View article

In the present work, a modified solar dryer (MSD) assembled with a solar collector consisting of phase change material (PCM)—thermal storage unit has been designed and the dryer performance investigated while drying blood fruit. The proposed design of MSD with double‐glazed glass on a solar collector increased the drying air temperature by 15%–18%. The mean temperature in the drying chamber of MSD was 60°C with 10–12 hr of the continuous drying period. The Midilli model was well suitable to explain the drying kinetics of the blood fruit in MSD. The quality parameters like color, TPC, TFC, and antioxidant activity of dried slices were compared with fresh samples. Simulated model behaviors were similar to experimental values with an RMSE and RMSE% remaining below 1.2°C and 0.86%, respectively. Environmental impact analysis of MSD showed that the energy payback and cost payback periods …