Infrastructure Engineering - Theses

Permanent URI for this collection

Now showing 1 - 1 of 1

Technical and financial feasibility of a solar dryer in Bhutan

LHENDUP, TSHEWANG ( 2005)

The technical and financial performance of an existing solar crop dryer at Khao-kor, Thailand has been evaluated for possible replication in Bhutan. The complete dryer system has been modelled using TRNSYS and the collector area was optimised to give minimum drying cost. From the evaluation, the average collector, pick-up and system efficiencies were found as 44%, 23% and 18% respectively. The solar contribution to the load is 33% when the dryer is used for 304 days in a year. Chilli and beef were selected as products to be dried as they are an integral part of Bhutan’s dishes. The drying cost is US $ 7.94 and 5.96 per kg of dry matter for chilli and beef respectively using the solar dryer system. The corresponding costs using an electric heating system is US $ 7.76 and 6.25 per kg of dry matter for chilli and beef respectively. The solar dryer system was found to be cheaper compared to an electric heating system, however, from the commercial point of view, without any incentives, both the systems are financially non-viable in Bhutan. Nevertheless, the solar dryer system is more attractive than the electric heating system as its NPV at 13% real discount rate is higher.