Drying characteristics of kenaf for animal feed using laboratory and commercial dryers

A. Samsudin, I. Ab. Aziz, A. Shafie and O. Othman

Abstract

Mature kenaf is well known for its high quality fibre, however the immature plant has a great potential to be processed for animal feed. Drying has been identified as an appropriate method for handling and storage of kenaf prior to processing for animal feed. Kenaf, which was properly dried using dryer, contained more than 20% protein with the brightness (L*), greenness (a*) and yellowness (b*) values measured at 44.0, – 8.0 and 23.0 respectively. Drying of kenaf at 60, 70 and 80 °C using laboratory dryer took 8, 6 and 4 h respectively. Kenaf dried at 80 °C showed no quality difference to the product dried at 60 °C and 70 °C. Drying of 200 kg kenaf using commercial dryer at 80 °C took 15 h. The overall thermal efficiency of evaluated dryer is 63.5% and the drying cost to produce a kilogramme of dried kenaf is about RM2.50.

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