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Development and Evaluation of Solar Tunnel Dryer for Commercial Fish Drying

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Abstract

The local practice of drying fish in open sun drying poses problems such as high moisture content, uncontrolled drying and contamination. These problems can be avoided by proper use of improved methods such as the solar tunnel dryer, which results in faster drying of fish. The semi cylindrical walk-in type natural convection solar tunnel dryer, having drying area of 37.5 m2 was developed and evaluated for the drying of fish products in comparison with the conventional method of open sun drying. The experiments were conducted without fish and with fish to evaluate the performance of solar tunnel dryer. The average rise in temperature inside the solar tunnel dryer was found to be 11.24 °C and 18.29 °C over the ambient temperature during no load test in winter and summer respectively. The average 28 % saving in time was observed for selected fish drying using solar tunnel dryer over open sun drying method with average drying efficiency of 19 %. The economics was calculated for drying of prawns (Parapaeneopsis stylifera) by solar tunnel dryer and open sun drying system on the basis of business as a whole. The economics of the solar tunnel dryer is presented in term of Net present worth, Benefit–Cost Ratio, Payback period, Profitability index and Internal rate of return. The pay back period for solar tunnel dryer was found to be 2.84 years.

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Abbreviations

W1 :

Weight of sample before drying, g

W2 :

Weight of bone dried sample, g

ΔW:

Weight loss in 1 h interval (g/100 g of bone dry wt)

ΔT:

Difference in time reading, hr

M:

Moisture content (d.b.), %

Me :

EMC, (d.b), %

M0 :

IMC, (d.b), %

Wi :

Initial weight of material, kg

Cf :

Specific heat of fish, 0.70 kcal/kg K

ΔT:

Temperature rise

Ww :

Mass of water evaporated, kg

Cw :

Specific heat of water, 1 kcal/kg K

λ:

Latent heat of vapourization, 540 kcal/kg

I:

Incident solar radiation on collector, kcal/m2 hr

Ac :

Drying area (80 % of collector area)

N:

Drying hours, hr

P1 :

Net cash flow in first year

i:

Discount rate

t:

Time period

C:

Initial cost of the investment

PI:

Profitability index

NPW:

Net present worth of cash flows

C0 :

Initial capital expenditure

Cr :

Total capital required for the project

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Acknowledgments

The work reported is acknowledged to The Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi for financial help.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Renewable Energy Sources, College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology, Dapoli, India

    A. G. Mohod, Y. P. Khandetod & H. Y. Shrirame

Authors
  1. A. G. Mohod
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  2. Y. P. Khandetod
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  3. H. Y. Shrirame
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Correspondence to A. G. Mohod.

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Mohod, A.G., Khandetod, Y.P. & Shrirame, H.Y. Development and Evaluation of Solar Tunnel Dryer for Commercial Fish Drying. J. Inst. Eng. India Ser. A 95, 1–8 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40030-014-0070-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40030-014-0070-2

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