The drying of agricultural produce is an important food preservation measure. However, high energy requirements for drying, limited access to energy sources, small-medium scale farmers experience high post-harvest losses of their produce. Therefore, there is a need to develop and optimize low-cost food preservation technologies. In this study, eleven mathematical models were used to estimate the drying coefficients following non-linear regression method, in hot-air oven and naturally-ventilated solar-venturi drying to find the best fit of the moisture ration models. Sweet potato tubers were sliced at 3, 5 and 7 mm thickness sizes with and without pre-drying treatments. The prepared sweet potato slices were dried in a hot-air oven dryer at a constant temperature of 70 °C in comparison to the naturally-ventilated solar-venturi dryer with a heated ambient air that varied according to the outside environmental conditions. The drying rate of the samples in a hot-air oven dryer was higher than for those in the naturally-ventilated solar-venturi dryer. The results showed that the drying time was significantly (P < 0.05) affected by the thickness size of sweet potato slices (SPS) and that the drying took place at the falling rate period and a constant drying time. The Midilli et al. model was the best fit for predicting the moisture ratio of SPS dried in hot-air oven dryer and naturally-ventilated solar-venturi dryer based on statistical analysis (R² = 0.982-0.999, χ² = 4.60 × 10^-6-5.56 × 10^-5 and RMSE = 0.011-0.067). The D_eff was 3.32 × 10^-9- 6.31 × 10^-9 m s^-1 for the naturally-ventilated solar-venturi dryer and 1.02 × 10^-8 - 2.19 × 10^-8 m s^-1 for the hot-air oven dryer. According to the results obtained, naturally-ventilated, solar-venturi dryer and lemon juice pre-drying treatment are the suitable application for small-medium scale drying of SPS under Pietermaritzburg conditions.

Siyabonga Gasa

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