Abstract
Newly constructed solar and biomass hybrid dryer consists of solar collector with solar tracking option, biomass backup heater and a drying chamber. The absorber of the trackable solar collector was made of black painted corrugated GI sheet and clear glass for the top. Saw dust was used as the fuel for the biomass burner. The drying chamber was built of plywood and insulated by aluminium foil. The performance was evaluated using five drying treatments with three replicates; namely, only with solar power (T1), solar power with tracking (T2), only with biomass (T3), with hybrid mode (T4), and direct sun drying (T5; Control). Invented hybrid dryer reduced the initial moisture content of Musa spp. (banana), Artocarpus heterophyllus (jackfruit) and Pleurotus ostreatus (oyster mushroom) from 80%, 74% and 90% to 12%, 12% and 10%, respectively. Under no-load condition, the average temperature of drying chamber reached to 45.040C with solar drying and 55.650C with solar tracking option, while the ambient temperature was 33.520C. The solar collector efficiency obtained from the no-load test was 34.07%. Results revealed that the dryer can reduce the high initial moisture contents up to a safe storage moisture content within a day. With the support of the backup heater, the dryer can be used even under the inadequate solar radiation. Improper drying chamber insulation was observed as a limitation.
Highlights
In Sri Lanka, agriculture represents a considerable part of the economy
Plate 1, and its components; solar collector, biomass burner and drying chamber are shown in Plate 2, 3 and 4, respectively
In 2002, Bena et al studied a hybrid drying system, which consisted of a direct-type natural convection solar drying cabinet mounted on top of a brick chamber that enclosed a simple biomass burner and obtained overall 6% drying efficiency for pineapple in the night mode
Summary
In Sri Lanka, agriculture represents a considerable part of the economy. National food production still does not meet the demand. Seasonal fluctuations of the production, post-harvest losses due to lack of appropriate preservation and storage system caused serious losses in national agricultural production. Drying is one of the most cost-effective way of preserving foods, which involves removal of water by application of heat (Chen et al 2008). Sri Lanka obtains adequate solar energy intensity (15-20 MJ m-2day-1) and a large number of days of sunshine (Renne et al 2016). Solar energy is traditionally used by the food industry for drying of spices, fish, vegetables, paddy and agricultural base products. Amount of solar energy available is not utilized in the maximum level in food production and processing industry
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