EVALUATION OF AGRICULTURAL RESIDUES COMBUSTOR USED FOR INDUSTRIAL-SCALE FLAT-FLOOR DRYING

Abstract

Agricultural residues (biomass) have the potential to be used as an
alternative fuel for coal. Agricultural products such as cassava, corn, and rice,…
has to be dried to increase the selling price/ additional value and shelf life. One
drying technology that is still relatively effective in terms of investment for
businesses is enhanced flat-floor drying with heat from an agricultural residue
combustor. In this research, the purpose is to determine and evaluate the furnace
efficiency achieved when converting from solid fuel (biomass) into a thermal
energy source. The combustor is operated by 2 types of fuel, cinnamon leaf and
corn cob, in case of no-load and load. Experimental research results are assessed
when the combustor is running at no-load (when not connected to the dryer) and
with load (when the dryer is connected). The results show that efficiency is higher
in the case of burning cinnamon leaf fuel, and lower efficiency when burning corn
cob, for both load and no-load cases. The specific results obtained are: (i) at no-
load: ~87.98% (with cinnamon leaves) and ~78% (with corn cobs); (ii) at load:
~88.65% (with cinnamon leaves) and ~ 79.15% (with corn cobs).