REDUCTION OF HCN LEVEL IN CASSAVA (Manihot esculenta Crantz) LEAVES BY OPTIMIZED HEATED AIR DRYING

HAZEL ASPA CASIMINA

SUBMITTED TO: THE FACULTY OF THE AGRICULTURAL AND BIO-PROCESS DIVISION INSTITUTE OF AGRICULTURAL ENGINEERING COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND AGRO-INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGY UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES LOS BAOS IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF

BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN AGRICULTURAL ENGINEERING (Specialized in Agricultural and Bio-Process Engineering)

APRIL 2010

TABLE OF CONTENTS CONTENTS TITLE PAGE ACCEPTANCE SHEET BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH ACKNOWLEDGEMENT LIST OF FIGURES LIST OF TABLES ABSTRACT INTRODUCTION Background of the Study Significance of the Study Objectives of the Study Time and Place of the Study Scope and Limitations of the Study 1 3 7 7 8 i ii iii iv v vi PAGE

REVIEW OF LITERATURE Cassava Production Cassava Uses Nutritional Composition of Cassava Nutritional Value of Cassava Leaves Toxicity of Cassava Cassava Varieties Drying: Its Importance and Theory

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Factors to be considered in Drying Drying Temperature Air Properties Air Flow Rate Relative Humidity Nutritional Value Present Drying Practices Heated Air Drying Box and Behnken Design Colorimetric Method of Chemical Analysis

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MATERIALS AND METHODS Materials and Equipment Procedure Procurement and Selection of Cassava Leaves Preparation of the Samples Initial Moisture Content Determination Conditioning of the Laboratory Dryer Determination of Drying Air Velocities Drying Procedure Calculation of Response Parameters Final Moisture Content Drying Rate Moisture Ratio Experimental Design

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Statistical Analysis HCN Level Content Evaluation of Dried Cassava Leaves

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RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS Drying Rate Moisture Ratio Dynamic Equilibrium Moisture Content Analysis of the Effects of the Drying Parameters on the Response Variables Response Surface Regression Optimization Verification of the Optimum Conditions for Drying Thin Layer Modeling for Drying Cassava Leaves

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SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION RECOMMENDATIONS REFERENCES APPENDICES Appendix A. Table of Sample data Sheets Appendix B. Initial Moisture Content Data Appendix C. Drying Data Appendix D. The SAS Program Output

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LIST OF FIGURES

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Fresh cassava (Manihot eculentaesculenta Crantz) leaves Spectrophotometer used for the colorimetric method of HCN analysis Samples to be placed in the spectrophotometer Cassava plantation at the Institute of Plant Breeding Los Baos, Laguna
CarboliteTM Convection Oven Initial and Final appearance of the sample inside the oven

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Cassava leaves in trays after placed inside the dryer Average Drying Rate of 15 Drying Treatments Average Moisture Ratio of 15 Drying Treatments Plot of responses at optimum conditions and desirability Moisture Ratio vs. Drying Time of Drying Run 1 using (a) Best Fit Model and (b) Exponential Model Moisture Ratio vs. Drying Time of Drying Run 2 using (a) Best Fit Model and (b) Exponential Model Moisture Ratio vs. Drying Time of Drying Run 3 using (a) Best Fit Model and (b) Exponential Model Moisture Ratio vs. Drying Time of Drying Run 4 using (a) Best Fit Model and (b) Exponential Model Moisture Ratio vs. Drying Time of Drying Run 5 using (a) Best Fit Model and (b) Exponential Model Moisture Ratio vs. Drying Time of Drying Run 6 using (a) Best Fit Model and (b) Exponential Model

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Moisture Ratio vs. Drying Time of Drying Run 7 using (a) Best Fit Model and (b) Exponential Model Moisture Ratio vs. Drying Time of Drying Run 8 using (a) Best Fit Model and (b) Exponential Model Moisture Ratio vs. Drying Time of Drying Run 9 using (a) Best Fit Model and (b) Exponential Model Moisture Ratio vs. Drying Time of Drying Run 10 using (a) Best Fit Model and (b) Exponential Model Moisture Ratio vs. Drying Time of Drying Run 11 using (a) Best Fit Model and (b) Exponential Model Moisture Ratio vs. Drying Time of Drying Run 12 using (a) Best Fit Model and (b) Exponential Model Moisture Ratio vs. Drying Time of Drying Run 13 using (a) Best Fit Model and (b) Exponential Model Moisture Ratio vs. Drying Time of Drying Run 14 using (a) Best Fit Model and (b) Exponential Model Moisture Ratio vs. Drying Time of Drying Run 15 using (a) Best Fit Model and (b) Exponential Model Plot of MR against time for Run 3 that represented the best model equation

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Comment [evc1]: Incomplete list!!!!!

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LIST OF TABLES

TABLE

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Complete chemical composition of cassava crop Nutritional content of some vegetables and staple foods Air Velocity Determination Coded values for the independent and dependent parameters. Combination of independent parameters for 15 drying runs Summary of the experimental data showing the independent variables used and response variables. Significance of the effect of the drying parameters on the response variables by ANOVA ANOVA showing the independent parameters as a linear, quadratic or interaction terms on each of the response variables. Regression Coefficients of the second order polynomials illustrating the relations between the response and independent parameters. Predicted responses at optimum conditions of independent parameters Summary of the responses observed and verified using the optimum drying conditions Regression Models for 15 Drying Runs Initial and final HCN content (ppm) of cassava leaves after drying application.

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ABSTRACT

CASIMINA, HAZEL A., University of the Philippines Los Baos, MARCH 2010. Reduction of HCN Content Level in Cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) Leaves by Optimized Heated Air Drying.

Adviser: Dr. Engelbert K. Peralta

The study dealt with the reduction of hydrocyanide (HCN) content in cassava leaves at the optimum drying conditions obtained through heated air drying. In drying, the Box and Behnken experimental design with 15 experimental test runs was used with temperature (50C, 60C and 70C), air flow rate (0.09 m3/s, 0.075 m3/s and 0.06 m3/s) and tray loading density (100g/tray, 200g/tray, and 300g/tray) as the independent parameters. The experiment investigated the effects of the independent parameters to the response parameters that included the (1) dynamic equilibrium moisture content, (2) moisture ratio and (3) drying rate. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) showed that the drying temperature significantly affected the EMC, the drying rate and the moisture ratio at 95% level of confidence; the loading density significantly affected the EMC and drying rate at 95% level of confidence; whereas the air flow rate only had significant effect on the EMC. In addition, regression fitting that adequately described the experimental drying resulted in a polynomial model in the form of: MR = 1.2565606 0.018566653t + 0.000102176t2 2.46x10-7t3 The drying experimental results showed an optimum condition of drying cassava leaves at 70C for drying temperature, 0.06m3/s for air flow rate and 150g/tray for the loading. At this particular optimum condition, the predicted values for the EMC, moisture ratio and drying rate were 23.46%, 0.28 m3/s and 1.13 %db/min, respectively, with a desirability of 76%. The actual values of the response parameters were compared with the predicted values at optimum conditions with deviations ranging from 0.0013 to 0.278. Three (3) additional runs were conducted to verify the results of the obtained optimum conditions. The dried product of the three runs which used the optimum conditions were subjected to colorimetric method for HCN analysis. Based on the result, a 91.05 91.8% removal of HCN was obtained, which gave a low percentage of HCN remained in the leaves.
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