Energy and economic characterization of the traditional drying of cocoa beans in greenhouses

Autor: Juan Felipe Vásquez-Uribe, Juan Sebastian Vásquez-Alzate, José Alejandro Urrego-Pabón, Juan Fernando Pérez-Bayer, Edwin Lenin Chica-Arrieta
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2024
Předmět:
Zdroj: Revista Facultad de Ingeniería Universidad de Antioquia (2024)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 0120-6230
2422-2844
DOI: 10.17533/udea.redin.20240411
Popis: Drying is a crucial step in cocoa production, for storing and reducing grain humidity. In Colombia, particularly in the Antioquia region, solar energy is used in simple structures called marquesinas. In this work, the authors characterized the process energetically by determining its specific energy consumption (SEC, 27793.9 kJ/kg), the thermal efficiency of the system (η, 12.94%), and specific cocoa drying process cost: 2.27 USD$/kg dry,cocoa (approx. 10442COP$/kg dry,cocoa). At the end, with this information, is constructed grain mass loss curve versus time. The drying on the first day was faster than the following days. The main disadvantage of the greenhouse was that the beans gained moisture at night. For this reason, extra energy and time were necessary to remove the additional humidity acquired by the air condensing over the cocoa beans. This phenomenon decreased the thermal efficiency of the processes and increased its drying time.
Databáze: Directory of Open Access Journals