Fish is an important component of human and livestock diets worldwide. It has high nutritional values. It supplies reasonable
parts of the global protein especially in developing countries where there is a high rate of malnutrition. Fish provides
nourishing foods and it is often cheaper than meat. Hence, it is available to a larger number of people. Conversely, fresh fish
has a very short shelf life and the traditional method of its preservation is time consuming and unhygienic. The main aim of
this work was to develop a charcoal fired fish dryer. Design considerations were made for the effective design of the fish
dryer. The development of the fish dryer was based on some fundamental drying parameters and assumptions which were used
in calculating some basic operational features of the dryer. The dryer is a cabinet type designed for small scale processors.
The capacity of the dryer is 10 kg per batch. The efficiency of the dryer was calculated as 68.98, 88.69 and 94.85% at 30, 50
and 70 rpm fan speed respectively. Drying time was found to have a significant effect on the drying rate at 1% probability
level. Tray position and the fan speed have no significant effect on the drying rate of fish. This implies there is even
distribution of heat in the drying chamber.
Key words: Charcoal fired fish dryer, small scale processors, dryer efficiency,
drying rate
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