COPRA DRYING IN SOLAR AND BIOMASS INTEGRATED DRYER

G. SARAVANAPRIYA¹*, R. MAHENDIRAN², S. KAMARAJ³, C. KARTHIK^4
1ICAR-Research Centre on Bioconversion Technology, Sri Parasakthi College for Women, Courtallam, 627802, Tamil Nadu, India
²Department of Bioenergy, Agricultural Engineering College and Research Institute, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, 641003, Tamil Nadu, India
³Department of Bioenergy, Agricultural Engineering College and Research Institute, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, 641003, Tamil Nadu, India
⁴Department of Zoology, Kongunadu Arts and Science College, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India
* Corresponding Author : saravanapriya.g@gmail.com

Received : 09-11-2016     Accepted : 20-11-2016     Published : 30-11-2016
Volume : 8     Issue : 58       Pages : 3218 - 3221
Int J Agr Sci 8.58 (2016):3218-3221

Keywords : Solar, Biomass, Copra, Coconut Husk, Integrated dryer
Academic Editor : Bhaskar A. Jethava
Conflict of Interest : None declared
Acknowledgements/Funding : The authors acknowledge the monetary support from Department of Science and Technology, Government of India. The physical and infrastructural assistance from Department of Bioenergy, Agricultural Engineering College and Research Institute, TNAU, Coimbatore is greatly acknowledged
Author Contribution : Corresponding Author [G SARAVANAPRIYA1*, R Mahendiran2] designed, developed and installed the system and carried out the experimental trials and data analysis

Solar and biomass are the two sources of renewable energy highly suitable for drying application. Drying using solar energy is the traditional method but this method has a downside of interrupted during off-sunshine hours like rainy season, cloudy weather and night time. Hence, a combination of solar and biomass energy for drying is experimentally analyzed in this paper for copra drying. This article presents the experimental study on drying characteristics of copra drying in solar tunnel dryer integrated with biomass hot air generation system. It facilitates drying to continued under all weather condition and overcomes the limitations of conventional drying methods. The total drying time for drying copra from its initial moisture content of 108.3 per cent (d.b) to a final moisture content of around 5.26 per cent (d.b) was 48 hours. The drying characteristics curves were analyzed and the moisture reduction was uniform throughout the drying period and drying rate showed a peak during initial drying hours because of high moisture content in the fresh coconut and reduced gradually as the time passes. The moisture ratio decreases as the drying time increases. Hence, the solar and biomass integrated drying system reduced the drying time from 5 to 7 days in conventional open sun drying method to 2 days with improved quality of dried copra.