Performance analysis and economic evaluation of a greenhouse dryer for pork drying

Abstract

This research presents experimental performances of a solar greenhouse dryer for drying of pork. The dryer has a semi-cylindrical roof and is covered with polycarbonate sheets. The base of the dryer is a concrete floor with the area of 12.6 m2. Four DC axial flow fans powered by a 30 W PV module are used to ventilate the dryer. The dryer was installed at Kalasin province in Thailand. To investigate its performance, the dryer was used to dry pork. The drying air temperatures were varied from 40°C to 53°C. During the experiments, the pork was dried to the final moisture content of 70% db from 210% db in 260 min and it took 320 min in open sun drying, the drying time was reduced by abut 18.8%. The maximum and daily drying efficiencies of the greenhouse dryer were 55.7% and 42.8%, respectively. The economic analysis indicates that the payback period is 1.15 years.