Modification and the Performance Enhancement of Solar Biomass Dryer

TL;DR

This study develops and tests a solar biomass hybrid dryer with improved design features, demonstrating its effectiveness and efficiency in drying green chili and other crops, suitable for small-scale farmers in developing regions.

Contribution

It introduces a modified solar biomass dryer with enhanced performance through design improvements like turbulent airflow and better insulation.

Findings

Collector temperature exceeded ambient by up to 30°C

Collector efficiency was 46.54%

Dryer effectively dried green chili in suitable conditions

Abstract

Drying is an important agricultural process, particularly for crops, and shriveled products are used all over the world. The performance of drying green chili was also tested in this article, which created an alternate way of drying agricultural products. The goal of this study is to provide a solar biomass hybrid dryer with improved design, construction, and performance testing. During most hours of the trial, the temperature within the solar collector and dryer was sufficiently higher than the ambient temperature, according to the results obtained during the test period. The temperature of the ambient air at the collector intake ranged from 30 to 35 degrees Celsius. The temperature of the air at the collector's outlet ranged from 54 to 64 degrees Celsius, while the temperature of the drying chamber ranged from 51 to 60 degrees Celsius, making it suitable for drying green chili and a variety of other agricultural products. The collector was found to be 46.54 percent efficient. The findings revealed that the alteration of the collector, which produces turbulent air flow and improves chamber wall insulation, affects drying. Based on the results of this study, the created solar biomass hybrid drier is cost-effective for small-scale crop growers in rural areas of developing countries.