Deshidratación de guayaba (Psidium guajava) en forma de rodaja mediante radiación solar en un secador directo

The objective of this work is to reduce the moisture content of the guava (Psidium guajava) cut in slices, through the solar radiation characteristic in the area of the capital of the state of Zacatecas. Natural convection and forced convection were used to achieve the objective of this study. The selected guava comes from the municipality of Jalpa, Zacatecas. Moisture was evaluated with an OHAUS MB45 thermogravimetric scale, then the guava slices were placed in polymer mesh trays with dimensions of 34.2 cm long and 24 cm wide. They were introduced inside a transparent dryer with dimensions of 74 cm x 80 cm of base and a frontal height of 13 cm and posterior of 40 cm. A Checktemp 1 thermometer was placed inside the dryers to evaluate the temperature in the drying process. The initial humidity of the guava was 50.51%, the final moisture obtained in the natural convection was 8.08%, while in the forced convection it was 8.32%, after 8 hours of drying.