Abstract

Drying is an energy consuming process influenced by humidity, air velocity and temperature and is defined as a heat conveyance process wherein the product is heated hence removing moisture. Thin layer drying equations are used to estimate drying times of products and generalizing their drying curves. In this study, mathematical modelling and prediction of drying behavior of poultry litter briquettes (PLB) was investigated through open sun drying (OSD) and solar tunnel drying for moisture content (MC) calculations. A solar tunnel dryer (STD) having a: black painted collector unit, drying unit and black painted vertical bare flat-plate chimney was used. MC results were converted to moisture ratio and fitted into 12 different thin layer drying models, using Microsoft Office Excel, which were compared according to their coefficients of determination to estimate drying curves of PLB. The most accurate model was selected based on three statistical parameters: correlation coefficient (R²), chi-squared (χ²) and Root Mean Square Error (RMSE). Solar insolation of between 220 and 1005 W/m² resulted in air temperature of up to 64^oC at the collector unit, up to 60^oC at the drying unit and an ambient temperature of up to 31^oC. Exposure of PLB with an average initial MC of 61% (w.b.) to these conditions resulted in a final MC in a range of 0.2-11.2% (w.b.) in 31-55 hours. PLB was dried to similar final weight from whichever drying method although OSD took longer than STD. The Logarithmic model was found to satisfactorily describe the drying curves of PLB with R² of 9.93E-01-9.99E-01; χ² of 1.36E-11-6.50E-14; and RMSE of 2.94E-02-1.30E-02.

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