Drying of Spirulina with a continuous infrared‑assisted refractance window™ dryer equipped with a photovoltaic‑thermal solar collector

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Arslan S.

Heat And Mass Transfer, vol.1, no.1, pp.1-17, 2022 (SCI-Expanded)

  • Publication Type: Article / Article
  • Volume: 1 Issue: 1
  • Publication Date: 2022
  • Doi Number: 10.1007/s00231-022-03210-5
  • Journal Name: Heat And Mass Transfer
  • Journal Indexes: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Scopus, Academic Search Premier, Chimica, Compendex, INSPEC
  • Page Numbers: pp.1-17
  • Bursa Uludag University Affiliated: No

Abstract

Drying is one of the effective techniques in increasing Spirulina shelf life. Performance of a continuous infrared-refractance
window™ dryer coupled with a double-pass photovoltaic-thermal (PVT) solar collector was investigated at different drying
air flow rates (0.036, 0.071, and 0.107 m3/s/m2 collector) and Spirulina feeding rates (1.2 L/h, 1.8 L/h, and 2.4 L/h). The
maximum electrical and thermal efficiencies of the PVT collector, solar electricity fraction, and solar heat fraction were
found to be 11.91%, 68.47%, 0.76, and 0.78, respectively. The average specific energy consumption values ranged between
1.21 and 2.437 kWh/kg. The yellowness index (b*) of the dried products decreased by 63.67%, and the redness index (a*)
increased by 39.4% when the feeding rate was increased from 1.2 to 2.4 L/h. The highest phycocyanin content was approximately 11.4 g/100 g at the feeding rate of 2.4 L/h and the air flow rate of 0.107 m3/s/m2 collector.