Comparism of NIFFR Improved smoking kiln with the Traditional Smoking Kiln

Abstract

Fish drying has been the traditional method of processing and preserving fish in developing countries. Traditional fish smoking using the Banda and the drum ovens has been adopted in the past. However as a result of the hazard and time consuming involved in traditional smoking of fish, the need for modern and mechanized fish smoking kiln is encouraged. The Design and fabricated of NIFFR Improved 200kg batch capacity smoking kiln was used for smoking fish. The smoking kiln uses either firewood or charcoal as heat source for drying of fish. Trials were conducted on the newly fabricated smoking kiln, and the output shows low consumption of heat source, the smoked fish were better than those from the traditional fish smoking kilns in term of appearance. Batch smoking operation is concluded within 36 hours with the consumption of 5kg fire wood. An excessive heat loss is minimized by the rock wool used as insulating material. Heat transfer was as a result of transient conduction and temperature of the smoking chamber was maintained at 140oC.