An Engineered solar crop and meat dryer for rural Africa: A techno-economic outlook

Abstract

This paper introduces a new solar crop dryer design for small scale entrepreneurs going into crop storage and marketing. It is an indirect drying system requiring 2 m2 ground space for installation of both the 2 m2 collector and the 1 m3 dryer chamber. Both collector and dryer are designed de-novo, and manufactured to give one assembly. The assembly is then analysed for heat and mass transfer using both TRNSYS and MATLAB software. For places with an equatorial climate, the system is predicted to be adequate for a start, with daily moisture removal limits of between 12 and 15 kg. This translates to a drying rate of about 20 kg/day wet produce from 75% to 12% moisture content. An economic analysis is done for two cases of direct manufacture and importation. In either case, it is found that breakeven is possible within the first one to two years of acquisition for high value products - in part because of the heavy crop and price losses currently experienced with sun drying. It is therefore concluded that the new product may not only be helpful in reducing food waste, but that it might also have economic viability to commercial entrepreneurs.