IPN creates solar food dehydrator

Students of the National Polytechnic Institute (IPN) designed a solar food dehydrator , with the purpose of promoting the use of alternative sources of energy and avoiding waste of food , especially in rural areas where part of the crops are decomposed due to the lack of technologies for their conservation.

The students of the National School of Biological Sciences (ENCB), José Alberto Morales Melchor , Celic Alfredo Blanco Reynoso , Yessica Martínez González Y Maricela Soriano Méndez , they created a new design solar dryer , and pointed out that when food is dehydrated its water activity is minimal and, therefore, microorganisms can not proliferate and most of the chemical and enzymatic reactions of alteration are stopped.

In this regard, Morales Melchor indicated that contrary to its versatility, the dehydration of food with conventional dryers is an expensive process, because it uses too much energy and contributes to significantly increase the cost of final products:

"In addition to the above, the growing shortage of conventional energy and especially fossil fuels, has caused a crisis in the availability of energy for the industrialization of all types of products. Therefore, the use of solar energy in food processing is feasible and should be applied at least in the drying stage ".

Fruits and cereals

The student of the IPN, José Alberto Morales explained that some products that can be dried with the prototype are peanut , rice , corn Y cereals in general , as well as peaches, grapes, apples, guavas, beets, cucumbers, carrots, garlic, onions and chilies, among others:

"The goal of drying is to reduce the moisture content of a product to achieve longer storage periods and preserve the nutritive values ​​of food ”.

For his part, Alfredo Blanco Reynoso indicated that with the use of the prototype ofsolar food dehydrator the times of dehydration , since in general terms only 10 hours are required to complete the conservation process: "The dehydration of corn and carrot grains was carried out in 7 hours, while the apple, beet, cucumber and guava were dehydrated in a lapse from 8 to 10 hours. "

The IPN student indicated that the dehydration It is produced by the action of warm and dry air, which passes through the products to be dried, usually located in trays inside the prototype. The moisture contained in the food evaporates and passes in that way to the air that surrounds them.


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