Solar Energy 81 (2007) 85–92

www.elsevier.com/locate/solener

Drying of hot chilli using solar tunnel drier

a,* b
M.A. Hossain , B.K. Bala
a
Farm Machinery and Postharvest Process Engineering Division, Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute, Gazipur-1701, Bangladesh
b
Department of Farm Power and Machinery, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh-2202, Bangladesh

Received 28 July 2004; received in revised form 9 June 2006; accepted 9 June 2006
Available online 24 August 2006

Communicated by: Associate Editor Istvan Farkas

Abstract

A mixed mode type forced convection solar tunnel drier was used to dry hot red and green chillies under the tropical weather con-
ditions of Bangladesh. The drier consisted of transparent plastic covered flat-plate collector and a drying tunnel connected in series to
supply hot air directly into the drying tunnel using two fans operated by a photovoltaic module. The drier had a loading capacity of 80 kg
of fresh chillies. Moisture content of red chilli was reduced from 2.85 to 0.05 kg kg1 (db) in 20 h in solar tunnel drier and it took 32 h to
reduce the moisture content to 0.09 and 0.40 kg kg1 (db) in improved and conventional sun drying methods, respectively. In case of
green chilli, about 0.06 kg kg1 (db) moisture content was obtained from an initial moisture content of 7.6 kg kg1 (db) in 22 h in solar
tunnel drier and 35 h to reach the moisture content to 0.10 and 0.70 kg kg1 (db) in improved and conventional sun drying methods,
respectively. The use of a solar tunnel drier and blanching of sample led to a considerable reduction in drying time and dried products
of better quality in terms of colour and pungency in comparison to products dried under the sun. The solar tunnel drier and blanching of
chilli are recommended for drying of both red and green chillies.
 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Blanching; Chilli; Collector; Colour; Pungency; Solar tunnel drier

1. Introduction
Hot chilli is an important spice and condiment in the
tropics and subtropics. It is an indispensable item in the
kitchen for every day cooking in Bangladesh. Hot chilli is
dried to make chilli powder and to store it for both short
and long term storage. A large quantity of chilli is lost dur-
ing the production season when the supply is abundant.
Farmers do not get a proper return from their harvest dur-
ing the peak period of harvest due to the low market price
of the abundant supply of chilli. Sometimes they just have
to sell the fresh chilli at a price far below the production
cost. Whereas, the price of dried chilli always remains high
even at the harvesting season. There is an increasing inter-
*
Corresponding author. Tel.: +88 2 9252407; fax: +88 2 9262713.
E-mail addresses: mahossain64@yahoo.com, ahossain@atb-pots-
dam.de (M.A. Hossain).
est in dried hot chilli for both the local market and foreign
market. Hossain (2003) reported that chilli is a potential
cash crop in Bangladesh and has a good export market.
In Bangladesh, chillies are traditionally sun dried. The
farmers expose their chillies to the open sun on a mat,
earthen floor, cemented floor or on a tin shed. In this
method, drying cannot be controlled and a relatively low
quality dried product is obtained. Drying rate is very slow
and takes 7–15 days, depending on the weather conditions
(Hossain, 2003). In this traditional sun drying method,
chillies become contaminated with dust, dirt, rainfall, ani-
mals, birds, rodents, insects and microorganisms. Under
these conditions, losses can be as high as 40–60% of total
quantity (Mangaraj et al., 2001). Usually no pre-treatment
are used before the drying of chilli. As a result, the colour
of most of the dried chilli becomes dull red.
As an alternative to conventional sun drying, solar
drying is a promising alternative for chilli drying in

0038-092X/$ - see front matter  2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.solener.2006.06.008
86 M.A. Hossain, B.K. Bala / Solar Energy 81 (2007) 85–92
Nomenclature
db dry basis
DR drying rate, kg kg1 h1
G solar flux density, W m2
Bangladesh, because mechanical drying is mainly used in
industrial countries and is not applicable to small farms
in developing countries due to high investment and operat-
ing costs (Mühlbauer et al., 1993). Solar energy for crop
drying is environmentally friendly and economically viable
in developing countries.
The natural convection solar drier appears to have
potential for adoption and application in the tropics and
subtropics. It is suitable at a household level for drying
of 10–15 kg of fruits and vegetables. But the natural con-
vection solar drier suffers from limitations due to extremely
low buoyancy induced airflow inside the driers (Bala and
Woods, 1994). In addition, comparatively high investment,
limited capacity and the risk of crop spoilage during
adverse weather conditions have up to now prevented the
wide acceptance of natural convection solar driers (Schir-
mer et al., 1996). Trim (1982) designed and constructed a
tent type forced convection solar drier for drying of red
chilli at Food Research Institute, Republic of Korea. The
size of the drier was 4.25 m long and 2 m radius with a dry-
ing area of 22 m2. The capacity of the drier was to dry
300 kg of fresh chilli in 3–4 days. A forced circulated indi-
rect solar drier for commercial drying of red chillies was
designed and installed at Sarder Patel Renewable Energy
Research Institute, Gujrat, India. The system consisted of
12 m2 flat plate air heater, a 0.75 kW electric blower and
a drying chamber to hold 60–65 kg of chillies per batch.
The system dries red chillies with 12% initial moisture con-
tent to 4% (db) final moisture content at an operating tem-
perature of 60 C (Philip et al., 1993). Tiris et al. (1996)
developed a multi-rack type mixed mode solar dryer at
the Ege University, Turkey. The drying curves of the solar
dried products were compared with traditional sun-drying
results. Use of the solar dryer reduced the drying time by
factors of 1.7, 2.2, 1.8 and 2.22, respectively, for sultana
grapes, green beans, sweet peppers and chilli peppers. A
commercial inclined box type solar drier was designed
and developed at Central Arid Zone Research Institute,
Jodhpur, India. About 80–100 kg of green chilli could be
dried from moisture content from 85% to 6% (wb) in
3.5–4 days (Thanvi, 1999). Hollick (1999) developed a com-
mercial solar drier for drying fruits, vegetables and spices.
The roof type solar collector of 1120 m2 area was con-
nected with a rack type drying chamber. The drier would
able to dry 4 kg of chilli per day per m2 of the collector area
from the moisture content 80–5% (wb). Mangaraj et al.
(2001) dried red chilli by different methods such as open
sun drying, greenhouse type solar drying, solar cabinet dry-
M moisture content kg kg1 (dry basis)
T temperature, C
wb wet basis
ing and mechanical drying at Indian Agricultural Research
Institute, New Dehli, India. From the experimental results
it was inferred that open sun drying took 150 and 102 h,
green house type solar drier took 90 and 66 h, solar cabinet
drier took 54 and 36 h while mechanical drying took 26 and
16 h to reduce moisture content from 300% to 9% (db) for
unpunched and punched chillies, respectively.
Recently, researchers are opting for forced convection
solar tunnel drying for drying of various crops (Pangavh-
ane and Sawhney, 2002). Mühlbauer and his associates
developed a forced convection solar tunnel drier at Hohen-
heim University, Germany. One photovoltaic module is
required to operate the fan independent of electric grid.
It is used for commercial drying of fruits, vegetables, cere-
als, grain, legumes, oil seeds and spices. Even fish and meat
can be dried properly in the forced convection solar tunnel
drier (El-Shiatry et al., 1991; Esper and Mühlbauer, 1996;
Schirmer et al., 1996 and Bala, 2000). The forced convec-
tion solar tunnel drier, therefore, may be considered for
adoption and application in Bangladesh for drying of hot
chillies.
2. Description of the solar tunnel drier
A Hohenheim type solar tunnel drier was redesigned,
fabricated and installed at the Department of Farm Power
and Machinery, Bangladesh Agricultural University,
Mymensingh, Bangladesh. The drier basically consisted
of a plastic sheet covered flat plate solar air heating collec-
tor, a drying tunnel unit, two dc fans and a 40 W photovol-
taic module. The drier was 20 m long and 1.80 m wide. The
solar collector unit was connected in series with the drying
tunnel as shown in Fig. 1.
The collector and drying chamber were made of plain
metal sheets and wooden frames in a number of small sec-
tions and were joined together in series. These sections can
be opened easily for transportation from one place to
another. Glass wool was used between the two metal sheets
at the bottom of the drier as an insulation material to
reduce the heat loss from the bottom of drier. The collector
was painted black to facilitate absorption of solar radia-
tion. The drying area of the drier unit was same as that
of the collector. Both the collector and the drying units
were covered by 0.2 mm thick transparent UV stabilised
plastic sheet. The plastic sheet was fixed on the collector
side of the drier to the metal frame using U-type aluminium
channel and rubber rope. At the drying unit one end of
plastic sheet was fixed to a metal tube, which allows rolling
 M.A. Hossain, B.K. Bala / Solar Energy 81 (2007) 85–92
Fig. 1. Solar tunnel drier: 1. air inlet; 2. fan; 3. solar module; 4. solar
collector; 5. side metal frame; 6. outlet of the collector; 7. wooden support;
8. plastic net; 9. roof structure for supporting the plastic cover; 10. base
structure for supporting the drier; 11. rolling bar; 12. outlet of the drying
tunnel.
of the plastic sheet up and down for loading and unloading
of the drier. To prevent the entry of water into the drier
during rain, both lateral ends of the plastic cover were fixed
at 15 slope.
A 40 W solar module was installed at the inlet of the
solar collector as a power source to operate the fans, which
supplied air over the product. The whole system was placed
horizontally on tables made of iron angle frame 0.8 m
above the ground floor for ease of loading and unloading
of the products. Plastic net of 2 mm · 2 mm size was used
as a tray and the tray was placed 75 mm above the floor
of the drier. The drier was installed at a place free of shade,
particularly for the period of 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
3. Experimental procedure
Three experimental runs in full load conditions were car-
ried out for red chilli and another three for green chilli dur-
ing the period of February–April in the years 1999 and
2000. The whole pods of red and green chillies were water
blanched in hot water at about 85 C for 3–4 min. The
blanched chilli was then spread on a bamboo mat to drain
out excess water. After the draining out of excess water and
cooling to ambient temperature, the chilli was weighed and
spread out over the tray in a single layer in the solar tunnel
drier. To compare the performance of the tunnel drier with
that of conventional sun drying, three control samples of
blanched chilli and another three samples of unblanched
chilli were also placed on trays in a single layer beside
the drier in the open sun. Drying was started after comple-
tion of the loading, usually at 9:00 a.m. and discontinued at
4:00 p.m. Weight loss of both the samples in the solar tun-
nel drier and the control samples in the open sun were mea-
sured during the drying period at 1 h interval with an
electronic balance (Model CT1200-S, OHAUS Corpora-
tion, Florham, USA: accuracy ±.01 g). In the afternoon,
87
after 4:00 p.m., the samples in the solar tunnel drier were
kept in the drier and the control samples were kept in a
room at ambient conditions. These control samples were
again put out in the sun next morning usually at 9:00
a.m. Then both the solar and sun drying samples were sub-
jected to dry under the same weather conditions.
A K-type thermocouple (Chromel–Alumel) was used to
measure the drying air temperature along the flow direction
of the air inside the collector and drier at seven fixed points.
A solar meter (Model 776, Dodge Products, Houston,
Texas, USA: accuracy ±1.5%) was used to measure the
solar radiation at the position of the PV module. Relative
humidity and temperature of the ambient air were mea-
sured with a digital humidity/temperature meter (Model
Fluke 51, John Fluke MFG, Co. Inc., USA: accuracy
±2.5%). Velocity of drying air was measured with a vane
type anemometer (Model Taylor 3132, Taylor Instruments,
Toronto, Canada: accuracy ±.01 m/s) at the outlet of the
drier. The ambient temperature, ambient relative humidity,
temperature at seven points in the drier, relative humidity
at the inlet and outlet of the drier, air flow rate at the
out let of the drier, solar radiation, generated voltage and
flow of current of the PV module were recorded at 1 h
intervals during the solar drying of chilli. The moisture
content of the chilli sample was measured at the starting
and end of each run of the experiment by drying the sam-
ples in an air ventilated oven at 105 C for 24 h. After com-
pletion of drying, the dried chilli was collected, cooled in a
shade to the ambient temperature and then sealed it in the
plastic bags. About 80 kg of fresh red and green chillies
were dried to about 20 kg.
4. Colour measurement
The hot chilli pods were destalked, sliced longitudinally
into two halves and the seeds were removed from the pla-
centa. The sliced pods were oven dried at 58–60 C for 2
days and ground using a grinding mill (Model 1/T-204,
BÜHler, Goldon) equipped with a 1-mm screen. The chilli
powder was sealed in plastic bags and stored at 20 C until
processed. The colouring strength of chilli was determined
by the internationally accepted EOA (Essential Oil Associ-
ation of USA) method. The EOA method based on the
absorbance of a 0.01% w/v solution of the extract in ace-
tone at 458 nm and multiplied by 61,000, gives the EOA
colour value (Verghese et al., 1992). The absorbance was
measured using a UV spectrophotometer (Model UV-
1201, SHIMADZU, Japan).
5. Pungency test
Four grams of hot chilli powder was extracted with ace-
tone till a colourless acetone solution was obtained. The
volume was then made up to 100 ml with acetone. The
extract was kept 3 h at room temperature. After 3 h, 5 ml
of acetone was taken in a beaker and heated on a water
bath till fully dry. To this, 5 ml of 0.1 N NaOH solution
88 M.A. Hossain, B.K. Bala / Solar Energy 81 (2007) 85–92

was added followed by 3 ml of 3% phosphomolybdic acid 40

solution and was kept at room temperature for 1 h. Finally 35 2
R = 0.88
optical density values were measured at 650 nm with the

Temperature rise, °C
30
help of a UV spectrophotometer. The value of optical den- 25
sity is considered to be the pungency index of hot chillies 20
(Mangaraj et al., 2001). Different values of optical density
15
were obtained for different chilli samples. The sample for
10
which the optical density was higher is considered to con-
5
tain more capsaicin or more pungent.
0
0 100 200 300 400 500 600
6. Statistical analysis Solar radiation, Wm-2

Fig. 3. Air temperature rise at the outlet of the collector as a function of

The colour values and pungency indices of solar, solar radiation.
improved sun dried and conventional sun dried chillies
were statistically analysed using randomised block design
(RBD). The data of colour values and pungency indices 70
Collector Drying tunnel
of red and green chillies obtained experimentally in the
60
year 1999 and 2000 were analysed by analysis of variance

Temperature, °C
using the software SPSS 9.0. The mean differences of col- 50

our values and pungency indices were graded by Duncan’s 40 Initial mc = 75.14%
Intermediate mc = 39.16%
Multiple Range Test (DMRT). 30 Final mc = 5.99%

20
7. Performance of collector and drier
10
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
The variations of solar radiation, ambient air tempera- Length, m
ture and air temperature at the outlet of the collector for
Fig. 4. Temperature profile along the length of the collector and drier
a typical day during solar drying of red chilli are shown
measured at different moisture contents for a typical experimental run
in Fig. 2. The variation of ambient air temperature during during solar tunnel drying of red chilli (1 April 2000).
the drying period (February–April, 1999 and 2000) varied
from 20 to 35 C while the air temperature at the outlet
of the collector varied from 40 to 66 C. During the drying temperature rise in the drier increased linearly with the
period, air temperature at the outlet of the collector was increase in solar radiation. The following regression equa-
observed to be much higher than the ambient air tion was developed for air temperature rise at the outlet of
temperature. the collector with solar radiation.
The rise in air temperature at the outlet of the collector
DT ¼ 19:418 þ 0:077G ðR2 ¼ 0:88Þ ð1Þ
above ambient air temperature against solar radiation, dur-
ing solar drying of red chilli, is shown in Fig. 3. The aver- It is observed from Fig. 4 that the temperature profile
age air temperature rise at the outlet of the collector over along the length of the drying tunnel not only depends
ambient air temperature was found to be 21.62 C during on solar radiation but also on the moisture content of chilli
solar drying of chilli. It is observed from Fig. 3 that air to be dried. At the beginning of drying, when the moisture
content of the hot chilli was high, the air temperature de-
creased along the length of the drying tunnel. Due to the
550 70 evaporative cooling on the surface of the chilli, the air tem-
500 perature in the drier dropped. When the amount of energy
60
Solar radiation, Wm-2

450 required for evaporation of moisture from the chilli became

400 50 less than the received energy then the air temperature in the
Temperature, °C

350 40 drier increased. After completion of the initial stage of dry-

300
30 ing, drying air temperature in the drier is found almost con-
250
200 Solar radiation
stant along the length of the drier. This indicated uniform
20
150 Ambient temperature thermal stress throughout the drier and the constant air
Collector outlet temperature 10 temperature inside the drier provided uniform drying
100
50 0 throughout the length of the drier.
09:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00

Time of a day, h 8. Drying of red and green chillies

Fig. 2. Variations of solar radiation, ambient temperature and drying air
temperature at the outlet of the collector with time of a typical day during Blanched chilli sample was dried in the solar tunnel drier
solar tunnel drying of red chilli (1 April 2000). and at the same time blanched and unblanched chilli sam-
 M.A. Hossain, B.K. Bala / Solar Energy 81 (2007) 85–92 89

ples were dried in the open sun. For comparison of drying vection. Moreover it lost heat energy to the surrounding
rate of red and green chillies in the solar tunnel drier with environments. So, temperature (average) in the drier was
that of in the open sun, the blanched chilli samples were higher than the ambient temperature and corresponding
dried in solar tunnel drier and in the open sun. Farmers relative humidity in the drier was lower than the ambient
of Bangladesh dry chilli without applying any pre-treat- relative humidity (Fig. 6). As a result, the drying rate of
ments and hence unblanched sample was dried in the open red chilli in the drier was found to be higher than that of
sun as a control sample. In this study, blanched sample in open sun. The drying rate of improved sun drying sam-
dried in the solar tunnel drier is termed as ‘solar tunnel dry- ple was found higher than that of conventional sun drying
ing’ and those dried in the open sun by blanching and sample although they were both dried in the open sun. This
unblanching are termed as ‘improved sun drying’ and ‘con- is due to the fact that the sample of improved sun drying
ventional sun drying’, respectively. The drier was loaded method was blanched and the tissues of this blanched chilli
with 80 kg of blanched chilli. The changes of moisture con- was cooked partially and the cell wall of chilli pods became
tent with drying time for a typical experimental run for soft, more permeable to moisture diffusion. As a result,
solar tunnel drying, improved sun drying and conventional transfer of moisture in the blanched sample was higher
sun drying of red chilli is shown in Fig. 5. Moisture content than that of unblanched sample. A comparison of drying
of red chilli reached to 0.05 kg kg1(db) from 2.85 kg kg1 of red chill of present study with Mangaraj et al. (2001)
(db) initial moisture content in 20 h of drying in solar tun- (solar green house type drier) and Kaleemullah and Kai-
nel drier while it took 32 h to bring down the moisture con- lappan (2005) (rotary drier) is given in Fig. 7. It is observed
tent of similar samples to 0.09 kg kg1(db) by improved from the figure that the drying rate of present study was
sun drying and 0.40 kg kg1 (db) by conventional sun dry- higher than those of Mangaraj et al. (2001) and Kaleemul-
ing method. This is due to the fact that the chilli in the drier lah and Kailappan (2005) but they follow the similar pat-
received energy from the radiation from the sun and more tern. This may be due to that the initial moisture content
energy transported from the collector by forced convection, of present study was (2.8 kg kg1 (db)) lower than Mang-
while the samples dried in the open sun received energy araj et al. (2001) (3.0 kg kg1 (db)) and Kaleemullah and
from only the incident solar radiation and less energy Kailappan (2005) (3.2 kg kg1 (db)) and also the chilli vari-
transported from surrounding environment by natural con- eties were different. Also, the drying air temperatures of
present study was 50–55 C and those of Mangaraj et al.
(2001) and Kaleemullah and Kailappan (2005) were 55
3 and 50 C, respectively.
The comparison of moisture content of green chilli in
Moisture content, kgkg-1 (db)

2.5
Solar tunnel drying the solar tunnel drier with those obtained by improved
Improved sun drying
2 Conventional sun drying
and conventional sun drying method of drying for a typical
experimental run conducted in the year 1999 is shown in
1.5
Fig. 8. Green chilli was dried to a moisture content of
1 0.06 kg kg1 (db) from 7.6 kg kg1 (db) in 22 h of drying
0.5
in solar tunnel drier as compared to 35 h of drying in open
sun by improved and conventional sun drying methods for
0 comparable samples to a final moisture content of 0.105
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
Drying time, h and 0.70 kg kg1 (db), respectively.
Fig. 5. Solar tunnel, improved sun and conventional sun drying of red There is a relationship between drying rate and moisture
chilli for a typical experimental run (6–10 April 2000). content of the product during drying. Drying rate versus
moisture content during solar tunnel drying of red chilli
and conventional sun drying of green chilli are shown in
70 80

60 70
Relative humidity, %

3.5
Temperature, °C

60
Moisture content, kgkg-1 (db)

50 Present study
50 3
Mangaraj et al. (2001)
40 Kaleemullah and Kailappan (2005)
40 2.5
30 2
30
Ambient temperature
20 1.5
Drier temperatue 20
Ambient relative humidity 1
10 10
Drier relative humidity
0.5
0 0
09:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00 0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Time, h Drying time, h

Fig. 6. Ambient and average drier temperature and relative humidity for a Fig. 7. Comparison of drying of red chillies of present study with other
typical day during solar tunnel drying of red chilli. investigators.
90
9 0.35
Moisture content kgkg-1 (db)
8 Solar tunnel drying
7 Improved sun drying
6
5 0.2
4
3
2
1 0.05
0 0
0 10
Fig. 8. Solar tunnel, improved sun and conventional sun drying of green
chilli for a typical experimental run (15–19 February 1999).
0.4
0.35
0.3
-1
Drying rate, kgkg-1h
0.25
0.2
0.15
0.1
0.05
0
0 0.5
Moisture content, kgkg-1 (db)
Fig. 9. Drying rate of red chilli as a function of moisture content during
solar tunnel drying.
Figs. 9 and 10, respectively. It is observed from the figures
that drying rate of chillies was higher at higher moisture
content and it decreased logarithmic as moisture content
reduced. At the initial stage of drying, moisture content
of chilli was high and more moisture was evaporated from
outer surface and outer layers of chilli. As the drying pro-
cess proceeded, the moisture on the surface decreased and
the evaporation zone moved from the surface into inside of
chilli and less evaporation took place and hence drying rate
reduced with the drying time as well as moisture content.
The following regression equations were developed for dry-
ing rate with the moisture content of red and green chillies.
For solar tunnel drying of red chilli:
DR ¼ 0:2598 þ 0:0796LnðMÞ ðR2 ¼ 0:95Þ
For improved sun drying of red chilli:
DR ¼ 0:1371 þ 0:0593LnðMÞ ðR2 ¼ 0:94Þ
For conventional sun drying of red chilli:
DR ¼ 0:0708 þ 0:0638LnðMÞ ðR2 ¼ 0:92Þ
For solar tunnel drying of green chilli:
DR ¼ 0:1399 þ 0:3793LnðMÞ ðR2 ¼ 0:97Þ
M.A. Hossain, B.K. Bala / Solar Energy 81 (2007) 85–92
2
0.3 R = 0.95
-1
Drying rate, kgkg-1 h
Conventional sun drying 0.25
0.15
0.1
20 30 40 0 2 4 6 8 10
Drying time, h Moisture content, kgkg-1 (db)
Fig. 10. Drying rate of green chilli as a function of moisture content
during conventional sun drying.
For improved sun drying of green chilli:
2
DR ¼ 0:1229 þ 0:2396LnðMÞ ðR2 ¼ 0:93Þ ð6Þ
R = 0.95
For conventional sun drying of green chilli:
DR ¼ 0:1137 þ 0:0732LnðMÞ ðR2 ¼ 0:95Þ ð7Þ
It is also evidence from the equations that for both red and
green chillies, drying rates were observed higher in solar
tunnel drier followed by improved sun drying and conven-
tional sun drying methods.
9. Quality of dried red and green chillies
1 1.5 2 2.5 3
The colour and pungency are considered to define the
quality of dried hot chillies as these properties reflect the
consumers’ acceptance and therefore the market price.
The mean colour value and pungency of dried red hot chilli
for different experimental runs conducted in the years 1999
and 2000 are shown in Table 1. There was no significant
difference between the colour value of the solar tunnel
dried red chilli and improved sun dried red chilli. The rea-
son might be that both solar and improved sun dried red
chilli was water blanched before drying. The mean colour
values obtained from conventional sun dried red chilli
was significantly lower than those obtained from solar tun-
nel and improved sun dried red chilli both in the years 1999
and 2000. As colour and pungency has a strong positive
correlation i.e. more is the colour, more pungent is the
chilli. Since the conventional sun dried red chilli was not
blanched and the colour as well as the pungency may be
reduced due to enzymatic browning. Production of
ð2Þ enzymes in fruits and vegetables leads to discolouration,
loss of vitamins and breakdown of tissues. Most of the
enzymes are inactivated at 70 C temperature (Scanlin,
1997). Also blanching reduces the enzymatic browning
ð3Þ and prevents the loss of colour of chilli (Chung et al.,
1992). Chilli samples in solar tunnel and improved sun dry-
ing method were water blanched at 80 C for 3 min. So,
ð4Þ colour as well as pungency losses of solar tunnel and
improved sun drying samples may be prevented. Higher
pungency index was found for the solar tunnel dried red
ð5Þ chilli than that of conventional sun dried red chilli but they
 M.A. Hossain, B.K. Bala / Solar Energy 81 (2007) 85–92 91

Table 1
Colour and pungency of solar tunnel, improved sun and conventional sun dried red chillies (mean ± standard error, n = 3)
Drying method Colour (EOA colour unit) Pungency index
Year 1999 Year 2000 Year 1999 Year 2000
Solar tunnel drying 4306.0 ± 93.8a 3751.8 ± 79.3a 2.317 ± 0.007 2.355 ± 0.008
Improved sun drying 4176.8 ± 87.1a 3646.7 ± 106.9a 2.285 ± 0.005 2.343 ± 0.005
Conventional sun drying 3682.4 ± 95.2b 3278.46 ±82.4b 2.302 ± 0.006 2.331 ± 0.007
Significance p 6 0.01 p 6 0.01 Not significant Not significant
Means in the same column with same letters are not significantly different from each other by DMRT.

Table 2
Colour and pungency of solar tunnel, improved sun and conventional sun dried green chilli (mean ± standard error, n = 3)
Drying method Colour (EOA colour unit) Pungency index
Year 1999 Year 2000 Year 1999 Year 2000
Solar tunnel drying 1380.9 ± 86.3a 1636.4 ± 98.1a 0.866 ± 0.005 0.926 ± 0.003
Improved sun drying 1324.3 ±79.8a 1491.9± 86.5a 0.849 ± 0.007 0.889 ± 0.006
Conventional sun drying 1064.7 ± 98.2b 1109.7 ±102.4b 0.894 ± 0.004 0.890 ± 0.004
Significance p 6 0.05 p 6 0.05 Not significant Not significant
Means in the same column with same letters are not significantly different from each other by DMRT.

are not statistically different (Table 1). Mangaraj et al.
(2001) found higher pungency from solar dried red chilli
than that of sun dried red chilli. It is also found in Table
1 that the colour values of red chillies in the years 1999
and 2002 were different. This may due to the variations
of chilli samples grown in years 1999 and 2000.
The mean colour value and pungency of dried green
chilli of different experimental runs conducted in the years
1999 and 2000 are given in Table 2. There was no signifi-
cant difference between the colour of the solar tunnel dried
green chilli and improved sun dried green chilli. The mean
colour values obtained from conventional sun dried green
chilli was significantly lower than those obtained from
solar tunnel and improved sun dried green chilli both in
the years 1999 and 2000. The values of pungency index
for solar tunnel drying, improved sun drying and conven-
tional sun drying samples of green chilli were almost simi-
lar and statistically alike.
10. Conclusions
Average air temperature rise in drier was about 21.62 C
above the ambient temperature and it was almost constant
in the drier. The solar tunnel drier can be used to dry up to
80 kg of fresh chillies. In all the cases, the use of this drier
led to considerable reduction in drying time in comparison
to that of conventional sun drying, and the products dried
using this drier were of better quality as compared to their
conventional sun dried counterparts. This drier can be eas-
ily constructed using locally available materials. This can
be operated by a photovoltaic module independent of elec-
trical grid. The photovoltaic system has an advantage
because the temperature of the drying air in the drier is
automatically controlled by the solar radiation and photo-
voltaic combination. Blanching retained more colour than
that of unblanched samples for red and green chillies with-
out reducing pungency. Hence, solar tunnel drier was
found to be technically suitable for drying of red and green
chillies.
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