Studi Kinetika Pengeringan Kunyit (Curcuma Longa Linn) secara Alami dengan Sinar Matahari Langsung (Natural Drying)

Abstract

Drying is the evaporation of water into the air due to differences in the moisture content between the air and the material being dried. Drying kinetics is the drying rate of a material being dried. Mathematical model of drying is important to predict the performance of the drying process. This research aims to obtain kinetics and mathematical models of natural drying of turmeric with thickness variations of 0.5 cm, 1 cm, 1.5 cm and 2 cm. Along with getting the average drying time, drying rate, and physical differences before and after drying with organoleptic tests. This research was conducted by cutting turmeric with a length of 3 cm, a width of 1 cm, and with variations in thickness of 0.5 cm, 1 cm, 1.5 cm and 2 cm. then drying with indoor and outdoor drying variations. Record the change in the mass of the turmeric every hour of drying until the mass of the turmeric becomes constant. Then it is dried using an oven to get the initial water content of the turmeric. Followed by data processing using Microsoft Excel and IBM SPSS. The drying results obtained the average final moisture content for indoor drying was 25.61% and for outdoor drying was 20.83%. The average drying time required for indoor drying with the 3x1x0.5 variation is 23 hours, the 3x1x1 variation is 34 hours, the 3x1x1.5 variation is 51 hours, and the 3x1x2 variation is 71 hours. Whereas for outdoor drying with variation 3x1x0.5 is for 14 hours, variation 3x1x1 is for 24 hours, variation 3x1x1.5 is for 35 hours, and variation 3x1x2 is for 44 hours. The mathematical model obtained tends to be in a cubic equation, namely Y=k+ax+bx2+cx3. When viewed from the color, turmeric after drying is redder than the turmeric before drying. And if viewed from the FTIR test, there is no significant difference before drying and after drying.