Embodied energy analysis of the indirect solar drying unit

ABSTRACT

The increase in cost of fossil fuel and unavailability of electricity are the barrier for farmers to run their farm machineries and their development. Solar drying is a technique that not only helps in reducing fossil fuels and greenhouse gas emission by avoiding the use of machines in this sector, but also reduces the post-harvest food losses too. In present study, embodied energy analysis has been done for indirect solar dryer unit. Fenugreek leaves of 02 kg were put in each tray inside indirect solar dryer unit for drying purposes. Various environmental and economic parameters have been evaluated, which includes the payback period by cost, the energy payback time (EPBT), embodied energy, CO₂ emission and the earned carbon credit. The total embodied energy of the system is 1081.83 kWh. The EPBT and CO₂ emission are found to be 4.36 years and 391.52 kg per year, respectively.

KEYWORDS:

• Indirect solar drying
• embodied energy
• energy payback time period
• carbon credit

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.