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Energy Sources, Part A: Recovery,

Utilization, and Environmental Effects
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Experimental Studies on a Solar Drier

System with a Biomass Back-up Heater
a b
S. Lokeswaran & M. Eswaramoorthy
a
Centre for Energy and Environmental Science and Technology,
National Institute of Technology , Tiruchirappalli , India
b
Department of Mechanical Engineering , National Institute of
Technology , Tiruchirappalli , India
Published online: 16 Jan 2013.

To cite this article: S. Lokeswaran & M. Eswaramoorthy (2013) Experimental Studies on a Solar
Drier System with a Biomass Back-up Heater, Energy Sources, Part A: Recovery, Utilization, and
Environmental Effects, 35:5, 467-475, DOI: 10.1080/15567036.2010.511434

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15567036.2010.511434

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 Energy Sources, Part A, 35:467–475, 2013
Copyright © Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
ISSN: 1556-7036 print/1556-7230 online
DOI: 10.1080/15567036.2010.511434

Experimental Studies on a Solar Drier System

with a Biomass Back-up Heater

S. Lokeswaran1 and M. Eswaramoorthy2

1
Centre for Energy and Environmental Science and Technology, National Institute of
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Technology, Tiruchirappalli, India

2
Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Institute of Technology,
Tiruchirappalli, India

This article presents the experimental studies on a natural convection solar drier integrated with a
biomass back-up heater. Experiments have been conducted to test the drying performance of coconut
under (1) a solar green house dryer integrated with a biomass back-up heater, (2) a biomass heater,
(3) a solar green house dryer, and (4) open sun drying. It is found that to reduce the moisture content
from 53.4 to 9.2% for drying coconut requires 26 h in a combined solar green house dryer coupled
with a biomass back-up heater, 30 h in a biomass heater mode, 44 h in a solar green house dryer, and
88 h in open sun drying. Drying efficiency of the solar drier was estimated to be about 19%.

Keywords: biomass heater, coconut, flue gas duct, green house drier, thermal efficiency

1. INTRODUCTION

Drying is one of the oldest methods of food preservation technique and it represents a very
important aspect of food processing. The preservation of surplus crops and foodstuffs can be
regarded as one of the first and most important techniques of food processing (Senadeera et al.,
2003). India ranks as the third largest coconut-producing country in the world. It annually produces
14.37 billion coconut nuts (Singh and Remany, 2002). There are two methods widely used
for drying the copra. The first method is kiln drying; it is a conventional method, which has
the problem of smoke deposits that may form polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in the copra
(Thiruchelvam et al., 2007). The second method is open sun drying, which has the major problem
of deterioration in quality due to deposits of dirt and dust, and also if the weather is rainy, copra
results in rancidity due to microorganisms that reduce oil content in it. Several experimental
and theoretical studies have been reported on the development of various types of solar driers
for drying agricultural products. Compared to sun drying, solar dryers can generate higher air
temperatures and consequential lower relative humidity, which are both conducive to improved
drying rates and lower final moisture content of the drying crops (Muhlbauer, 1986; Ivanova and
Andonov, 2001). Madhlopa and Ngwalo (2007) constructed and evaluated an indirect type of
natural convection solar dryer with an integrated collector storage and a biomass back-up heater.

Address correspondence to S. Lokeswaran, Centre for Energy and Environmental Science and Technology, National
Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli 620015, India. E-mail: lokescfd@yahoo.com

467
 468 S. LOKESWARAN AND M. ESWARAMOORTHY

2. MATERIALS AND METHOD

The hybrid drier mainly consists of three subsystems: (1) solar drier, (2) biomass stove, and
(3) flue gas duct.

2.1. Solar Dryer

The solar dryer of hemi-cylindrical shape consists of a metallic frame structure that was built on
a concrete floor of an area of 40 m2 , which is covered with ultra violent stabilized polyethylene
transparent film of 200-micron thickness. It has three chimneys on the top of the dryer to enhance
the natural circulation of the hot air. The air ventilation is done by three exhaust chimneys installed
on top of the green house. The drying surface tray was painted black and provided above the flue
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gas duct along its length to facilitate absorption of solar radiation.

2.2. Biomass Heater

The biomass stove was made of 3-mm thick mild steel sheet and it is has the overall dimension of
0.65 m height, 0.60 m length, and 0.55 m width surrounded by brick walls the size of 1.45 m height,
1.17 m length, and 0.9 m width. A door is provided in the front side to provide charge of biomass
fuel (i.e., coconut husk). Firing takes place on grids placed inside the heater. Ash is collected at the
bottom of the heater. The heating is indirect, i.e., hot flue gases from the biomass heater are flowing
through the duct and the surrounding drying air gets heated up. The contamination by smoke, soot,
and ash of the flue gases in the drying chamber is eliminated (Ekechukwu and Norton, 1997).

2.3. Flue Gas Duct

The flue gas duct was made of 2-mm thick galvanized iron sheet metal. These ducts pass the hot
flue gas from the heater into the drying air circulated in the dryer and passes through the chimney
to the atmosphere.

2.4. Operation of the Dryer

The dryer uses solar energy as the main heat source during the day time and the biomass heater is
used as the source when the solar energy is not available. When there is minimum threshold solar
radiation input, then the biomass heater can be used as the heat source. The warm air rises up into
the drying chamber, after the evaporating and picking up of the moisture from the product, and
then it escapes through the chimney. The temperature inside the drier is controlled by controlling
the burning rate of the coconut husk.

2.5. Instruments Specification

The velocity of air at the inlet of the drier was measured by a vane-type anemometer having 0.01
m/s accuracy. Solar intensity was measured using a pyranometer (Bharat Electronics Limited,
New Delhi, India) having an accuracy of about 2%. A digital electronic balance of 10 kg capacity
having an accuracy of 0.001 g was used to weigh the samples. The humidity of the ambient
air was measured using standard non-aspirated wet and dry bulb mercury thermometers with
sensitivities of 0:5 ˙ 1ı C. Four calibrated thermocouples made of platinum 100 with 70:25 ˙ 1ıC
accuracy were fixed at different locations, as shown in Figure 1 of the solar drier to measure the
temperature of drying air through a digital scanner having 0:1 ˙ 1ıC resolution connected with a
rotary selector switch.
 SOLAR DRIER SYSTEMS 469
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FIGURE 1 Experimental setup.

3. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE

The experiment is conducted on clear sunshine days at a farm house in the rural village of
Thuvagudi near Tiruchirappalli (Latitude: 10.46 ı N; Longitude: 78.45 ı E), India, for the month
of May 2010 with the following drying modes: (1) open sun drying, (2) solar green house drying,
(3) biomass only mode, and (4) combined solar green house with biomass heater.

3.1. Open Sun Drying

In open sun drying, 5 kg of fresh coconuts were spread around in an open atmosphere for about
11 days with approximately 9 h/day of bright sunshine on May 1–9, 2010. At the end of the days,
the dried coconut weight was found to be 3 kg. During the night time the coconuts are covered
by a polyethylene sheet to avoid the desorption of moisture.

3.2. Solar Green House Drying

Three samples of A, B, and C of 5 kg each of broken coconuts were loaded on the drying tray at
different locations as shown in Figure 2.
During the experiments, drying is started at about 8:00 am and stopped at 6:00 pm for the
period of 4.5 days from May 1–4, 2010. The temperature of the samples in the solar drier, the
ambient dry and wet bulb temperatures were measured at hourly intervals using thermocouples.
After the moisture content was reduced to 40%, the copra kernels were scooped from the shells
and dried further without shells. During the night time, sunshine desorption of moisture took place
and the moisture content had increased by about 0.5–1.5%.

3.3. Combined Solar Green House with Biomass Heater

Broken coconuts were loaded over the drier tray. To increase the contact area between hot air and
the products to be dried, the wire mesh trays having a porosity of about 90% were used. Three
 470 S. LOKESWARAN AND M. ESWARAMOORTHY
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FIGURE 2 Solar green house dryer.

samples of A, B, and C of 5 kg each were placed at different locations as shown in Figure 2. The
experiments were conducted for 3 days from May 5–8, 2010. The temperatures of the samples in
the solar drier, ambient dry, and wet bulb were measured at hourly intervals. Both solar energy
and biomass heater were used simultaneously during the test period. After the moisture content
was reduced to 40%, the copra kernels were scooped from the shells and dried further without
shells.

3.4. Biomass Only Mode

In the absence of solar insolation, the experiment is conducted for 4 days from May 10–14, 2010
during the night from 6:00 pm to 6:00 am with the help of a biomass heater by using coconut
husk as the biomass fuel. The fuel consumption is measured using a weight balance method and
maintained at a constant rate of 10 kg per hour so that the flame is not diminished.
The surface temperature of the duct is measured at six different points as shown in Figure 1
by using a LCD portable digital multi stem thermometer with external sensing probe, which is in
contact with surface of the flue gas duct.

4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The solar insolation over the experimentation period of 10 days (9 h per day) was measured using
a pyranometer for the test location in India on an hourly basis, as shown in Figure 3.

4.1. Open Sun Drying

The variation of the moisture content with respect to the drying time is shown in Figure 4. It takes
about 88 h for reducing the moisture content from 53.4 to 9.2%. Typically, 9 h a day of drying
occurred during sunshine.
 SOLAR DRIER SYSTEMS 471
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FIGURE 3 Measured solar radiation data. (color figure available online)

4.2. Solar Green House Drying

A temperature increase of nearly 36ı C inside the solar green house dryer was compared to ambient
temperature and, therefore, the copra can be dried in a minimum time of about 44 h to reduce
moisture content from 54 to 7.4%. The variation of moisture content as a function of drying time
in different modes is shown in Figure 4. The variation of sample temperature in the solar green
house drying mode is shown in Figure 5. The solar green house dryer takes much lesser time (2–3
days) when compared to the open sun drying (6–8 days) for drying copra. The fine quality of copra
can be obtained, which is free of fungus and microbial infections. During night time in the solar
operating mode, desorption of moisture took place and the moisture content increased by about 3%.

4.3. Biomass Only Mode

The temperature variations of flue gas temperature and sample temperature are shown in Figure 6.
Sample A is receiving more heat flux than sample B, which is receiving more than sample C.

FIGURE 4 Variation of moisture content as a function of drying time in different modes. (color figure available
online)
 472 S. LOKESWARAN AND M. ESWARAMOORTHY
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FIGURE 5 Variation of sample temperature in solar green house mode. (color figure available online)

This results in variation of moisture content (wet basis) with drying time as shown in Figure 7.
There is no accurate metering of biomass fuel (coconut husk) to biomass heater, which results
in temperature oscillations. The average moisture content of the coconut was reduced from about
53.4% to 7.3, 8.4, and 9.6%, in drying tray sample A, B, and C, respectively, with a time rate of
about 30 h. The moisture reduction during the first and the second day of drying was found to be
about 33 and 20%, respectively.

4.4. Combined Solar Green House with Biomass Heater

In the combined mode, operation flue gas duct temperature variations in five different selected
locations are shown in Figure 8. Since the biomass heater is a secondary heat source, less quantity
of fuel is feed (5 kg per hour) burnt compared to the biomass heater only operation (10 kg/h).
The drying time varies from 40 to 45 h for the combined mode, which is still lesser than green
house drying. The moisture reduction during the first and the second day of drying was found to
be about 38 and 22%, respectively. The reduction in the moisture content of copra at position A
and B was about 9 and 5% higher than that of Sample C.

FIGURE 6 Variation of sample temperature in solar green house mode. (color figure available online)
 SOLAR DRIER SYSTEMS 473

FIGURE 7 Variation of moisture content as a function of drying time in solar green house mode. (color figure
available online)
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In the first day it was observed that higher moisture reduction compared to second day for all,
because of the evaporation of free moisture migrating from the outer surface layers, which then
reduced due to the internal migration of moisture from inner layers to the surface producing a
uniform dehydration of wet kernel. Since the drying rate will decrease with an increase in the
drying time, the falling rate period with a steep fall in the moisture content in the initial stages
of drying becomes very slow in the later stages.

4.5. Instantaneous Thermal Efficiency

The instantaneous thermal efficiency of the solar air drier was estimated by using Eq. (1), according
to Kadam and Samuel (2006):
ma cp .T0 Ta /
th D ; (1)
As I
where cp is the specific heat of air in J/kg K, ma is the mass flow rate of air in kg/s, Ta is
the ambient temperature, and To is the outlet air temperature. A is the surface area of the solar
collector in m2 and I is the solar intensity in W/m2 . Thermal performance of the green house
dryer is shown in Figure 9. It shows that the maximum performance was obtained when solar
radiation was at 1,089 W/m2 .

FIGURE 8 Variation of moisture content as a function of drying time in combined solar green house with
biomass heater. (color figure available online)
 474 S. LOKESWARAN AND M. ESWARAMOORTHY
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FIGURE 9 Thermal performance of the solar green house dryer. (color figure available online)

4.6. Moisture Content Evaluation

The quantity of moisture content in a material can be represented on a wet basis and expressed
in percentage. Samples of about 10 g were chopped from all samples A, B, and C and kept in a
convective electrical oven, which was maintained at 105 ˙ 1ı C for 4 h. The initial .Wi / and final
.Wf / mass of the samples were recorded with the help of an electronic balance. The moisture
content .Mwb / on a wet basis was calculated by Eq. (2):

.Wi Wf /
Mwb D  100: (2)
Wi

5. CONCLUSIONS

The solar green house dryer coupled with biomass heater was tested for drying copra and it
compared with (i) open solar drying, (ii) solar green house drier, and (iii) biomass heater. It
is found that combined solar green house drying coupled with a biomass heater gave a better
drying performance compared to others. The proposed system will have the scope for saving
conventional fuel for drying coconut. Drying efficiency of the solar green house drier was
estimated to about 19%. A controlling device is suggested for biomass feeding to reduce drastic
temperature variations during biomass and combined solar green house with biomass heater modes
of operations.

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Ekechukwu, O. V., and Norton, B. 1997. Design and measured performance of a solar chimney for natural circulation
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Convers. Manage. 42:975–983.
Kadam, D. M., and Samuel, D. V. K. 2006. Convective flat plate solar heat collector for cauliflower drying. Biosys. Eng.
93:189–198.
 SOLAR DRIER SYSTEMS 475

Madhlopa, A., and Ngwalo, G. 2007. Solar dryer with thermal storage and biomass-backup heater. Sci. Dir. Solar Energy
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Muhlbauer, W. 1986. Present status of solar crop drying. Energy Agric. 5:121–137.
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