Performance Evaluation of a Biomass Fuelled Cabinet Dryer

In an attempt to reduce post harvest losses of agricultural produce to considerable level in rural areas in developing countries, a study was conducted to evaluate the performance of a developed biomass fuelled cabinet dryer. The effect of drying air temperature on unripe plantain sizes at 5, 10 and 15 mm dried in a thin-layer dryer was investigated within a temperature range of 50–70 °C at regular interval of 30 minutes until equilibrium moisture content were reached. The performance evaluations of the experimental biomass cabinet dryer were conducted for thermal efficiency of charcoal and sawdust fuels respectively. It was found that experimental curves of the plantain drying rate versus time showed that drying rate increased when hot air drying increased with time. Moisture transfer occurred during the falling rate period of drying. Moisture loss of the plantain slices at 5, 10 and 15 mm reached an equilibrium moisture content at 150, 180 and 240 minutes respectively when charcoal fuel was used. While moisture loss on the plantain slices at 5, 10 and 15 mm reached an equilibrium moisture content at 120, 240 and 270 minutes respectively when sawdust fuel was used. The maximum overall drying efficiency of the biomass fuel cabinet dryer when plantain slices were dried was calculated to be 89.67%.