Performance evaluation of a flatbed maize dryer with a biomass heat source

The technical performance of a 3-tonne capacity flatbed grain dryer was assessed based on its drying rate and drying efficiency. In addition, the quality of maize grains dried in the drying system was investigated through stress-crack analysis and germination test. Maize grains at an initial moisture content of 18.4% ± 0.1% (wb) were dried to a safe moisture content of 13.3% ± 0.2% (wb) in 5 hours, resulting in a drying rate of 1.02%/h at a drying efficiency of 67.35%. The average temperature observed in the plenum (55.8°C±1.5°C) was about twice higher than the ambient temperature during the drying period. The use of the flatbed dryer did not have any adverse effect on the viability of grains dried with a stress-crack index of 75 and percentage germination of 90%. This study demonstrated the viability of using the flatbed biomass-assisted dryer for drying maize and can reduce post-harvest losses of maize at the smallholder level. Int. J. Agril. Res. Innov. Tech. 11(2): 37-41, Dec 2021

Investigation of Solar Powered Drying System Potential in Niğde Province

Storage of the foods obtained by plant and animal production is as important as their cultivation. Crops cultivated around the world lose 28-36% of total yield during the process from agricultural land to consumption. With the most of this loss occurs after harvest and harvest, it can be reduced by suitable machines and appropriate methods to be used. Niğde is in third place in the list of cities with the highest apple production in Turkey. In addition, it is seen that the potential of the region to benefit from solar energy is quite high with 8.02 hours of daily sunshine duration and 1550-1800 kWh m-2 total solar radiation values. In line with the information given, Niğde province stands out as an important opportunity for apple drying processes using solar-powered drying methods. In this study, suitable drying methods that can be used for agricultural products in general and methods that can be used in Niğde province have been investigated and with the using the information obtained from previous studies related to the region its examined that the solar drying system and machines that can be developed for the province of Niğde are specified.

Implementation of an automated dryer with solar collector

This research work consists of the development of an automated sustainable drying system using forced and preheated air to reduce the production time of handmade bricks, so a dryer witha solar collector wasimplemented to take advantage of the energy from solar radiation. A virtualinstrument was developed, which allows to visualize the variables of temperature and humidityinside the drying chamber, additionally a temperature control was implemented, this control allows the system to maintain a constant temperature during the drying process. Samples were taken from the production of the brick kiln “El Tejar” and dried by this device, thenthe drying times and their physical and mechanical properties were compared, finding that the bricks dried with the proposed prototype retained these properties. As for the compressive strength tests for samples of both processes was around 30.6 Kgf/cm2 and 31.2 Kgf/cm2, the deflection resistance was around 1.2 Kgf/cm2 and 1.3 Kgf/cm2, the initial absorption rate was around 0.3 g/cm2/min and 0.4 g/cm2/min, and finally the percentage of water absorption for both processes were around 12.9% and 13.1%. The difference lies in the drying times, since drying in the artisanal brick kilns takes about 15 daysin the proposed dryer takes 9 days, resulting in a decrease of 40% in this process.