Reuse of Exhaust Heat and Improvement in Fuel Efficiency of Grain Dryer

곡물(穀物) 건조기(乾燥機)의 배기열(排気熱) 재이용(再利用) 및 열효율(熱効率) 개선(改善)에 관(關)한 연구(硏究)

While most of researches on the performance of high temperature grain dryer have dealt mainly with improving dryer capacity and drying speed during the last twenty years, energy efficiency, in fact, has not been emphasized. Current fuel supplies and energy cost have shifted the emphasis to reducing the energy consumption for grain drying while maintaining dryer capacity and grain quality. Since the energy input for drying is relatively large, the recovery and reuse of at least part of the exhaust energy can significantly reduce the total energy consumption in existing drying systems. Unilization of exhaust heat in grain dryer either through direct recycling or by a thermal coupling in heat exchanger have been subject of a number of investigators. However, very seldom research in Korea has been done in this area. Three drying tests(non-recycling, 0.22 recycle ratio, and 0.76 recycle ratio)were performed to investigate the thermal efficiency and heat loss factors of continuous flow type dryer, and to analyze the effect of recycle ratio (weight of exhaust air recycled/total weight of input air) on the energy requriements for rough rice drying. The test results showed that when the exhaust air was not recycled, the energy lost from furnace was 15.3 percent of input fuel energy, and latent and sensible heat of exhaust air were 61.4 percent and 11.2 percent respectively. The heat which was required in raising grain temperature and stored in dryer was relatively small. As the recycle ratio of exhaust air was increased, the drying rate was suddenly decreased, and thermal efficiency of the kerosene burner was also decreased. Drying test with 0.76 recycle ratio resulted in 12.4% increase in fuel consumption, and 38.4% increase in electric power consumption as compared to the non-recycled drying test. Drying test of 0.22 recycle ratio resulted in 6.8% saving in total energy consumption, 8.0% reduction in fuel consumption, and 2.5% increase in electric power consumption as compared to the non-recycled drying test.