Food

Swain et al., J Food Process Technol 2014, 5:1

http://dx.doi.org/10.4172/2157-7110.1000294

Processing & Technology

Research Article

Open Access

Performance Evaluation of Biomass Fired Dryer for Copra Drying: A

Comparison with Traditional Drying in Subtropical Climate
Sachidananda Swain1*, Din M2, Chandrika R3, Sahoo GP4 and S Dam Roy5
Division of Natural Resource Management, Central Agricultural Research Institute, Port Blair-744101, India
Division of Agricultural Engineering, Central Rice Research Institute, Cuttack-753006, India
Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK), Central Agricultural Research Institute, Nicobar -744101, India
4
Gandhi Institute of Excellent Technocrats, BBSR, India- 752054
5
Director, Central Agricultural Research Institute, Port Blair-744101, India
1
2
3

Abstract
In tropical and sub-tropical Island climate, adverse effect of heavy rainfall (2800-3500 mm), temperature (25-35C) and relative
humidity (75-95%) year round render high microbial infection to the copra produced by farming communities using traditional
methods, causing low quality of copra leading to lower income to the producers. Keeping in view, a biomass fired copra dryer
has been designed, developed and tested in Andaman Islands. The aim was to increase in employment generation to the rural
households who are engaged with traditional method of copra production. The results indicated that biomass fired copra took 22
hours to reduce initial moisture content from 57.4% (w.b) to 6.8% (w.b) which saved 40% and 47% of total drying time compared
to two traditional methods e.g. Machan drying and sun drying. Coconut shell of 80-85 kg is used as fuel. Two persons are required
to feed the fuel and maintain the constant temperature to obtain better quality copra. The copra obtained was graded as 82%
MCG1, 13% MCG2 and 5% MCG3. The cost benefit ratio and payback period was found to be 1.4 and 1.5 month respectively. The
coconut shell may be used for fuel which saves manpower and energy, thereby enhancing net return to the farmers.

Keywords: Copra; Machan; Sun drying; Biomass fired dryer

Introduction
India ranks as the third largest coconut-producing country in the
world [1]. Andaman and Nicobar Island, India which is located at
1140 N and 9246 E. is blessed with floral diversity where coconuts are
abundantly grown in the typical congenial climate. These fragile Islands
stand 11th position in area with annual production of 95 million nuts
[2] and it is regarded as the main source of livelihood securities to the
lower and middle farming communities in the form of copra. Copra,
the dried edible part of coconut is produced after drying of coconut.
During traditional open sun drying, Island farmers spread coconut on
mats, cement floors, roof tops or even on soil along the roadsides so as
to expose to solar intensity until the completion of drying [3]. In this
method the samples are exposed to direct sun light and consequently
the coconut pieces heat up and internal temperatures rise without
regulation which destroys colour, vitamins and flavor giving rise to
low quality produce that cannot compete with the mainland product.
Again, sun drying suffers from high product losses due to inadequate
drying, fungal growth, encroachment of insects, birds and rodents, etc.
Anonymous [4] reported that copra manufacture solely by sun drying
can be effective only in coconut regions with long periods of sunny
clear skies, high mid-day temperatures (3035C in the shade) and
low humidity air (6070% RH). But in Andaman Islands, there is very
little chance of getting favourable climate during sun drying. Most of
the coconuts are consumed without undergoing much processing and
value addition where nearly 80% of the produce supplied to mainland
(India) for processing rather to have very high potential here to process
and market for its export to other countries. Humid coastal climate
prevailing throughout the year is conducive to the microorganism to
grow upon the product unless it is properly dried. Unavailability of
coconut-based industries is a clear testimony to this fact. Moreover,
local farmers use indigenous structure made up bamboo sticks, clays
known as Machan where the quality of copra is not up to standard
for consumer acceptability which in turn fetch lower price in the
domestic market. This system is inefficient and tedious with respect to
profitability. In this method, there is also the chance of firing of total
J Food Process Technol
ISSN: 2157-7110 JFPT, an open access journal

structure as the farmers used bamboo sticks and clay for making the
frame without any control and constant supervision. Sometimes, the
coconut shells were either dumped to the waste yard or used for fuel
purposes for domestic cooking, causing environmental threat to the
Island ecosystem Thiruchelvam [3] reported kiln drying was completed
within 62 hours while 6 days were needed to bring down the moisture
content to around 10% in sun drying, some more days might be needed
to bring down the moisture content to safe storage level. Grimwood [5]
has reported that it is necessary to reduce the moisture content of the
endosperm from about 55-57% (w.b.) to 6-7% (w.b.) in order to reduce
the weight, prevent microbiological deterioration and concentrate
the oil. On average, five nuts are required to produce 1 kg of copra,
however this conversion rate varies (plus or minus 40%) from country
to country [6]. However, copra is considered as a low value product
and sophisticated dryers are not appropriate. Considerable efforts have
also been made to design and develop solar dryers with/without phase
change materials for drying of agricultural products [7-11] and also
tested to enhance the efficiency of drying operation, still the research
is continuing for getting quality product. Moreover, no study have been
conducted for mechanically designed dryer for coconut drying where
there is very less chance of getting adequate solar light during drying.
Hence, to overcome the problems attributed to the coconut grower in
the Islands, a biomass fired dryer has been designed, developed and

*Corresponding author: Sachidananda Swain, Division of Natural Resource

Management, Central Agricultural Research Institute, Port Blair-744101, India, Tel:
91-9531868394; E-mail: sachi9463@gmail.com
ReceivedDecember 24, 2013; Accepted January 30, 2014; Published February
07, 2014
Citation: Swain S, Din M, Chandrika R, Sahoo GP, Roy SD (2014) Performance
Evaluation of Biomass Fired Dryer for Copra Drying: A Comparison with Traditional
Drying in Subtropical Climate. J Food Process Technol 5: 294. doi:10.4172/21577110.1000294
Copyright: 2014 Swain S, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under
the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted
use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and
source are credited.

Volume 5 Issue 1 1000294

Citation: Swain S, Din M, Chandrika R, Sahoo GP, Roy SD (2014) Performance Evaluation of Biomass Fired Dryer for Copra Drying: A Comparison
with Traditional Drying in Subtropical Climate. J Food Process Technol 5: 294. doi:10.4172/2157-7110.1000294

Page 2 of 5

Figure 1: Schematic diagram of biomass fired copra dryer.

the performance evaluated with the locally produced coconut so that it

could be recommended to farmers for high-quality copra production.

Materials and Methods

Five hundred fresh mature coconuts were purchased from Central
Agricultural Research Institute (CARI) farm. Good quality nuts were
split into two halves in crosswise manner to remove coconut water.

Determination of moisture content

It was measured using AOAC method [12]. Five mature coconuts
were taken randomly and splitted into two halves. Then, these were cut
into small cylindrical pieces and 20-30 g of coconut chips were placed
into the oven at 105C at until a constant weight is reached.

Experimental set up
Biomass fired dryer: A mechanical dryer (Figure 1) with capacity
of 500 coconuts per batch was designed and fabricated using MS frame
(2.4 m1.2 m1.6 m). The drying bed made of M.S bar grill kept at
a height of 1.20 m above the ground level. A cylindrical shape heat
exchanger was designed and fabricated using a 20 gauge metal sheet.
The combustion chamber (2.5 m diameter) is made of 2 mm thick
M.S. sheet. Two galvanized pipes have been connected at upper and
lower side with combustion and drying chambers. The exhaust pipe is
connected to the opposite end of the fuel inlet. A 50 cm gap is kept
between combustion chamber and drying bed which are divided
J Food Process Technol
ISSN: 2157-7110 JFPT, an open access journal

into two chambers for keeping splitted coconut. A door is provided

for loading and unloading of fuel. Three tests were done to compare
the yield of copra and its quality. At five different position of drying
chamber the temperature was measured in each layer using a digital
thermometer. Split coconut halves were loaded inside the drying
chamber. Then, the fuel chamber is fired through coconut shell and
wooden sticks. After every 2 hours, the temperature of the drying
chamber is measured by digital thermo meter. Split coconut halves
are kept upwards for 60% of total drying time and then downward for
the rest drying period to enable homogeneous drying condition. It is
necessary to reduce the moisture content of the coconut from 57%
(w.b) to 6% (w.b) in order to reduce the weight, prevent microbiological
deterioration and concentrate the oil. Two men were used to feed the
fuel as well as to maintain constant temperature in the drying chamber
by decreasing/increasing the fuel rate to the combustion chamber.

Traditional machan dryer

It consists of raised platform (Figure 2) where splitted coconut
halves are spread on a bamboo platform. The coconut shell used for
fuel are arranged horizontally below (70-80 cm gap) the platform. A
door is provided to load and unload coconut shell. These shells were
burnt underneath where the smoke and burnt gases directly contact
the drying coconut cups placed above the raised platform. The farmers
used to fire the shell in the morning and closed the door for 24 hours.
Next day, the ashes are removed manually followed by filling the same

Volume 5 Issue 1 1000294

Citation: Swain S, Din M, Chandrika R, Sahoo GP, Roy SD (2014) Performance Evaluation of Biomass Fired Dryer for Copra Drying: A Comparison
with Traditional Drying in Subtropical Climate. J Food Process Technol 5: 294. doi:10.4172/2157-7110.1000294

Page 3 of 5
experiment was carried out at Garacharma farm, CARI Complex, Port
Blair. Temperature sensors were fixed on the surface of the drying cups
to measure the surface temperature. During night, the cups were covered
completely by polyethylene. At the end of third/fourth consecutive day
of sun drying, shells were removed from the cups manually and then
dried for another three days. Samples were taken from seven cups at a
time for the moisture determination at frequent intervals. To assure the
quality, three replicates were conducted. At the end of the 7th day, based
on the observation it was found that the copra had dried to sufficient
moisture content and finally the grading was done. Moisture content
was determined at every 2 hours intervals.

stimation of thermal efficiency

Figure 2: Schematic diagram of traditional Machan dryer.

Thermal efficiency of biomass fired dryer was estimated using

Equation (1). Moisture content of kernel was determined by taking a
composite sample from randomly selected seven cups and drawing a
representative sample from that
( M 0 M f )
(1)
Thermal efficiency =
100
WC (100 M 0 )

where M0 is the initial moisture content of coconut (%, wet basis),

Mf is the final moisture content of coconut (%, wet basis), is the
quantity of the final dried product at Mf moisture content (kg), is the
latent heat of vaporization of water in 2.26 MJ/kg, W is the quantity of
fuel used (kg) and C is the calorific value of fuel coconut shell (15.9 MJ/
kg), dry ash free.

Grading

Figure 3: Variation of moisture content with drying time.

Grading of copra was done after drying according to BIS: 6220-1971

(Table 1) by selecting 100 cups randomly. Chips in bulk sample were
separated and weighed (% by weight). Wrinkled cups were separated
and calculated their number as percentage of cups constituting bulk
sample. Number of mouldy and black cups are counted and reported
in percentage. Quality parameters include the moisture content; fatty
acid content was measured using AOAC method [12]. Along with these
grades, total yield and efficiency of copra processing in each- process
was calculated and compared.

Cost benefit analysis

It estimates and totals up the equivalent money value of the
benefits and costs to the drying system to establish its profitability.
The cost benefit analysis was carried out for each drying technique
considering the fixed and the variable costs involved in the processing
and the revenue from the sale of copra. The present market prices of
different grades of copra were used in the analysis. According to these
comparisons, the feasibility of drying system was determined.
Cost benefit ratio = Gross revenue/Total cost

(2)

Payback period is the time required to recover capital investment

was computed using following formula
Figure 4: Variation of drying rate with drying time.

with fresh shells. At the same time, coconut are removed from the shell
manually and kept again in the platform and firing started. Next day, the
dried copra are removed and stored in jute bags for selling to market.

Sun drying
Coconut cups (half splitted coconut) were spread on a black
polyethylene sheet in a single layer directly facing the sun. The
J Food Process Technol
ISSN: 2157-7110 JFPT, an open access journal

Payback period = Capital investment/Net income

(3)

Results
The variation of moisture content with drying time is shown in
(Figure 3). The average temperature recorded in the drying chamber
was 52-55oC. It was observed that the temperature of lower chamber
was 2-3C higher than the above. The average moisture content of the
coconut was reduced from about 57.4 % to 6.8% and 8.2% in the bottom
and the top layer, respectively, after 22 hours. Biomass fired dryer took
22 hours to reduce initial moisture content from 57.4% (w.b) to 6.8 %

Volume 5 Issue 1 1000294

Citation: Swain S, Din M, Chandrika R, Sahoo GP, Roy SD (2014) Performance Evaluation of Biomass Fired Dryer for Copra Drying: A Comparison
with Traditional Drying in Subtropical Climate. J Food Process Technol 5: 294. doi:10.4172/2157-7110.1000294

Page 4 of 5
superior than that of sun drying. In our study, it was found that biomass
fired dryer was superior to sun drying, machan drying and CRI kiln
drying due to lesser humid environment as well as absence of microbial
activity. Even though, the total copra yield was almost same in both
drying techniques, cost involved and pricing system for different grades
of copra were made considerable variations in cost benefit analysis.
However, the revenue from sun drying was highly dependent upon the
climate condition during drying period. As situated in sub-tropics, sun
drying is inefficient for coconut drying. It has been argued that linking
of farmers to the markets through efficient processing equipments
would strengthen the value-adding activities by better technology and
inputs, upgraded infrastructure and processing and exports [13].

Grading of copra
Figure 5: Variation of solar intensity and temperature with time.

The copra obtained was graded as 82% MCG1, 13% MCG2 and 5%
MCG3 (Table 1). Based on the grading of copra, it could be concluded
that more than 80% of high-quality MCG1 could be produced in the
biomass fired dryer. White copra has high market demand and high
economic value. Good quality white copra provides best quality oil and
also there is no contamination of smoke to produce polycyclic aromatic
hydrocarbons. Therefore, at this point the sun drying technique was
considered as superior than that of machan drying.

Cost-benefit analysis

Figure 6: Comparison of copra quality : a) Machan drying b) biomass fired

copra dryer.

(w.b) wherein traditional machan and sun drying took 34 hours and
42 hours respectively that implies biomass fired dryer saves 40 % and
47% of total drying time compared to two traditional methods.
In case sun drying, the variation of solar radiation and ambient
temperature during experimentation is shown in (Figure 5). Maximum
solar intensity of 1180 w/m2 was observed. The maximum drying air
temperature recorded during peak sunshine hours was 35.9C.
The average temperature reduced to 26.1C during the night. The
copra obtained from above methods is shown in (Figure 6). About 8085 kg of fuel (coconut shell) was used for the experimental study. It was
observed that if the furnace was evaluated at the rate of 6.0 kg/h and the
average temperature in the drying chamber was 65-69C. If the feeding
rate was more than 6.0 kg/h, the quality of dried products became
hard. So, the rate of fuel consumed in the dryer was imperative to get
quality products. Therefore, two man powers were needed for constant
supervision of fuel rate and temperature.

Thermal efficiency of drying

About 187 kg of moisture was removed from 500 nuts to obtain
about 135 kg of copra. The initial weight of 500 nuts with shells was
measured to be about 350 kg. The thermal efficiency of the biomass
fired dryer and machan dryer was estimated to be about 26% and 16%
respectively by using Equation (1). Lozada reported that to enable the
farmers to make copra more quickly, the use of drying kilns are resorted.
And also sun drying may be affected by climatic factors, contamination
of dust and other particle, mould development, birds and rodent
activities. Therefore, at this ground, CRI kiln drying was considered as
J Food Process Technol
ISSN: 2157-7110 JFPT, an open access journal

Taking economic analysis, About 135 kg and 95 kg of quality copra

obtained in the biomass fired dryer and traditional Machan dryer
from 500 nuts if the quality characteristics are properly maintained.
(Table 2) below provides the clear picture for cost benefit ratio of two
dryers. The B/C ratio was found to be more (1.4) as compared machan
dryer (1.19). The payback period was calculated to be 1.5 months only.
Hence, taking monthly calculation of cost involved in producing quality
copra and benefit from selling those products, it could be concluded
that the biomass fired dryer is superior to traditional drying system
based on quality and profitability.

Discussions
The temperature inside the biomass fired dryer was higher and
relative humidity was lower than the ambient temperature as a result
of which drying rate is more as compared to open sun drying and
Machan. At the beginning of drying process, surface moisture was
evaporated and the drying rate was high. Reduction was observed due
to evaporation of free moisture migration from outer surface layer
and gets reduced afterwards due to internal moisture migration from
Requirements
S. No.

Characteristics

MC
Grade 1

MC Grade
MC
2
Grade 3

Impurities, % by wt, Max

0.5

Mouldy cups, % by count, max

10

Black cups, % by count, max

10

15

Wrinkled cups, % by count

10

15

Chips, % by wt.

10

15

Moisture content, % by wt

Oil content(on moisture free basis), %

by wt. Min

70

68

66

Acid value of extracted oil, Max

10

Grades of copra
Machan dryer

75

17

Sun drying

70

21

Biomass fired copra dryer

82

13

Table 1: Grading of copr.

Volume 5 Issue 1 1000294

Citation: Swain S, Din M, Chandrika R, Sahoo GP, Roy SD (2014) Performance Evaluation of Biomass Fired Dryer for Copra Drying: A Comparison
with Traditional Drying in Subtropical Climate. J Food Process Technol 5: 294. doi:10.4172/2157-7110.1000294

Page 5 of 5

I. Cost of equipment

Biomass fired dryer

Machan dryer

Rs. 45,000

Rs. 6,000*

4000

4000

A. Fixed Cost
II. Cost of raw coconut/
batch (@Rs.8 per nut)
B. Variable cost (Rs.)
III. Labour cost/batch

600 (2 days)

IV. Cost of fuel/batch

800

300

V. Monthly production of
copra

2025 kg
950 kg
(Taking 135 kg in 2 days.
(Taking 95 kg in 3 days. So,
So, it is 135*15=2025 kg/
it is 95*10= 950 kg/month)
month)

VI. Maintenance cost/

month

500

200

VII. Depreciation cost/

month (@10%/annum)
on equipment

375

50

VIII. Interest (@11%)

412.5

1,03,275 (@Rs. 51/kg

48,450 (@Rs. 51/kg)

**73,287.5

**40,550

29,987.5

7,900

B/C ratio (IX/X)

1.40

1.19

Payback period

1.5 month

IX. Revenue/month
X. Total cost
(II+III+IV+V+VI+VII+VIII)
XI. Profit/month ( IX-X)

*(Taking in account the cost of bamboo platform, dryer roof, raised platform made
of wooden plates/sticks though it is totally indigenously made by tribals /farmers),
** calculation on monthly basis.
Table 2: Calculation of Cost-benefit (B/C) ratio.

inner layer to surface. The drying rate decreased with an increase in the
drying time. Drying occurs in the falling rate period with a steep fall in
the moisture content in the initial stages of drying which becomes very
slow in the later stages (Figure 4). It may be noted that during traditional
drying, smoke is in direct contact with coconut cups and hence, good
quality copra could not produced. The reason may be due to formation
of high acid content and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon in copra [3].
Nathanael supported this result as during the ensuring of hot air curing
with intermittent cooling, a moisture gradient is established within the
kernel, where moisture gradually migrates from deeper layers to the
surface, resulting in a process of uniform dehydration of the kernel. In
Machan drying, hot fumes and burnt gases were in contact with drying
bed and, due to deposition of dust and smoke particle on wet kernel, the
quality is also poor. It is also found that if the combustion chamber was
evaluated at the feeding rate of 4kg/h, the average temperature recorded
in the drying chamber was 45C. This temperature was not enough to
maintain the drying temperature of 50-55C. A high drying rate at a rate
of 0.094 g of water/g of dry matter hour was observed during the initial
stage of drying. The drying rate of copra in the biomass fired dryer was
high compared to sun drying and machan drying due to its high heat
and mass transfer coefficients. Best quality copra was produced from
biomass fired dryer. Again, based on financial calculation, monthly
profit was calculated to be approx. 30,000 and 8,000 respectively for
two dryers.

Conclusions
A biomass fired drier was designed, fabricated and tested for drying

copra in sub-tropical climate. It reduces the moisture content from

57% to 6% (w.b). Copra produced (82 % of high quality) was free from
dust, black/brown patch, birds etc. Poor quality copra obtained from
traditional means mainly due to its exposure to tropical climate which
may induce formation of carcinogenic substances in copra. Biomass
forced copra dryer is more suitable in Andaman and Nicobar Islands
for getting quality copra that could compete with the same produced
in mainland for small and marginal holders. The copra obtained
was graded as 82% MCG1, 13% MCG2 and 5% MCG3 with average
thermal efficiency of about 26%. The cost benefit ratio was calculated
to be 1.4 and 1.19 for two dryer tested for quality copra production.
The monthly profit (Rs. 30,000) by biomass fired dryer could be a
better source for revenue generation to support livelihood securities.
The payback period was calculated to be 1.5 months only. Since, the
results reflect their performance regarding the uniformity of drying,
labour requirements and quality of product, it was found that there is a
paramount importance to develop biomass fired dryer to cater the need
of Islanders.
Acknowledgement
The Author is thankful to Director, Central Agricultural Research Institute
(CARI) for his kind assistance, support and encouragement.

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Citation: Swain S, Din M, Chandrika R, Sahoo GP, Roy SD (2014) Performance

Evaluation of Biomass Fired Dryer for Copra Drying: A Comparison with
Traditional Drying in Subtropical Climate. J Food Process Technol 5: 294.
doi:10.4172/2157-7110.1000294

J Food Process Technol

ISSN: 2157-7110 JFPT, an open access journal

Volume 5 Issue 1 1000294