Design and Development of Hot Air-assisted Continuous Infrared Drying System for Shrimps

The study was aimed to develop a hot air (HA) assisted continuous infrared radiation (IR) drying system and dry the shrimp samples under HA mode (45 degrees C, 1.5 m/s), IR mode (4500 W, 1.5 m/s), and a combination of IR-HA mode (4500 W, 45 degrees C, 1.5 m/s). The shrimp samples attained a final moisture content of 15.12%, 11.66%, and 11.98% (w.b) and drying efficiency of 8.78%, 15.65%, and 36.25% under the HA, IR, and IR-HA mode of drying in 21.5 h, 3 h, and 2 h, respectively. In this study, the IR-HA mode of drying of shrimp was found to be efficient with the lowest drying time of 2 h, the specific energy consumption (1.80 kWh/kg), the water activity of 0.57, shrinkage of 7.27, rehydration ratio of 2.40, and the maximum color retention. Thus, the IR-HA drying mode is superior to both HA and IR drying modes for shrimps drying.