Title: Evaluation of drying kinetics and performance parameters of indirect type solar dryer during drying of Capsicum annuum

Authors: D. Mallikarjuna Goud; Mugi Vishnu Vardhan Reddy; V.P. Chandramohan

Addresses: Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Institute of Technology Warangal, Warangal, 506004, Telangana State, India ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Institute of Technology Warangal, Warangal, 506004, Telangana State, India ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Institute of Technology Warangal, Warangal, 506004, Telangana State, India

Abstract: In this work, an indirect type solar dryer (ITSD) is used to dry Capsicum annuum (green chilli). Drying kinetics and the performance of ITSD dryer are presented here. The initial moisture content (MC_i) of green chilli is 8.3984 kg/kg of dry basis (db). The green chilli is dried from its MC_i to the final MC of 0.2218 kg/kg of db in 18 h of drying time. Solar air collector and drying efficiencies were estimated and they were 77.68% and 7.92%, respectively. The average drying rate of 0.4303 kg water/kg of db-h is achieved. The present results were compared with seven existing correlations available from the literature and found that the modified Page model gives a higher correlation coefficient and lower reduced Chi-square. The effective moisture diffusion coefficient (D_eff) is found to be 1.464 × 10⁻⁹ m²/s. The average heat and mass transfer coefficients were estimated from experimental results.

Keywords: drying efficiency; indirect type solar dryer; ITSD; drying kinetics; effective moisture diffusion coefficient; heat and mass transfer coefficients.

DOI: 10.1504/IJETP.2021.119839

International Journal of Energy Technology and Policy, 2021 Vol.17 No.5, pp.442 - 462

Accepted: 16 Dec 2020
Published online: 22 Dec 2021 *

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