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Convective and infrared drying assisted by capillary drainage of spirulina: a real possibility to reduce the energy consumption

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Abstract

The aim of this work was to investigate the energy efficiency of infrared radiation drying (labeled IR) and hot air drying (labeled HA) of spirulina assisted by capillary drainage (labeled DC). Capillary drainage effect was introduced by a porous material (filter paper) placed under a thin layer of spirulina biomass of 3 mm thickness. Infrared drying experiments were performed using a laboratory IR-30 moisture analyzer while convective drying experiments were realized in a pilot-scale drying tunnel. The spirulina was dried at two initial moisture contents on dry basis; 5 kg/kg and 7 kg/kg. For both infrared and convective processes, the drying temperature range was 50 to 80 °C and the air velocity was 0.5 m/s. The air humidity was not controlled but calculated for each temperature from the dry and wet bulb temperatures. The drying kinetic coefficients were identified by fitting the falling rate drying period data by Lewis semi-empirical model. According to our results, the capillary drainage provided a real possibility to dry faster and thus reduces the energy consumption for both infrared and convective drying processes. The time reduction percentage, averaged over the range of the operating conditions, was around 60% for infrared drying and 40% for convective drying. Moreover, the mean maximum drying rate was much higher for IR-DC drying (2.091.10−3 kg/kg s−1) than HA-DC drying (1.115.10−3 kg/kg.s−1). As concerns, the kinetic drying coefficient, this parameter was significantly increased by the presence of the porous material essentially for infrared drying.

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Abbreviations

Aeff :

Effective surface area (mm2)

DC:

Capillary drainage

HA:

Hot air convective drying

HA-DC:

Combined hot air and capillary drainage drying processes

HR:

Air relative Humidity (%)

IR:

Infrared drying

IR-DC:

Combined infrared and capillary drainage processes

K, kx :

Drying constants

md :

Dry matter mass (kg)

mi:

Initial water mass in the product (kg)

T:

Temperature (K)

t:

Time (s)

V:

Drying rate (kg water /kg dry matter.s)

Va:

Air velocity (m/s)

Vmax :

Maximum drying rate (kg water / kg dry matter.s)

Xcr :

Critical moisture content on dry basis (kg water /kg dry matter)

Xeq :

Equilibrium moisture content on dry basis (kg water /kg dry matter)

Xi :

Initial moisture content on dry basis (kg water /kg dry matter)

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Acknowledgments

This research work was supported by Bio Gatrana Farm. The authors want to thank Mr. Nizar Chouchen for its scientific support, Mr. Lazheri Nouri for providing spirulina biomass and Mr. Abderrazek Zaaraoui for technical support.

Funding

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Applied Thermodynamics Unit Research, National Engineering School of Gabes, ENIG, University of Gabes, Gabes, Tunisia

    Thouraya Ghnimi & Mohamed Bagane

  2. LETTM laboratory, Faculty of Sciences of Tunis, University of Tunis el Manar, Tunis, Tunisia

    Lamine Hassini

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  1. Thouraya Ghnimi
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  2. Lamine Hassini
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  3. Mohamed Bagane
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Correspondence to Thouraya Ghnimi.

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Ghnimi, T., Hassini, L. & Bagane, M. Convective and infrared drying assisted by capillary drainage of spirulina: a real possibility to reduce the energy consumption. Heat Mass Transfer 55, 867–876 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00231-018-2472-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00231-018-2472-6

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