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SOLAR DRYERS FOR DRYING AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS

Conference Paper · April 2015

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 International Journal of Engineering Research-Online
A Peer Reviewed International Journal Vol.3., S2, 2015
Articles available online http://www.ijoer.in

IC-QUEST 2015 ISSN: 2321-7758

SOLAR DRYERS FOR DRYING AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS

LOKESH R. DHUMNE1, VIPIN H. BIPTE2, Prof. Y. M. JIBHKATE3

1
Research scholar, Heat Power Engineering, Kavikulguru Institute of Technology & Science,
Ramtek, Dist. Nagpur, Maharashtra, India lokesh.dhumne@gmail.com
2
Research scholar, Heat Power Engineering, Kavikulguru Institute of Technology & Science,
Ramtek, Dist. Nagpur, Maharashtra, India, vipinbipte05@gmail.com
3
Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering Kavikulguru Institute of Technology & Science,
Ramtek, Maharashtra, India; ymjibhkate@yahoo.co.in
ABSTRACT
1
This paper attempts to discuss about the need of drying agricultural products and the various
methods used for drying agricultural products. Drying is one of the oldest methods for preserving agricultural
products. Drying process theoretically requires approximately 2.4 MJ energy for every one litre of water to
evaporate. Many of our food crops are 80-90% water and most of this needs to be removed for long term
storage. In practice, most of the dryers used have an operating efficiency of less than 50% and this indicates
that significant amounts of energy are used in this post-harvest activity. Open air sun drying of agricultural
products is the traditional method employed in most of the developing countries. Sun drying is used to
denote the exposure of a commodity to direct solar radiation and the convective power of the natural wind.
Drying is cheapest and most common method of preservation and storing of agricultural products.

Index Terms— Solar dryer, agricultural product, convection, ambient temperature, drying rat
I. INTRODUCTION Bacteriological shelf life of dried products depends
Many of the agricultural products have high on the water activity also known as relative
moisture content which makes them vulnerable to moisture content of the product. For each product,
microbial and other spoilages due to biochemical relative moisture content matches to a certain
reactions. Therefore drying or dehydration activities value. It is important to know this relative moisture
must be carried out as preventive measures to lower content. Relative moisture content is measured in
moisture content of the product. Drying is a process percentage and can be in between 0% to 100%.
of removal of water from the food to inhibit Dried products have low water activity or relative
biochemical processes and microbial growth. Drying moisture content.
Increases the shelf-life of the product, so that it can The relation between the moisture content of
be available during off seasons. The open air sun product and its relative growth of micro-organisms
drying is one of the oldest and well known processes is given in Table I
for preserving agricultural product for a long time. Table I
There are certain new techniques are introduced for % Relative
efficient drying process such as hot air drying or Moisture Grow of micro organisms
dielectric heating. But these processes require a Content
huge amount of energy which is generally obtained > 95% All organism can grow
from conventional energy sources like fossil fuels.
75% All yeasts, moulds and most bacteria
With the depletion of fossil fuels and hike in energy
prices, more and more emphasis is being given to All moulds and some yeasts and
60%
bacteria
utilize renewable energy sources for drying.
II. PRINCIPLE OF DRYING 40% All moulds and only Staphylococci

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Proceedings of 4 International Conference On Quality Up-gradation in Engineering, Science & Technology
80 (ICQUEST_2015) Organized by Bapurao Deshmukh College of Engineering, Sevagram, Wardha – 442 102,
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Maharashtra, India; 11 April.,2015
 International Journal of Engineering Research-Online
A Peer Reviewed International Journal Vol.3., S2, 2015
Articles available online http://www.ijoer.in

25% Most moulds A. SUN DRYING

Sun drying is one of the most widespread and cheap
15% Some moulds methods practiced by most developing and
< 10% No growth of micro organisms underdeveloped countries, especially in tropics,
where good sunshine hours available throughout
The relative moisture content higher than 43%
the year. In this process food commodities are laid
causes enzymatic and chemical spoilage in the
on a platform in a thin layer for uniform drying. The
product. But the oxidation of fats cannot be avoided
sun’s heat not only reduces the moisture level as
by drying the product. Most of dried fruits contain
desired, but also kills insects present in the food
20-25% of moisture. Drying is the process of
product. Sun drying has certain limitations as it is
removing water from the product. Drying the
dependent on the weather and sunshine hours.
outside parts of product is very simple and
During uncertain rain and precipitation, the
evaporation of water can happen very fast by
materials are not dried properly, which causes
heating up the air and by moving the air fast. This is
microbial growth and other qualitative
very much important to transport this water from
deteriorations. The drying process usually takes a
the product to the outside. This process can be
long time, thus causing infestation from insects,
increased by heating up the product. In practice
birds, and animals. Also, this method of drying
there is a maximum temperature at which the
requires a large area. Despite these disadvantages,
product can be dried, because too high temperature
sun drying is still practiced in many parts of the
can damage it (structure, taste and smell). During
world.
the drying process, also other conditions like
B. SOLAR DRYER
contamination of foreign bodies, chemicals, dust
The open air drying or sun drying has many
and bacteria is also important. For fast and perfect
limitations and due to the rise of fuel prices,
drying, the circumstances must be optimal and
depletion of fossil fuels, the use of modern drying
process should be controlled. Modern drying
technologies are not economical for drying
systems can do this in very effective and economical
agricultural product. Hence solar drying systems
manner.
have been developed as a successful and
METHODS OF DRYING economical tool for drying agricultural product.
Solar dryers are available in various ranges of size Solar drying is achieved by direct sun radiation and
and design and are used for drying of various greenhouse effect. The solar energy received by the
agricultural products. Various types of Dryers are drying chamber is dependent on the sunshine hours,
available as per requirement of farmers. Primarily all climate, weather, atmospheric clearness, and
the drying systems are classified on the basis of their location. According to E V Fodor [1], on a clear day
operating temperature ranges that is High solar radiation available to any location is
Temperature solar dryer and Low Temperature Solar dependent on the angle of the sun relative to
dryer. Following criteria's are required for the horizon. Solar energy is free, renewable, abundant,
classification of solar dryer:- and an environment friendly energy source. This
 Air movement mode reduces drying time due to effective utilization of
 Insulation exposure solar energy. It maintains the quality of the food
 Air flow direction products and acts as an ideal substitute for fossil
 Dryer arrangement fuel based dryers. The two basic limitations faced by
 Solar contribution the solar dryers are sunshine hours and weather
 Type of fruit to be dried change. There are two types of solar driers; the
The various modern techniques used for drying Passive Type (natural convection) dryer and the
agricultural products are as follows: Active Type (forced convection) or Hybrid Solar
dryer.
As per Ekechukwu [2], these solar driers may be
again sub-grouped under three categories: (i)
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Proceedings of 4 International Conference On Quality Up-gradation in Engineering, Science & Technology
81 (ICQUEST_2015) Organized by Bapurao Deshmukh College of Engineering, Sevagram, Wardha – 442 102,
th
Maharashtra, India; 11 April.,2015
 International Journal of Engineering Research-Online
A Peer Reviewed International Journal Vol.3., S2, 2015
Articles available online http://www.ijoer.in

Integral type (direct mode), (ii) distributed type

(indirect type), and (iii) mixed mode.
In a direct type, solar drying material is placed in a
drying chamber having a transparent cover through
which solar radiation enters and heats the food
materials to be dried. In an indirect mode, solar
energy is captured by a solar collector, which in turn
heats the air. This heated air is then passed to the
drying cabinet/chamber. In mixed mode, solar
energy is collected in separate solar collector and
heated air is then passed over the drying material.
The drying materials absorb the solar energy directly
Fig. 1.Natural solar dryer ( the arrows
through the transparent cover and walls.
refer to air streamlines)
C. SOLAR NATURAL DRYER
D. SEMI ARTIFICIAL SOLAR DRYERS
These are directly irradiated solar dryers, where the
These are direct heated solar convective dryers. In
products absorb solar energy directly. The dryers are
these dryers, air is preheated by solar energy in a
provided with transparent cover, such as glass or
collector. The drying system usually consists of a
polyethylene. The upper layer is heated and dried by
solar collector and a fan for maintaining a specified
direct solar radiation and the subsequent layers are
air flow through the drying space. These dryers are
heated through conduction. Polyhouse or
cheap to construct and can be employed where the
greenhouse drying is an example of solar natural
drying material is not sensitive to periodic changes
dryers. Since the drying process is dependent on
in the drying conditions caused by periodic nature of
weather and sunshine hours, a constant drying
the solar radiation and changing atmospheric
temperature cannot be maintained. High outdoor
conditions. K Lutz [6] and his co-workers had
temperature, low humidity, and clear skies are the
developed a multipurpose solar tunnel dryer
ideal conditions for solar dryers. The inside air
consisting of a fan, solar heater, and tunnel dryer.
temperature of the polyhouse is about 20–30 °C
The use of this dryer had reduced the drying time
warmer than the outside air temperature, which
considerably with better end product quality.
makes the drying faster as compared to open sun
E. SOLAR ASSISTED OR INDIRECT TYPE SOLAR DRYER
drying, thus reducing drying time. Pangavhane et
In this type of dryer, solar energy is used to heat a
al.[3] have designed a solar dryer consisting of a
fluid or sand pebble, which in turn heats the drying
solar air heater and a drying chamber. They
air. These usually have auxiliary energy source, such
observed that the drying time in a solar dryer was
as a thermo-generator fuelled by biomass, natural
four days as compared to seven days in open sun
gas or oil, to be used in situations where solar
drying and 15 days in shade drying for production of
energy collected is insufficient for drying purpose.
resins from grapes. A solar tunnel dryer designed for
Better control of temperature results in a better
drying agricultural crops, by Bala et al.[4], consisted
quality product. The solar dryer developed by El-
of a transparent plastic covering the flat plate
Sebaii et al.[7] consisted of a flat plate solar air
collector. The drying tunnel is connected in a series
heater connected to a cabinet, acting as a drying
to supply hot air directly into the drying tunnel using
chamber.
two DC fans operated by a solar module. Bena and
Fuller [5] described that biomass-generated energy
serves as a backup for such direct convection type
natural solar dryers, thus improving the dryer
efficiency.

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Proceedings of 4 International Conference On Quality Up-gradation in Engineering, Science & Technology
82 (ICQUEST_2015) Organized by Bapurao Deshmukh College of Engineering, Sevagram, Wardha – 442 102,
th
Maharashtra, India; 11 April.,2015
 International Journal of Engineering Research-Online
A Peer Reviewed International Journal Vol.3., S2, 2015
Articles available online http://www.ijoer.in

Hohenheim University in Germany known as the

Hohenheim solar dryer [9]. The dryer is one of the
direct type family of solar dryers and can be
conveniently described as a long low transparent
tunnel. In its standard form, the solar dryer is 18
metres long and 2 metres wide. It consists of two
sections or zones. The first eight metres of the unit
act as the solar collector and the second ten metres
are used for the drying bed. Each zone has the same
cross-section and is covered with a transparent film
glazing (Fig. 2) and therefore both the solar collector
surface and the crop simultaneously absorb any
solar radiation incident on the unit.
Fig. 2 Indirect Type Solar Dryer
The air heater is designed to insert various storage
materials under the absorber plate to improve the
drying process. Sand is used as a storage material.
Since heat dissipated by sand is gradual, it reduces
the drying time by 12 hours and the total drying
time can be achieved in eight hours with suitable
pre-treatment given to the fruits.
F. HYBRID DRYER
These dryers are usually direct-type solar dryers, but
are backed up by an auxiliary energy source, so that
during the less sunshine hours and cloudy weather Fig. 3 Cross section through the Hohenheim solar
the energy back-up can be utilized to dry food dryer
materials without interruption. This usually results in ADVANTAGES OF SOLAR DRYERS
better product quality. Bhattacharya et al. [8] have The various advantages associated with the use of
developed a hybrid solar dryer using direct solar solar dryers are:
energy and a heat exchanger. The dryer consists of a  Solar dryer can save fuel and electricity and
solar collector, reflector, heat exchanger cum heat drying time in solar dryer is reduced in
storage unit, and a drying chamber. The drying comparison to open drying method.
chamber is placed beneath the collector. The dryer  Fruits and vegetables dried in solar dryer
is operated during normal sunny days as a solar are better in quality and hygienic than dried
dryer and as a hybrid solar dryer during cloudy days. in open.
Drying is also carried out at night using stored heat  Products are protected against flies, rain
energy, in which it is collected during the daytime and dust; product can be left in the dryer
and with electric heaters located at water tank. The overnight during rain, since dryers are
efficiency of the solar dryer is enhanced by recycling waterproof.
about 65 per cent of the drying air in the solar dryer.  It Reduces Losses and Better market price
Under mid-European summer conditions, it can to the products
increase the air temperature 30–40 °C above the  Materials required for fabrication of solar
ambient temperature. dryer are locally available.
G. THE HOHENHEIM SOLAR DRYER  The use of solar dryer involves no fire risks.
The original design for this solar dryer was  The dryers can be connected in series and
developed at the Institute for Agricultural hence its capacity can be enhanced as per
Engineering in the Tropics and Subtropics at requirement and it can be dismantled easily
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Proceedings of 4 International Conference On Quality Up-gradation in Engineering, Science & Technology
83 (ICQUEST_2015) Organized by Bapurao Deshmukh College of Engineering, Sevagram, Wardha – 442 102,
th
Maharashtra, India; 11 April.,2015
 International Journal of Engineering Research-Online
A Peer Reviewed International Journal Vol.3., S2, 2015
Articles available online http://www.ijoer.in

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Proceedings of 4 International Conference On Quality Up-gradation in Engineering, Science & Technology
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Maharashtra, India; 11 April.,2015

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