Chicken meat is a high protein source, essential minerals, and vitamins and has low cholesterol content. Therefore, it is one of the most consumed poultry globally (124.6 million tons in 2019; OECD-FAO, 2019), and its production has a growth trend. However, fresh chicken meat has a short shelf life because of bacterial contaminants due to its high-water activity (~0.80; Iglesias & Chirife, 1982), allowing microorganisms to break down fats and proteins, causing undesirable flavors and odors (Bell & Weaver, 2002).Therefore, chicken meat needs to be processed to prolong its shelf life. On the other hand, given the fast-paced modern lifestyle, there is a tendency to consume dehydrated food as slices, powder, or strips ready to eat, with a high shelf life. In addition, drying reduces food weight and volume, packaging, and transportation costs, increasing profit margins.

Sugar is a natural high-calorie sweetener. Its excessive consumption is associated with health problems such as obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and degenerative issues. The stevia plant is a great natural substitute. It provides no calories and has medicinal properties such as oral antibacterial, hypoglycemic, and anti-hypertensive with a high nutritional value. In this work, the effects of temperature and air velocity in drying kinetics of stevia leaves were studied using a convective drier operating with air velocities (2, 3, and 4 m/s) and temperatures controlled (45 °C, 55 °C, and 65 °C). The highest drying rate was obtained at 65 °C and 4 m/s air velocity at 0.05 kg water/kg dry matter min. The experimental data were fitted to theoretical drying models to determine the best approach. It is found that the Page model gives a good fit for all experiments, with correlation coefficients ( R2) > 0.9994. The equations to correlate this model's variables with air and temperature were determined. The results show that Δ E and glucoside values increase when temperature and air velocity increase.

Water scarcity and sufficient energy sources without affecting climate change are complex problems facing humanity. Water purification, such as desalination using solar radiation as an energy source, is a mature technology method that provides economic savings in electricity, gas, and oil consumption, achieving good quality fresh water. Solar water distillation is an example of nature's purification mechanism through the water cycle. This paper presents a solar still design and construction with easily accessible, low-cost materials and simple manufacturing, which obtain the patent MX2020/070739. The energy evaluation and experimental results are also presented, verifying the device's technical feasibility. As a result, water production of 805/day was obtained, with a maximum solar irradiance of 980 W/m2 and 36 °C ambient temperature and the efficiency during the test days was 38%. Using the distiller can benefit rural communities in Mexico by obtaining fresh water, achieving significant energy savings, and contributing to caring for the environment. Keywords: Solar Irradiance, Solar still, Energy efficiency, Solar Technologies