A comprehensive overview on solar grapes drying: Modeling, energy, environmental and economic analysis

Solar drying is an emerging technology to preserve wide range of products from agriculture to animal-based products. The application of solar dryers, however must be evaluated to determine its benefit and effectiveness. In the evaluation of solar dryer performance, three criteria which are most important to look at are thermal performance, economic cost and environmental implications. Therefore, this paper attempts to review the thermoeconomic analysis and environmental evaluation on various solar drying system. Performance equations in energy–economic–environment analyses for solar drying syistems evaluation are presented. The CO2 emission, carbon mitigation, and earned carbon credit of various solar drying syistem are also presented.

https://ijpeds.iaescore.com/index.php/IJPEDS/article/download/18031/13116

Energy-economic-environmental analysis of solar drying system: a review

Intermediate pyrolysis can be used to obtain high-quality biofuels from low-value residues such as sewage sludge or digestate. A major obstacle is the high water content of sludgy biomass, which requires an energy-intensive and expensive drying step before pyrolysis. Solar greenhouse drying is an efficient and sustainable alternative to a thermally heated belt dryer. In this study, a techno-economic assessment of intermediate pyrolysis with solar drying is carried out. Marketable products of the process are bio-oil, a substitute for diesel or heating oil, and bio-char with various possible applications. Chile is chosen as the setting of the study as its 4000 km long extension from north to south gives the opportunity to evaluate different locations and levels of solar irradiation. It is found that solar drying results in higher capital investment, but lower fuel costs. Depending on the location and solar irradiation, solar drying can reduce costs by 5–34% compared to belt drying. The break-even price of bio-char is estimated at 300–380 EUR/ton after accounting for the revenue from the liquid bio-oil. 

/pdf/techno-economic-analysis-of-intermediate-pyrolysis-with-1lt40tph.pdf

Techno-Economic Analysis of Intermediate Pyrolysis with Solar Drying: A Chilean Case Study

Natural energy materials and storage systems for solar dryers: State of the art

Currently, the power supply of agricultural enterprises should be designed considering not only the required installed capacity but also the peculiarities of production. Thus, the presence of livestock operations implies waste, the disposal of which entails costs. At the same time, feed preparation, including drying of fodder grain is associated with significant energy costs. Thus, the availability of biogas equipment will allow the synthesis of utilization technologies in the form of processing into biogas and the energy supply of equipment to carry out drying. At the same time, attention should be paid to technologies with reduced energy consumption for technological processes. For example, microwave convective or infrared convective drying of grain. These technologies have a reduced energy consumption for moisture removal, but the installed capacity of the equipment is higher than in traditional technologies. This work is aimed at investigating the ratio of heat and electric energy expended in the process of microwave convective drying and the choice of possible renewable energy sources for the implementation of technological operations. Considering that drying of grain is mainly carried out during the harvesting period before storing, it allows considering energy equipment as a source of thermal energy in the cold period, when drying is not required.

/pdf/on-the-possibility-of-using-renewable-energy-sources-for-5c76e5p77f.pdf

On the Possibility of Using Renewable Energy Sources for Operation of Microwave Convective Drying of Grain

Depletion of natural fuel resources, rising fossil fuel costs and emission have led to use of renewable energies. Use of solar energy for drying is one of the most effective methods due to its rene...

T. Venugopal

Papers

Solar power drying system: a comprehensive assessment on types, trends, performance and economic evaluation