Drying Kinetics of Beef during the First Stage Drying of <i>Kilishi</i>

Abstract

Kilishi refers to thin strips of meat that are first dried, infused in a slurry of spices and groundnut cake, re-dried and roasted over a glowing flame. This study  investigated the effect of drying conditions on the drying characteristics of meat slices for first stage Kilishi production. Thin strips of meat having 3 mm thickness were dried in a rotary dryer at 40, 50 and 60^oC and at a constant velocity of 1.0 m/s. Nine thin-layer drying models were applied to predict the moisture ratio of the dried meat slices. Activation energy and effective diffusivity were also calculated. Drying was observed to take place only during the falling rate period and drying time decreased with increasing drying temperature. Of all models tested, the modified Henderson and Pabis model had the best fit at 40 and 60^oC while the Wang and Singh model had the best fit at 50 oC drying temperature. Effective moisture diffusivity levels increased with increasing drying temperature and low activation energy was obtained. This research provides information on the low energy  requirement involved in first stage drying of meat for Kilishi production. The data obtained can be used in designing a dryer with optimal efficiency.

Keywords: Drying characteristics, Kilishi, activation energy, moisture diffusivity, energy.