Beta
282855

Improving the performance of an indirect solar dryer using moisture adsorbent materials

Article

Last updated: 01 Jan 2025

Subjects

-

Tags

Environmental chemistry

Abstract

This article presents a Modified Indirect Solar Dryer (MISD) with the integration of polyvinyl chloride tube (PVC) for recycling the hot air in a close circulation system. Meanwhile, a Silica gel beds (SGB) were used between trays of drying chamber at the air outlet to adsorb moisture. In addition, the basil leaves were dried in MISD, Unmodified Indirect Solar Dryer (UMISD) and Direct Solar Dryer (DSD) as well as the drying parameters were investigated. The indirect solar dyers were a forced convection of hot air by an electric fan operated by a photovoltaic panel and installed on top of them to maximize the utilization of solar energy at any remote area. Results revealed that the drying times for DSD, UMISD and MISD were 12 h, 9 h, and 7 h, respectively. While, the Specific energy consumption for MISD, and UMISD were 0.35 kWh/kg, and 0.48 kWh/kg, respectively. Furthermore, the internal air temperature inside the MISD solar dryer was higher than that in the UMISD by 2 ᵒC. Meanwhile, the average relative humidity during the day time in MISD was higher than that of the UMISD by 3 %. The moisture content (wet basis) of basil leaves reduced from 87% (w.b) to be 14% in MISD, 20% in UMISD, and 25% in DSD. Moreover, the MISD dryer increased the thermal performance efficiency by 51.4 % comparing to the DSD. In conclusion, the indirect solar dryer integrated with PVC tube and silica gel as an absorbent material for reusing the waste heat energy of hot air and absorbing its moisture, could reduce the drying time by 41.6% with a high quality of dried basil which significantly higher in total volatile oils comparing to the direct solar dryer.

DOI

10.21608/ejchem.2023.139935.6148

Keywords

Drying rate, indirect solar dryer, Silica gel, moisture content, Thermal Efficiency

Authors

First Name

Reda

Last Name

Hassanein

MiddleName

Hassanein Emam

Affiliation

Agriculture Engineering Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Cairo university, Cairo, Egypt

Email

reda.emam@agr.cu.edu.eg

City

Cairo

Orcid

0000-0001-7420-0716

First Name

Eman

Last Name

Altomy

MiddleName

Osman

Affiliation

Agriculture Engineering Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Cairo university, Cairo, Egypt

Email

tomee937@gmail.com

City

Cairo

Orcid

-

First Name

Yossry

Last Name

Abd Elhay

MiddleName

Bayoumy

Affiliation

Agriculture Engineering Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Cairo university, Cairo, Egypt

Email

yossry.abdelhay@yahoo.com

City

-

Orcid

-

Volume

66

Article Issue

6

Related Issue

41553

Issue Date

2023-06-01

Receive Date

2022-05-22

Publish Date

2023-06-01

Page Start

343

Page End

351

Print ISSN

0449-2285

Online ISSN

2357-0245

Link

https://ejchem.journals.ekb.eg/article_282855.html

Detail API

https://ejchem.journals.ekb.eg/service?article_code=282855

Order

34

Type

Original Article

Type Code

297

Publication Type

Journal

Publication Title

Egyptian Journal of Chemistry

Publication Link

https://ejchem.journals.ekb.eg/

MainTitle

Improving the performance of an indirect solar dryer using moisture adsorbent materials

Details

Type

Article

Created At

30 Dec 2024