IJIRST International Journal for Innovative Research in Science & Technology| Volume 3 | Issue 01 | June 2016

ISSN (online): 2349-6010

A Review on Passive Solar Dryers for

Agricultural Products
A. Balasuadhakar
Lecturer
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Dire Dawa University, Ethiopia

Teklebirhan Fisseha
Lecturer
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Dire Dawa University, Ethiopia

Amessalu Atenafu
Lecturer
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Dire Dawa University, Ethiopia

Bariso Bino
Lecturer
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Dire Dawa University, Ethiopia

Abstract
Drying is basically a phenomenon of removal of liquid by evaporation from a solid material. In drying technique the psychometric
is of importance as it refers to the properties of air-vapor mixture that controls the rate of drying. When an adequate supply of heat
is provided for drying, the temperature and rate at which the liquid vaporization occurs will depend on the vapour concentration in
the surrounding atmosphere. Solar drying refers to methods of using the solar energy for drying .A solar dryer is an enclosed unit,
to keep the food safe from damages, birds, insects and unexpected rainfall. There are various types of solar dryers its mainly
classified as active and passive dryers. Active dryers are forced convection system and passive are natural convection system of
air. The passive dryers are more economical than active dryers. There is a need to make the solar dryers more efficient and cheaper.
In this paper, we reviewed the various researches in passive solar dryers for drying agricultural products.
Keywords: Solar Dryer, Passive Solar Dryer, Natural Circulation dryer
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________
I.

INTRODUCTION

Preservation of agricultural products is essential for keeping them for a long time without further deterioration in the quality of the
product. Several process technologies have been employed on an industrial scale to preserve food products, among that. Drying is
the efficient and reliable method. It offers a highly effective and practical means of preservation to reduce postharvest losses and
offset the shortages in supply. Drying is a simple process of moisture removal from a product in order to reach the desired moisture
content and is an energy intensive operation. The prime objective of drying apart from extended storage life can also be quality
enhancement, ease of handling, further processing and sanitation and is probably the oldest method of food preservation practiced
by humankind.
Drying is a method of dehydration of food products which means reducing the moisture content from the food to improve its
shelf life by preventing bacterial growth [1]. Drying process takes place in two stages first one happens at the surface of the drying
material at constant drying rate and is similar to the vaporization of water into the ambient and second stage is according to
properties of drying product with decreasing drying rate [2]
II. CLASSIFICATION OF SOLAR DRYER
Solar dryers are available in different types and different ranges for various applications.

All rights reserved by www.ijirst.org

64

A Review on Passive Solar Dryers for Agricultural Products

(IJIRST/ Volume 3 / Issue 01/ 013)

Fig. 1: Types of Solar Dryers

Fig. 2: Typical solar energy dryer designs [3]

Active Dryers:
Active solar drying systems are designed incorporating external means, like fans or pumps, for moving the solar energy in the form
of heated air from the collector area to the drying beds. Thus all active solar dryer are, by their application, forced convection
dryer. A typical active solar dryer depends on solar-energy only for the heat source, while for air circulation uses motorized fans
or ventilator. These dryers find major applications in large-scale commercial drying operations in combination with conventional
fossil-fuel to have a better control over drying by consolidating the effect of fluctuations of the solar insolation on the drying air
temperature. [4]

All rights reserved by www.ijirst.org

65

A Review on Passive Solar Dryers for Agricultural Products

(IJIRST/ Volume 3 / Issue 01/ 013)

Passive Dryers:
In a passive solar dryer, air is heated and circulated naturally by buoyancy force or as a result of wind pressure or in combination
of both. Normal and reverse absorber cabinet dryer and greenhouse dryer operates in passive mode. Passive drying of crops is still
in common practice in many Mediterranean, tropical and subtropical regions especially in Africa and Asia or in small agricultural
communities. [5]

Fig. 3: Distributed-type natural circulation solar maize dryer [3]

Integral Type Dryer:

In Integral type dryers the moisture is removed from top; air enters into cabinet from below and leaves from top. This is open to
the sun drying type of dryer only difference is food product is covered with the glass cover. When sun light fall on the surface of
glass then three things happens, first is some light is absorbed, some light is reflected back from the glass, and some light is
transmitted. As part of radiation absorbs by surface of crop which causes increase in temperature. The glass cover reduces direct
convective losses to the ambient and which plays important role in increasing temperature of agricultural product and cabinet
temperature.
Distributed Dryers:
This type of dryer differs from direct dryer by heat transfer and vapor removal. In this method atmospheric air heated in flat plate
collector then this hot air from flat plate collector is flow in the cabin where products are placed. The moisture from this type of
dryer is removed by convection as well as by diffusion.
Mixed Mode Dryers:
Mix mode solar dryer is the combination of direct and indirect type of solar dryer Product is dry by directly exposure to the sun
light and also by hot air supplier on it. Air is heated in a collector and then this hot air is supplied to the drying chamber and drying
chamber top is made up of glass cover. Which can directly absorb solar radiation? In this way drying rate is higher as compared to
direct solar drying.
Solar Cabinet Dryers:
The passive solar cabinet dryers are generally simple and inexpensive units having high applications for domestic purposes. They
are suitable for drying of agricultural products, spices and herbs etc., constructed normally with a drying area of 1-2 m2 and
capacities of 10-20 kg. The heat for drying is transmitted through the glass cover and is absorbed on the blackened interior and
crops as well. The required air circulation is maintained by the warm moist air leaving via the upper vent under the action of
buoyancy forces and generating suction of fresh air from the base inlet. [6]

All rights reserved by www.ijirst.org

66

A Review on Passive Solar Dryers for Agricultural Products

(IJIRST/ Volume 3 / Issue 01/ 013)

Fig. 4: Solar Cabinet Dryers [3]

Green House Dryers

Foil-covered tunnel type greenhouses can also be used for drying agricultural products They always incorporate a fan for
maintaining a continuous flow of air, which is sometimes partially recirculates. Where sensitive materials are dried, some kind of
shading is needed is moved through the drying space on a belt or a conveyor. Greenhouse type solar dryers having titled flat-roof
surfaces have been developed for drying herbs and aromatic plants. These feature roof integrated plastic collections and air
recirculation. These are also called as tent dryers and are basically modified greenhouses. They are designed with vents of
appropriate size and position to have a controlled air flow. They are characterized by extensive glazing by the transparent cover of
polyethylene sheet. [7]

Fig. 5: Green House Solar Dryers [3]

III. RESEARCH IN PASSIVE SOLAR DRYERS FOR AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS

Gornicki et al shows by studying of the orange-fleshed sweet potato with different pretreatment and by testing vitamin degradation
in the same product dried in three different dryers. The reason for this could be the great variation in size and shape of the pieces,

All rights reserved by www.ijirst.org

67

A Review on Passive Solar Dryers for Agricultural Products

(IJIRST/ Volume 3 / Issue 01/ 013)

different pretreatment, temperature, time, exposure to light and oxygen. Generally the loss from preparation and pretreatment
exceeds those from the actual drying stage of the process. Ascorbic acid is water soluble, and when the water evaporates from the
products, it could react with other solutes at higher rate. It is also sensitive for heat and oxidation, so low drying temperature and
fast drying is important to prevent too much degradation. [8]
Yusuf Abdullahi et al designed a model of a box type adjustable and collapsible natural convection solar food dryer, capable of
taking 14,688 pieces equivalent to 16.52kg of fresh groundnut with maximum moisture content of 35%, at maximum capacity of
3.39m2, and 3,672 pieces equivalent to 4.06kg of groundnut at minimum capacity of 0.8475m2, was designed and constructed using
locally available materials. [9]
R. Vidya Sagar Raju et al constructed laboratory dryes based on preliminary investigations of drying under controlled conditions.
The constructed dryer is to be used to dry vegetables under controlled and protected conditions. The designed dryer with a collector
area of 1m2 is expected to dry 20kg fresh vegetables from 89.6% to 13% wet basis in two days under ambient conditions during
harvesting period from February to March. A prototype of the dryer with 1.03m2 solar collector area was constructed to be used in
experimental drying tests. Along with this the water heating system is also employed to the dryer to recover the waste heat getting
from the dryer. Hence the practical usage of dryer is greatly increased by employing the water heating system along with dryer.
[10]
Diemuodeke et al experimented the direct natural convection solar dryer was designed and fabricated to dry tapioca in the rural
area. A minimum of 7.56 m2 solar collector area is required to dry a batch of 100 kg tapioca in 20 hours (two days drying period).
The initial and final moisture content considered were 79 % and 10 % wet basis, respectively. The average ambient conditions are
32C air temperatures and 74 % relative humidity with daily global solar radiation incident on horizontal surface of 13 MJ/m2/day.
A prototype of the dryer so designed was fabricated with minimum collector area of 1.08 m 2. [11]
A. Madhlopa et al. developed an indirect type natural convection solar dryer integrated with collector storage and biomassbackup heaters. The major components of the dryer were biomass burner (with a rectangular duct and flue gas chimney), collectorstorage thermal mass and drying chamber. They tested the dryer in three modes of operation (solar, biomass and solar-biomass)
by drying twelve batches of fresh pineapple, with each batch weighing about 20 kg. They concluded that the thermal mass was
capable of storing part of the absorbed solar energy and heat from the burner. It was possible to dry a batch of pineapples using
solar energy only on clear days. In case of solar-biomass mode of operation, drying proceeded successfully even under unfavorable
weather conditions. In this operational mode, the dryer reduced the moisture content of pineapple slices to 11% (db) and yielded a
nutritious dried product. The average values of the final-day moisture pickup efficiencies were 15%, 11% and 13% in the solar,
biomass and solar-biomass modes of operation respectively. [12]
A.A. El-Sebaii designed an indirect type natural convection solar dryer. The system consists of a flat plate solar air heater
connected to a cabinet acting as a drying chamber. The air heater is designed to be able to insert various storage materials under
the absorber plate in order to improve the drying process. Sand is used as the storage material. They conducted drying experiments
with and without storage materials for drying various fruits. They found that the equilibrium moisture content for seedless grapes
was reached after 60 and 72 h when the system is used with and without storage material, respectively. Therefore, the storage
material reduced the drying process by 12 hours. They finally concluded that system is capable of drying 10 kg of chemically
treated grapes or green peas during 20 h of sunshine.[13]
J. E. Berinyuy et al. [7] designed and constructed a double pass solar tunnel dryer integrated with heat storage using local
materials and evaluated it for drying leafy vegetables and other agricultural products. The dryer was faced southwards with an
inclination of 6, and the solar radiation falling on the dryer surface was estimated to be 12.13 kJ/m 2 per day. They also used heat
storage system, due to which, the temperature inside the dryer remained 5C above the ambient temperature even at sunset. The
dryer was capable of drying 17 kg of sliced cabbage from 95% moisture content wet basis down to 9% in five days. They concluded
that the overall dryer efficiency obtained was 17.68%, with a moisture extraction efficiency of 79.15% and airflow of 9.68 m 3/hr.
They tested the dryer on other high moisture products and found that the dryer could reduce the drying time by 30 to 50% depending
on the product. [14]
I.N. Simate developed a comparison of optimized mixed-mode and indirect-mode natural convection solar dryers for drying
maize (Figure-9). The models are run under variable solar conditions in order to optimize the dryers and compare their performance.
The optimization gave a shorter collector length for the mixed mode solar dryer than for the indirect mode dryer of the same grain
capacity. Through optimization, the author concluded that, the drying cost, annual cost and initial cost of the mixed-mode dryer
are lower than those of the indirect-mode. The drying costs were 12.76 and 16.05 US$/ton for mixed-mode and indirect mode solar
dryers. [15]
Chaudhri et al. suggests that harvested products should optimally be preserved, sold, or processed as quickly as possible after
harvesting. To overcome this problem, drying processes have been widely implemented as prerequisite for the storage of
agricultural products. Drying improves the preserved shelf life and significantly reduces the product volume and weight while
minimizing packaging, storage and transportation costs. Thus, wastages can easily be prevented by applying proper drying
procedures. [16]
Arata et al showed multiple rates at which biological products undergo the drying process. The first period wa described as the
constant rate of drying where moisture on the product surface is evaporated. A vapor pressure gradient is established which is
greatly influenced by the air temperature and air flow rate. [17]

All rights reserved by www.ijirst.org

68

A Review on Passive Solar Dryers for Agricultural Products

(IJIRST/ Volume 3 / Issue 01/ 013)

P.Duangrat Investigated that blanching pretreatment did not improve the drying rate and rehydration capacity of dried lettuce
leaves but influenced the colour of the final product. It has been reported that the blanching could reduce the greenness degradation
of dried lettuce leaves. [18]
Irene Montero et al analyzed of drying for the three main wastes from olive oil by using a prototype dryer. That equipment has
different working regimes depending on the kind of convection (natural or forced for passive and active mode, respectively), the
incidence of solar radiation on the product (indirect or mixed type) and the use of an additional system for energy supply (hybrid
type). From the results, it could be said that all the wastes were suitable for solar drying. [19]
F.K. Forson et al designed a mixed -mode natural convection solar crop dryer (MNCSCD) for drying cassava and other crops.
A batch of cassava 160 kg by mass, having an initial moisture content of 67% wet basis from which 100 kg of water is required to
be removed to have it dried to a desired moisture content of 17% wet basis, is used as the drying load in designing the dryer. A
drying time of 3036 h is assumed for the anticipated test location (Kumasi; 6.71N, 1.61W) with an expected average solar
irradiance of 400W/m2 and ambient conditions of 25 1C and 77.8% relative humidity. They concluded that a minimum of 42.4m 2
of solar collection area, according to the design, is required for an expected drying efficiency of 12.5%. [20]
Abdul Jabbar experimented the benefit over natural drying by using solar drying with and without auxiliary heat for drying
beans and peas. The solar heat may be supplemented by auxiliary heat of different types to reduce further drying time. It is often
desirable to vary airflow rate through the system during the different stages of drying. An experimental study is conducted to
investigate the performance of a solar drying system and a system equipped with an auxiliary heater as a supplement to the solar
heat. The performances of both are compared to that of natural drying. [21]
Serm designed a greenhouse type solar dryer for small-scale dried food industries was developed and disseminated. The dryer
consists of a parabolic roof structure covered with polycarbonate sheets on a concrete floor. The system is 8.0m in width, 20.0 m
in length and 3.5m in height, with a loading capacity about 1,000kg of fruits or vegetables. To ensure continuous drying operation,
a 100kW-LPG gas burner was incorporated to supply hot air to the dryer during cloudy or rainy days. Nine 15-W DC fans powered
by three 50-W PV modules were used to ventilate the dryer. A system of differential equations and a moisture transfer during
drying of osmotically dehydrated tomato was also developed.[22]
Romano et al. Have studied the drying behavior of carrot and apple in the same solar dryer in order to evaluate the weight losses
during the drying period, and to present the temperature and moisture content distributions in the modular solar dryer. Different
size and form of the apples and carrots were measured and analyzed. The initial and final moisture contents (w.b.) of fresh products
were 85% and 26% for apple and 71% and 13% for carrot with an initial weight of 1,56 kg and 3 kg, respectively. The results
revealed that temperature inside the chamber was strongly negatively correlated with air humidity (R2=0,91) and that the length
of the drying period was influenced by the weather conditions.[23]
Sandeep Panchal et al designed a simple solar dryer with roughened surface with solar air heater. It was designed in such a way
that solar radiation was not incident directly on the agro products, but preheated air warmed during its flow through a low pressure
thermos phonic solar energy air heater of size 1000mmx500mmx100mm, absorber plate (aluminium) sheet painted black of size
1000mmx500mm and a cover glass (5mm thickness) measuring 1000mmx500mm all arranged in that order contributed to the
heating. The result had been tested with different arrangement of air resistors inside Like Square shaped, V-shaped, square & Vshaped combined. [24]
IV. CONCLUSION
This review paper is focused on Passive solar dryers for drying agricultural products. Solar dryer is designed for a particular crop
and atmospheric conditions of location. The review state that Passive Solar dryers are very economical compared with active solar
dryers. According to the review of various research articles the passive type solar dryers are more suitable for drying various
agricultural products.
REFERENCES
[1]
[2]
[3]

Garg H P, Prakash J. (1997) solar energy fundamentals and applications. Tata McGraw Hill, New Delhi, India
A. Can, Drying kinetics of pumpkin seeds, International Journal of Energy Research, 2000, 24:96575.
Ekechukwu, O.V., 1999, Review of solar-energy drying systems I: an overview of drying principles and theory, Energy Conversion and Management, 40,
pp. 593613.
[4] C.L. Hii, S.V. Jangam, S.P. Ong and A.S. Mujumdar, Solar drying: Fundamentals, applications and innovations (ISBN: 978-981-07-3336-0, 2012)
[5] Hughes, B. R., Oates, M., 2011, Performance investigation of a passive solar-assisted kiln in the United Kingdom, Solar Energy, 85, pp. 1488-1498.
[6] Brace Research Institute, 1980, Types of solar agricultural dryers, Sunworld, 4(6), pp. 181-999.
[7] Doe, P. E., Ahmed, M., Muslemuddin, M., Sachithananthan, K. A., 1977, A polythene tent dryer for improved sun drying of fish, Food Tech Aust; 29, pp.
437-441.
[8] Gornicki, K. & Kaleta, A. (2007). Drying curve modelling of blanched carrot cubes under natural convection condition. Journal of Food Engineering, 82 (2):
160-170.
[9] Yusuf Abdullahi, Musa Momoh, Mahmoud Muhammad Garba and Muazu Musa 2013, Design and Construction of an Adjustable and Collapsible Natural
Convection Solar Food Dryer, International Journal of Computational Engineering Research Volume, 03 pp 1-8
[10] R. Vidya Sagar Raju, R. Meenakshi Reddy, E. Siva Reddy, 2013,Design and Fabrication of Efficient Solar Dryer, International Journal of Engineering
Research and Applications, volume 3, pp 1445-1458
[11] Diemuodeke E. Ogheneruona and Momoh O.L. Yusuf, 2011, Leonardo Electronic Journal of Practices and Technologies, Issue 18, pp 95-104.
[12] Madhlopa, G. Ngwalo. 2007. Solar dryer with thermal storage and biomass-backup heater. Solar Energy. 81: pp 449-462.

All rights reserved by www.ijirst.org

69

A Review on Passive Solar Dryers for Agricultural Products

(IJIRST/ Volume 3 / Issue 01/ 013)
[13] A.A. El-Sebaii, S. Aboul-Enein, M.R.I. Ramadan, H.G. El-Gohary. 2002. Experimental investigation of an indirect type natural convection solar dryer.
Energy Conversion and Management. 43: pp 2251-2266.
[14] J. E. Berinyuy, J. K. Tangka, G. M. WekaFotso. 2012. Enhancing natural convection solar drying of high moisture vegetables with heat storage. Agric Eng
Int: CIGR Journal. 14(1).
[15] I.N. Simate. 2003. Optimization of mixed-mode and indirect-mode natural convection solar dryers. Renewable Energy. 28: 435-453.
[16] Chaudhri, S., Kothari, S., & Panwar, N. L. (2009). Performance evaluation of exhaust air recirculation system of mixed mode solar dryer for drying onion
flakes. International Journal of Renewable Energy Technology, 1(1), pp 29-41.
[17] Arata, A. & Sharma, V. K. (1991). Performance evaluation of solar assisted dryers for low temperature drying Applications-I. plants description. Renewable
Energy, Volume 1Issue 5, pp 729-735.
[18] P.Duangrat and S. Prasong,(2010) Effect of pretreatments on drying characteristics and colour of dried lettuce leaves, Asian journal of food and agro industry. Volume 3 Issue 6, pp 580-586.
[19] Irene Montero , Mara Teresa Miranda, Francisco Jos Seplveda, Jos Ignacio Arranz, Carmen Victoria Rojas and Sergio Nogales, (2015) Solar Dryer
Application for Olive Oil Mill Wastes, Energy, Volume 8, pp 1404914063
[20] F.K. Forson,M.A.A. Nazha, F.O. Akuffo,H.Rajakaruna.(2007) Design of mixed - mode natural convection solar crop dryers: Application of principles and
rules of thumb; Renewable Energy 32 pp 23062319
[21] Abdul Jabbar N. Khalifa, Amer M. Al-Dabagh and W.M. Al-Mehemdi,(2012) An Experimental Study of Vegetable Solar Drying Systems with and without
Auxiliary Heat, International Scholarly Research Network ISRN Renewable Energy Volume 2.
[22] Serm Janjai, (2012) a greenhouse type solar dryer for small-scale dried food industries: Development and dissemination, international journal of energy and
environment, Volume 3, Issue 3, pp.383-398.
[23] Romano, G., Kocsis, L. and Farkas, I. (2009), Analysis of energy and environmental during solar cabinet drying of apple and carrot, Drying Technology,
Vol. 27, No 4, pp. 574-579.
[24] Sandeep Panchal, Satish Kumar solanki, Sunil Yadav, Prof Asim Kumar Tilkar, Prof Ravi Nagaich(2013) Design, Construction and Testing of Solar Dryer
with Roughened Surface Solar Air Heater, International Journal of Innovative Research in Engineering & Science, volume 7, Issue 2 pp 7-17

All rights reserved by www.ijirst.org

70