<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>Cashew nut farming in India is mostly carried out in small and marginal holdings. Energy consumption in the small scale cashew nut processing industry is very high and is mainly due to the high energy consumption of the drying process. The drying operation provides a lot of scope for energy saving and substitutions of other renewable energy sources. Renewable energy-based drying systems with loading capacity of 40 kg were proposed for application in small scale cashew nut processing industries. The main objective of this work is to perform economic feasibility of substituting solar, biomass and hybrid dryer in place of conventional steam drying for cashew drying. Four economic indicators were used to assess the feasibility of three renewable based drying technologies. The payback time was 1.58 yr. for solar, 1.32 for biomass and 1.99 for the hybrid drying system, whereas as the cost-benefit estimates were 5.23 for solar, 4.15 for biomass and 3.32 for the hybrid system. It was found that it is of paramount importance to develop solar biomass hybrid dryer for small scale processing industries.</p></abstract>

Cashew nut farming in India is mostly carried out in small and marginal holdings. Energy consumption in the small scale cashew nut processing industry is very high and is mainly due to the high energy consumption of the drying process. The drying operation provides a lot of scope for energy saving and substitutions of other renewable energy sources. Renewable energy-based drying systems with loading capacity of 40 kg were proposed for application in small scale cashew nut processing industries. The main objective of this work is to perform economic feasibility of substituting solar, biomass and hybrid dryer in place of conventional steam drying for cashew drying. Four economic indicators were used to assess the feasibility of three renewable based drying technologies. The payback time was 1.58 yr. for solar, 1.32 for biomass and 1.99 for the hybrid drying system, whereas as the cost-benefit estimates were 5.23 for solar, 4.15 for biomass and 3.32 for the hybrid system. It was found that it is of paramount importance to develop solar biomass hybrid dryer for small scale processing industries.

Life Cycle Cost of Solar Biomass Hybrid Dryer Systems for Cashew Drying of Nuts in India

PRIST University, Thanjavur, Tamilnadu 613403, India

Toc H Institute of Science and Technology, Arakkunnam, Kerala 682313, India

Energy Centre, National Institute of Technology, Bhopal 462003, Madhya Pradesh, India

Environmental and Climate Technologies

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Public License.

Cashew nut farming in India is mostly carried out in small and marginal holdings. Energy consumption in the small scale cashew nut processing industry is very...

Life Cycle Cost of Solar Biomass Hybrid Dryer Systems for Cashew Drying of Nuts in India

Published Online: Feb 12, 2016

Page range: 22 - 33

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/rtuect-2015-0003

Keywords
Benefit cost ratio, conventional dryer, energy saving, pay back

© Riga Technical University

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Public License.

Life Cycle Cost of Solar Biomass Hybrid Dryer Systems for Cashew Drying of Nuts in India

Published Online: Feb 12, 2016

Page range: 22 - 33

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/rtuect-2015-0003

KeywordsBenefit cost ratio, conventional dryer, energy saving, pay back

© Riga Technical University

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Public License.

Keywords
Benefit cost ratio, conventional dryer, energy saving, pay back