Solar drying of agro-industrial wastes using a solar greenhouse

Abstract

A hybrid photovoltaic-thermal (PV/T) greenhouse dryer of 150 kg capacity has been designed and constructed at Solar Equipments Development Unit (UDES) at Bou-Ismail, Algeria. The developed dryer has been used to dry the apricot waste when AC fan was in operation for forced mode convection. Experiments were conducted for drying of apricot waste in the month of June, 2016. Various hourly experimental data namely moisture evaporate, ambient air temperature and humidity, greenhouse air temperature and humidity, etc. were recorded to evaluate heat and mass transfer for the proposed system.