Drying Kinetics and Economic Analysis of Bitter Gourd Flakes Drying Inside Hybrid Greenhouse Dryer

Abstract In this study, heat storage-based hybrid greenhouse dryer has been developed and analysed for drying bitter gourd flakes under the climatic condition of Ranchi, India. The propose heat storage based hybrid greenhouse dryer consists of a solar air heater with 2.12 m2 area, greenhouse dryer and DC fan to induce and force the air. The significant objective of the present study is to analyse the drying efficiency, drying kinetics, property analysis, economic analysis, embodied energy and CO2 mitigation of the hybrid greenhouse dryer for drying of bitter gourd flakes. An experiment was performed simultaneously on proposed system and open sun drying for the proper comparative analysis. The results show that the mass of crop reduced from 4000g to 458g in 6 hr in proposed dryer and 4000g to 500g in 15 hr for open system. Thus, significant drying time is reduced in proposed system by 8 hours as compared to open system. Environmental impact analysis shows that the EPBT was found to be 0.4907 years only. The cost analysis of the proposed system dryer was 22664.30 INR. The total embodied energy is found to be 1591.07 kWh and earned carbon credit ranges from 16844.76 INR to 67379.05 INR, while CO2 mitigation was 46.28 tonnes for 35 years of expected lifetime. Seven standard mathematical models for drying of bitter gourd flakes were studied. Ahmad and Prakash model was found to be best as compared to other models. The metal contents of dried bitter gourd flakes were also examined. Bitter gourd dried in proposed dryers possesses superior metal content as compared to open system. Impact analysis demonstrates that the hybrid greenhouse dryer is more suitable for reducing post-harvest loss with environmental sustainability.