CIAT to hold a workshop on flash drying for starch and cassava flour
Within the framework of the project on scaling flash drying technology, financed by CGIAR’s research program on Roots, Tubers and Bananas (RTB), CIAT through the cassava program will hold the workshop “Low-cost flash dryer for starch and cassava flour at small scale” from August 8 to 13 at its headquarters in Palmira, Colombia.
The workshop will include participants such as producers of small-scale cassava starch and flour, and equipment manufacturers for the food industry from Brazil, Dominican Republic, Colombia, DR Congo and Nigeria.
Practical sessions will use the flash dryer prototype built at CIAT to evaluate and determine: appropriate dryer dimensions, energy consumption efficiency, optimum heat transfers, burners and heat exchangers, construction techniques for quality equipment, and economic considerations for developing a business plan for investment and use of flash dryer technology.
“The purpose of the workshop is to transmit to the participants knowledge in technical and economical aspects of the design, manufacture and use of flash dryers at small scale. What contributes most to the operations costs is the high energy consumption during drying,” said Alejandro Taborda, researcher for CIAT’s cassava program.
Through this workshop, participants will learn how to design a flash dryer, modify an existing one, and calculate the potential benefits of the technology. This is in order for producers to improve the efficiency of their processes in starch and cassava flour production.