ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF INCLINED SOLAR DRYER FOR DRYING OF FRUIT AND VEGETABLES

Abstract

This research paper describes the performance evaluation and economic analysis of solar dryer for drying of perishable agricultural produces. The dryer was fabricated using locally available materials, e.g. galvanized iron sheet, M.S. angle, glass and S.S. wire mesh. The provision of tilting the dryer helps receive maximum solar radiation round the year at Jodhpur, India as optimally inclined surface receive 22.8% more solar radiation as compared to horizontal surface. Therefore, optimally tilted solar dryer has been used for this study. Different types of fruit and vegetables were dried in the solar dryer during the year 2017. During the drying process, moisture content of tomato was reduced from 95% (wet basis) to about 5%, in spinach 93% to 5%, in carrot 71% to 12%, in ber 80% to 20% and in lasoda/gonda it was reduced from 85% to 10% within 2 days in solar dryer for tomato, spinach, carrot and gonda and 10 days for ber. The efficiency of the dryer was found to be 17.57 %. The economic evaluation of the solar dryer (cost Rs 9000 and life of dryer = 10 years) revealed which high value of IRR (84.4 percent) and low value of payback period (1.42 years) make the dryer unit very cost efficient. The economic indicator benefit-cost- ratio was found 2.09, which shows the potential of using solar dryers in place of conventional dryers. The economic attributes namely net present worth (Rs 41830) and annuity (Rs 5635) of the system revealed its economic viability. The use of inclined solar dryer in remote locations/rural areas can go a long way in reducing post-harvest losses as well as carbon emission. The use of solar dryer will prove to be a great boon for farmers of arid region of Rajasthan.