Kajian Perilaku Proses Pengeringan Kemoreaksi dengan Kapur Api (CaO) untuk Pengeringan Materi Hidup (Kasus ; Benih Cabai Merah)

Abstract

Pengeringan hasil pertanian di Indonesia umumnya dengan cam penjemuran dibawah sinar matahari, sedangkan untuk tingkat industri menggunakan alat-alat pengering buatan. Suhu tinggi dan tidak terkontrol dalam proses pengeringan, akan merugikan jika digunakan untuk pengeringan bahan-bahan yang peka terhadap suhu tinggi seperti enzim, vaksin, serum dan benih. Berdasarkan ha1 ini maka perlu dikembangkan metode pengeringan dengan suhu rendah yang salah satunya adalah pengeringan secara kemoreaksi dengan kapur api (CaO).

In Indonesia, in small scale, drying process is usually done with sunlight, meanwhile in industrial scale, it is done by drying machineries. The uncontrollable environmental condition and heat exposure may be detrimental to the products being dried, especially on susceptible materials such as enzyme, vaccine, serum or seeds. Drying process with quicklime (CaO) is potential since it might be more controllable and do not cause excessive heat. This research is aimed to study the drying process behaviour of quicklime on red chilli seed. The drying tool was a cabinet dryer which was tightly closed, gasproof, and heatproof. The cabinet's wall consist of 3 layers. The outer surface was made of triplex wood, followed by styrofoam and fiberglass as insulator. The cabinet was furnished with two doors: the outside door were layered by the same materials with the wall, meanwhile the inside door was made of transparent fiberglass. Five racks were put on the inside of the cabinet. The upper and the lower racks were filled with quicklime, while the middle were filled with red chilli seed.