Author(s)

Majid Khan Majahar Ali¹, Ahmad Fudholi², Jumat Sulaiman¹, Mohd Hafidz Ruslan², Suhaimi Md. Yasir³

¹Mathematics with Economics Programme, School of Science and Technology, University Malaysia Sabah, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia.
²Solar Energy Research Institute (SERI), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia.
³Seaweed Research Unit (UPRL), School of Science and Technology, University Malaysia Sabah, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia.

A sauna drying technique—the solar drier was designed and imposed, constructed and tested for drying of seaweed. The seaweed moisture content was decreased around 50% in 2-day sauna. Kinetic curves of drying of seaweed were known to be used in this system. The non-linear regression procedure was used to fit three different drying models. The models were compared with experimental data of red seaweed being dried on the daily average of air temperature about 40℃. The fit quality of the models was evaluated using the coefficient of determination (R2), Mean Bias Error (MBE) and Root Mean Square Error (RMSE). The highest values of R² (0.99027), the lowest MBE (0.00044) and RMSE (0.03039) indicated that the Page model was the best mathematical model to describe the drying behavior of sauna dried seaweed. The percentage of the saved time using this technique was calculated at 57.9% on the average solar radiation of about 500 W/m2 and air flow rate of 0.056 kg/s.

Mathematical Modeling, Sauna Technique, Drying Curve, Moisture Content, Seaweed, Kappaphycus striatum

Ali, M. , Fudholi, A. , Sulaiman, J. , Ruslan, M. and Yasir, S. (2014) Sauna Technique, Drying Kinetic Modeling and Effectiveness on Solar Drying Compared with Direct Drying in Drying Process of Kappaphycus striatum in Selakan Island Malaysia. Energy and Power Engineering, 6, 303-315. doi: 10.4236/epe.2014.69026.