TABLE OF CONTENT

CONTENT Abstract / summary Introduction Aims / objectives Theory Apparatus Experimental procedure Result Calculation Discussion Conclusion Recommendation References

PAGE 2 2 3 3-4 5 6 7-11 12-13 14-15 16 16 17

ABSTRACT / SUMMARY
By doing this experiment we can determine the moisture content of the herbs that we choose which are coconut fiber and tea before and after the drying process using the tray dryer. Other than that, we also could find the drying rate of the herbs by using the moisture content of both of the herbs.

INTRODUCTION

Drying process is very important in industry especially in pharmaceutical and herbs industry. A dry product will have a better shelf life and easier to handle. For example, in the tea industry, drying process help in preserve the taste, colour and the aroma of the tea beside it can be stored easily in form of sachets and packets.

Tray dryer is used in this experiment to calculate the moisture content of both of the chosen herbs. By finding the moisture content, we can determine the drying rate of the herbs. In this experiment, the wet material (herbs) is inserted into the drying equipment which is the tray drier and removed after an appropriate of the time.

AIM / OBJECTIVES

The purpose of this experiment is: a) To determine the moisture content of the herbs b) To plot the graph of drying rate against drying time, mass material against time, and moisture content against time also observe the curve c) To determine the drying rate of the herbs

THEORY

In this experiment, the drying rate of the herbs can be determined from the moisture content of the herbs. While the moisture content of the herbs can be find during the drying process using the tray dryer. Drying of a material occurs by mass transfer of water vapour from the saturated surface of the material through an air film to the bulk gas or environment. The rate of moisture movement within the solid is sufficient to keep the surface saturated. The rate of removal of the water vapour (drying) is controlled by the rate of heat transfer to the evaporating surface, which furnishes the latent heat of evaporation for the liquid. At steady state, the rate of mass transfer balances the rate of heat transfer.

The formula of the moisture content:

Moisture content, V: m - msT/ msT 3

Moisture content relates to the mass of water in material (herbs) over the mass of the dry material (herbs).

The formula of the drying rate:

Drying rate, v: V1-V2 / t2-t1 The drying process occurs by evaporation of the moisture from the exposed surface of the solid, moisture must move from the depths of the solid to the surface. The diffusion of liquid moisture occurs when there is a concentration difference between the depths of the solid to the surface.

APPARATUS

1. Tray dryer 2. Tea 3. Coconut fiber 4. Water spray

PROCEDURE

1. The tray drier was switched on and the initial mass of the tray was recorded. 2. The herb was chosen which is tea and was prepared for the experiment. The water was sprayed over the herb to moisten it. 3. The tray was filled with the moisten herb and put in the tray drier. 4. The humidity and the temperature switched were on and the reading was recorded. The air flow and the mass also recorded. 5. The reading of the mass, temperature, humidity and the air flow was recorded every 3 minutes in one hour. 6. The experiment was repeated by using coconut fiber. 7. Steps 1-5 were repeated. 8. The moisture content and the drying rate of both herbs were calculated. 9. The graph of mass material against time, moisture content against time and drying rate against drying time were plotted.

RESULT DATA Data Table:

Part 1: Type of herbs to be dried: tea Mass of drying plate: 1.3925 kg

Time (min) 0 3 6 9 12 15 18 21 24 27 30 33 36 39 42 45

Temperature Temperature Air flow 1 (C) 34.0 39.5 42.4 43.2 43.5 43.5 43.9 43.7 43.9 43.9 44.0 44.2 44.1 44.0 44.2 43.9 2 (C) 30.6 36.6 40.2 41.5 42.1 42.4 42.7 42.7 42.8 42.9 45.0 43.1 43.1 43.2 43.2 43.1 (m/s) 1.39 1.46 1.50 1.45 1.46 1.45 1.47 1.47 1.47 1.51 1.44 1.46 1.46 1.50 1.46 1.49 7

Mass (kg) 0.1836 0.1771 0.1689 0.1619 0.1560 0.1510 0.1468 0.1427 0.1401 0.1371 0.1336 0.1322 0.1300 0.1284 0.1261 0.1246

Humidity 1 33.2 21.9 17.2 15.8 15.4 15.3 14.9 14.9 14.8 14.8 14.7 14.5 14.5 14.6 14.5 14.7

Humidity 2 8.7 6.9 6.9 6.9 6.8 6.8 6.8 6.8 6.8 6.8 6.8 6.8 6.8 6.8 6.7 6.7

Moisture content, V 0.5351 0.4808 0.4122 0.3537 0.3043 0.2625 0.2274 0.1931 0.1714 0.1463 0.1171 0.1054 0.0870 0.0736 0.0543 0.0418

48 51 54 57 60

43.8 43.9 44.0 44.0 43.8

43.1 43.1 43.2 43.3 43.2

1.45 1.45 1.45 1.45 1.45

0.1232 0.1224 0.1213 0.1203 0.1196

14.7 14.7 14.7 14.5 14.6

6.8 6.8 6.8 6.8 6.8

0.0301 0.0234 0.0142 0.0059 0

Data Table:
Part 2: Type of herbs to be dried: coconut fiber Mass of drying plate: 1.3902 kg

Time (min) 0 3 6 9 12 15 18 21 24 27 30 33 36 39 42

Temperature Temperature 1 (C) 25.4 37.4 40.6 42.3 43.1 43.2 43.5 43.5 44.0 44.1 43.5 43.5 43.5 43.7 43.9 2 (C) 25.2 35.1 38.1 40.0 40.9 41.3 41.6 41.7 42.5 42.5 41.6 41.9 41.9 42.0 42.2

Air flow (m/s) 1.25 1.22 1.29 1.23 1.32 1.31 1.36 1.38 1.40 1.34 1.35 1.33 1.35 1.34 1.35 8

Mass (kg) 0.5736 0.5580 0.5569 0.5401 0.5265 0.5130 0.4974 0.4852 0.4737 0.4616 0.4509 0.4394 0.4302 0.4197 0.4103

Humidity 1 70.4 31.4 21.2 17.5 16.3 16.2 16.0 15.7 15.1 15.0 15.7 15.7 15.6 15.7 15.4

Humidity 2 35.90 7.10 7.00 6.90 6.90 6.90 6.90 6.80 6.80 6.80 6.80 6.80 6.80 6.80 6.80

Moisture content, V 0.5850 0.5419 0.5388 0.4924 0.4548 0.4175 0.3744 0.3407 0.3089 0.2755 0.2459 0.2141 0.1887 0.1597 0.1337

45 48 51 54 57 60

43.8 43.9 43.9 44.0 43.9 43.9

42.2 42.3 42.4 42.5 42.5 42.6

1.36 1.38 1.40 1.42 1.38 1.39

0.4018 0.3931 0.3845 0.3768 0.3697 0.3619

15.5 15.3 15.2 15.1 15.2 15.2

6.80 6.80 6.80 6.80 6.80 6.80

0.1103 0.0862 0.0625 0.0412 0.0216 0

1) Graph of the mass material against time

0.8 0.7 0.6 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 0 0 3 6 9 1215182124273033363942454851545760 Mass (kg) coconut fiber Mass (kg) tea

2) Graph of moisture content against time

1.2 1 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 0 0 6 12 18 24 30 36 42 48 54 60 Moisture content, V coconut fiber Moisture content, V tea

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3) Graph of drying rate against time

0.025

0.02

0.015

Drying rate, v tea Drying rate, v coconut fiber

0.01

0.005

0 0 3 6 9 1215182124273033363942454851545760

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SAMPLE CALCULATIONS
PART 1 Type of herb: tea

Moisture content, V1: m-msT / msT : 0.1836-0.1196/0.1196 : 0.5351

V2: m-mSt/ mSt : 0.1771-0.1196/0.1196 : 0.4808

Drying rate, v: V1V2 / t2t1 : (0.5351-0.4808) / (3-0) : 0.0181

The average of the drying rate for tea: 0.1854/21 : 0.0088

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Part 2: Type of herb: Coconut fiber

The moisture content, V1: 0.5736-0.3619/0.3619 : 0.5850

V2: 0.5580-0.3619/ 0.3619 : 0.5419

Drying rate, v: V1- V2/t2-t1 : (0.0.5850-0.5419) / (3-0) : 0.0144

The average of drying rate of coconut fiber: 0.0093

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DISCUSSION

The purpose of this experiment is to determine the drying rate of the herbs which were tea and coconut fiber. In this experiment, we used tray drier to dry the herbs. By finding the moisture content of the herbs we could find the drying rate of the herbs. The meaning of drying process is the removal of water from the sample which is the herbs. In this experiment we can learn all the techniques that required in the process of drying. Besides that, we can also learn how to handle the machine (tray drier). By doing this experiment, we also can obtain the data in order to perform the calculation to find the drying rate. Other than that, we also plotted three graphs for both herbs in this experiment, two of them were line graph (mass material against time and moisture content against time) and another one is the drying rate against time. For graph 1, the graph of mass material against the time is linearly decreasing for both herbs. But for tea, the graph only has slightly difference between it compare to the coconut fiber which has larger differences between the readings. The reading of mass material of coconut fiber also larger compare to the tea. It showed, the coconut fiber is much heavier than the tea. The drying process is succeeded because the mass is decreasing from the 0th minute until 60th minute after that. For graph 2, the graph of moisture content against time, also decreasing towards the graph for both herbs. It is decreasing from the 0th minute until 60th minutes then.

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For graph 3, which is the drying rate against time, it is different from the two other graphs. From 0th minute until 12th minute, the graph of tea is much higher than the coconut fiber. While from 15th minute until 60th minute last the graph of the coconut fiber is much higher compare to the tea only on the 18th minute and 27th minute the graph of both of the herbs has slightly difference between each other. For the average value of drying rate; the tea is 0.0088 while for the coconut fiber is 0.0093. The average value of the drying rate of the coconut fiber is much higher than the tea. It may due to the actual mass of both of them; coconut fiber is much heavier than the tea. The value of the drying rate is attained. In this experiment, it may has the error due to the reading taken from the machine because sometimes the reading is not fix and keep changing. Other than that, maybe the herbs is not moisten enough during the spraying of water so there is less water content within the herbs.

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CONCLUSION

At the end of this experiment, we can determine the drying rate of both herbs which are tea and coconut fiber, after we determine the moisture content of both of the herbs. The drying rate of tea is 0.0088 while for the coconut fiber is 0.0093. The objective of this experiment is obtained.

RECOMMENDATIONS
In this experiment, I recommended: 1) The experiment should be done at least two times, to get the accurate value. 2) The experiment can be done on a different herbs, so that we can compare both of it drying rate 3) The reading of the mass of tray drier, humidity, temperature and air flow should be recorded carefully to avoid error.

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REFERENCES
1) Bird, R.B, Stewart, WE, and Lightfoot, EN, Transport Phenomena, John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 1960. 2) www.wikipedia/tray drier.com

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