Development of sensible heat storage based solar hybrid dryer with evacuated tube collector and biomass gasifier for shrimp drying

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The work was aimed at developing an energy-efficient solar hybrid dryer with a biomass-based gasifier heat backup suitable for drying shrimps even during off-sunshine hours. In this dryer, water was utilized as a sensible heat storage (SHS) material as well as heat transfer fluid and biomass gasifier as an indirect backup heat source. The performance of the solar-gasifier hybrid dryer was assessed by drying shrimp (Metapenaeus dobsoni) samples and compared it with solar, and gasifier modes. Shrimp obtained the desired moisture content of 15.09 %, 13.46%, and 14.77% (w.b.) in 9 h, 6 h, and 6 h of drying in solar mode, gasifier mode, and solar-gasifier hybrid drying mode, respectively. The average drying rate of the solar, gasifier and hybrid modes of drying were 0.33 g/g dm.h, 0.46 g/g dm.h, and 0.47 g/g dm.h, respectively. Results revealed that the evacuated tube solar water collector harnessed 193104 kJ and 160185 kJ of heat energy during sunshine hours under the solar and hybrid mode of operation. The maximum drying efficiency of 34.97%, 35.62%, and 41.66% was obtained for gasifier mode, solar mode, and hybrid mode of shrimp drying. The economic evaluation revealed that the hybrid mode of operation is highly economical with the annual savings of $10983.06 and the lowest payback period of 0.62 years.