote squash, tomatoes, and oyster mushrooms. The results showed that the solar device achieved drying efficiencies between 22.8 and 37.9% by reaching moisture values below the 12.30% threshold, which according to the international standards is considered as “Low Moisture Food”. The evaluation of the double collector solar drier is demonstrated to be an easy-to-apply and environmentally friendly method for food preservation in tropical rural regions by taking advantage of domestic renewable energy resources.

Keywords: solar drying; backyard food production; chayote squash; oyster mushroom; tomato; carrot (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/10/2920/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/10/2920/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:10:p:2920-:d:233533

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().