Models and experiments for energy consumption and quality of green tea drying
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Date
2014
Authors
Langat, Nickson
Thoruwa, Thomas
Wanyoko, John
Kiplagat, Jeremiah
Plourde, Brian
Abraham, John
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Wiley Open Access
Abstract
An experimental apparatus has been developed to evaluate the drying process
of green tea leaves. Tea drying is an energy-intensive process which results in
the removal of leaf moisture; it is essential to the quality of the final product.
In order to more efficiently use process energy, a prototype drying system has
been built and tested. The prototype incorporates a rotating perforated drum
which helps speed the drying process. Experiments were carried out with multiple
temperatures, airflow rates, and drum rotation rates; a subset of those
results is shown here. In particular, the impact of airflow rate on the process
was studied. It was found that as the airflow increased, the drying rate
increased, as expected. However, the efficiency of energy use, which was quantified
by the Specific Energy Consumption rate, varied considerably with flow.
While higher flows led to faster drying, it resulted in a lower energy efficiency.
Also, a two parameter predictive model was developed that was able to accurately
match the moisture removal rates for a very wide range of flows. This
predictive model, which is based on thermal-fluid fundamentals, can be used to
extrapolate the presented results to cases which were not considered.
Description
Research article
Keywords
Citation
Energy Science & Engineering 2014, published by the Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.