Chapter 235 - Experimental Studies on a Solar Assisted Drying System For Herbal Tea

Abstract

This chapter presents the experimental studies conducted on herbal tea or green tea using a solar assisted drying system. The solar drying system has an array of collector with the size of 20 m2. It is located at the Solar Energy Research Park, Universiti Kebangsaan, Malaysia. Fresh tealeaves from the plantation is first soaked in warm water for five minutes. Water from the tealeaves will be drained out and dried in the drying chamber. The collector is of the V-groove type. The system has two fans to circulate air. A 10 kW auxiliary heater is also included and will be turned on if the temperature of the drying chamber is less than the specified preset temperature of 50°C. A drying chamber of 55°C can be reached at solar radiation levels of 600–700 W/m 2 and ambient temperature range of 27–30°C. The flow rate is fixed at 15.1 m3/min. The initial moisture content is 87% and the final moisture content is 54%. In total, 12 hours of drying time is required where solar energy contributes about 56% of the total energy requirement.