Mathematical analysis of solar conduction dryer using reaction engineering approach

Abstract

AbstractSolar conduction dryer (SCD) utilizes all three modes of heat transfer, viz., conduction, convection, and radiation. The effect of individual mode of heat transfer in SCD on agricultural product drying was studied using drying kinetics and basic heat transfer calculations. It was observed that the order of influence of mode of heat transfer mechanism as conduction followed by radiation and then convection. The correlation for relative activation energy (∆Ev/∆Ev,∞) as a function of moisture content (X−X∞), effective diffusivity (Deff), and mass transfer coefficient (hm) were determined for each mode of heat transfer. It was observed that the reaction engineering approach (REA) is appropriate tool to understand the physics of drying mechanism in SCD.