Design and development of biomass-fueled convective dryer for marine products: energy, exergy, environmental, and economic (4E) analysis

The study aimed to design a biomass-fueled convective dryer and evaluate its performance using anchovy and shrimps. The dryer comprised a biomass furnace, a blower, a drying chamber, stainless steel trays and a chimney. The heat energy for drying was supplied indirectly through ducts by combustion of woody biomass in the furnace. Anchovy had an initial moisture content of 525% dry basis (d.b) and reduced to 17.18% (d.b) within 3.5 h, while the shrimp reached a final moisture content of 18% (d.b) in the same time frame. The logarithmic model was selected as the best fit for anchovy and shrimp drying, with R² values of 0.9989 and 0.9998, RMSE values of 0.0016 and 0.0021 and chi-square values of 0.00033 and 0.00047, respectively. The effective moisture diffusivity of anchovy and shrimp was found to be 6.01 × 10⁻⁷ m²/s and 1.78 × 10⁻⁶ m²/s, respectively. The thermal efficiency of anchovy and shrimp was calculated as 21.23% and 24.15%, respectively. The shrinkage (%) and rehydration ratio of shrimp and anchovy were within the acceptable limit. The energy payback period of biomass dyer was estimated to be 0.27 years. The sustainability index and environment destruction coefficient of the biomass dryer were 1.62 and 2.62, respectively. The waste energy ratio, environmental impact factor and improvement potential of the dryer were determined as 0.618, 1.69 and 0.4408, respectively. The study obtained favourable techno-economical feasibility results for biomass drying of shrimp and anchovy indicating that it can be recommended for large-scale drying of marine foods.

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