Optimizing exergetic performance of a continuous conveyor infrared-hot air dryer with air recycling system

•Optimization exergy analysis was undertaken for mushroom slices drying in a combined infrared-convective dryer.•Effect of air recirculation, drying temperature, and infrared power were evaluated.•Exergy efficiency increased by increasing the air recirculation percentage, drying temperature and infr...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Applied thermal engineering 2019-05, Vol.154, p.358-367
Main Authors: Afzali, Farzam, Darvishi, Hosain, Behroozi-Khazaei, Nasser
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Air recirculation
Air temperature
Conveyors
Drying
Exergy
Fitness
Mathematical models
Mushrooms
Optimization
Polynomials
Power efficiency
Process parameters
Recycling
Response surface
Response surface methodology
Statistical analysis
Temperature
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Summary:•Optimization exergy analysis was undertaken for mushroom slices drying in a combined infrared-convective dryer.•Effect of air recirculation, drying temperature, and infrared power were evaluated.•Exergy efficiency increased by increasing the air recirculation percentage, drying temperature and infrared power.•By increasing the air recirculation upper than 50%, drying time increased.•Optimum drying condition obtained at 90 °C, 839.19 W, and 90% air reticulation with 1 m/s air velocity. In the current study, response surface methodology was applied for modeling and optimizing exergetic performance of a conveyor infrared-hot air dryer for mushroom slices. Optimization factors were air recirculation percentage, air temperature and infrared power while investigating responses were drying time, exergetic efficiency, exergy loss and potential improvement. ANOVA results indicated that a second-order polynomial model predicted the experimental data properly. The statistical analysis expressed that the drying time decreased with increasing the air recirculationup to 50% and then increased with more increasing of air recycling percentage. Also, increasing the air recirculation percentage, drying temperature and infrared power improved the exergy efficiency. Optimization of the drying process parameters for the presented constraints resulted in 90 °C, 839.13 W, 90% air recirculation at 1 m/s air velocity. Also,the experimental validation demostrated thatthere is a high fitness between the predicted and experimental valuesbased onthe optimized combination of process parameters.
ISSN:1359-4311
1873-5606
DOI:10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2019.03.096