Drying performance of fermented cassava (fercaf) using a convective multiple flash dryer

Fermented cassava (fercaf) is a tropical versatile carbohydrate source flour which is produced by modifying the characteristics of cassava. Drying process is one of the processes that could influence the quality of fercaf. In general, for food application, convective and vacuum drying were used, however recently another advanced method using combination of both convective and vacuum, i.e. convective multiple flash drying (CMFD), was proposed. This method is conducted by repeating cycles of convective and vacuum drying in intermittent manner. Cassava chips with thickness of 0.1-0.2 cm were fermented for 24 hours at room condition. Then, the drying process was conducted by using 3 techniques, i.e. convective, vacuum, and combined method (CMFD), with operation temperatures between 50 and 70°C for 10 hours or until fermented cassava reached a moisture content of less than 20%. The study shows that CMFD was the fastest drying method with only 5-6 hours period compared to 8-10 hours using vacuum and more than 10 hours using convective method. CMFD also produces harder fercaf chips than those of vacuum and convective methods. Moreover, this research also proves that the operating pressure and temperature influence the moisture content.