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 Innovative Food Science and Emerging Technologies 34 (2016) 86–99

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Innovative Food Science and Emerging Technologies

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ifset

Thermal energy storage based solar drying systems: A review

Karunesh Kant a,⁎, A. Shukla a, Atul Sharma a, Anil Kumar b,c, Anand Jain c
a
Non-Conventional Energy Laboratory, Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Petroleum Technology, Raebareli, U.P., India
b
Energy Technology Research Center, Dept. of Mech. Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Prince of Songkla University, 15 Karnjanavanich Rd., Hat Yai, Songkhla 90110, Thailand
c
Energy Centre, Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Solar dryer based on thermal energy storage materials is quite effective for continuously drying agriculture
Received 7 October 2015 and food products at steady state in the temperature range (40 °C–60 °C). Such dryers have globally become a
Received in revised form 22 December 2015 potential viable substitute to the solar dryers based on fossil fuel, due to the utilization of clean energy resources
Accepted 13 January 2016
and cost-effectiveness. Storage materials utilized in these dryers can store energy during the sunshine hour and
Available online 27 January 2016
deliver the stored energy during off-sunshine. It reduces the existing load on the gap between energy demand
Keywords:
and supply, hence plays a vital role in energy sustainability. A number of studies have been done in last few
Solar dryer decades for drying agriculture and food products with a solar dryer based on thermal energy storage concept.
Thermal energy storage This paper mainly presents a review on the important contributions made so far in the field of solar drying
Solar energy systems based on the thermal energy storage medium, with a focus on recent updates in thermal energy storage
Phase change materials technology available in terms of materials capable of storing heat as sensible and latent heat.
Industrial relevance:

1. Solar energy defuses in the nature and provides low grade heat. This characteristic of solar energy is good for
drying at low temperature, high flow rate with low temperature rise.
2. Worldwide, there is huge demand of efficient solar dryers utilized by various food and agricultural products.
3. Solar energy based solar dryers are not only cost efficient but also can be used across the globe, specially
contributing to cleaner energy resources.
4. Novel system designs and techniques related to solar dryers are being explored to increase the efficiency and
performance of solar dryers, which could in turn be much more commercially utilized by the end user.
5. Phase change materials can store energy during sunshine hours and retrieve during off-sunshine hours for
drying purpose, hence solar dryers embedded with such materials could be quite useful.

© 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Contents

1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
2. Thermal energy storage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
2.1. Sensible heat storage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
2.2. Latent heat storage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
2.3. Thermochemical energy storage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
3. Phase change materials for thermal energy storage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
4. Solar dryer systems embedded with thermal energy storage materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
4.1. Solar dryer systems with sensible heat storage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
4.1.1. Indirect solar dryers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
4.1.2. Greenhouse dryers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
4.2. Solar dryer with latent heat storage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
4.2.1. Indirect solar dryer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
4.2.2. Greenhouse dryer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
4.2.3. Hybrid solar dryer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

⁎ Corresponding author at: Non-Conventional Energy Laboratory, Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Petroleum Technology, Raebareli 229316, U.P., India.
E-mail address: k1091kant@gmail.com (K. Kant).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ifset.2016.01.007
1466-8564/© 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
 K. Kant et al. / Innovative Food Science and Emerging Technologies 34 (2016) 86–99 87

5. Use of software in solar drying systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

6. Summary and conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

1. Introduction
The drying is the basic process to reduce moisture from a product,
which is one of the oldest techniques used for food or agricultural
products storage (Augustus Leon, Kumar, & Bhattacharya, 2002). Food
products, particularly fruits and vegetables require hot air in the
temperature range of 45–60 °C for safe drying i.e., drying the products
so as to keep their edible and nutritious properties intact. Requisite
moisture content and superior quality of the product can be achieved
under controlled conditions of temperature and humidity (Sharma,
Colangelo, & Spagna, 1995). In the case of vegetables, which is the
main nutrients product, 50% of wet (Wahidi & Rohani, 1996) (Wahidi
& Rohani, 1996) (Wahidi & Rohani, 1996) (Wahidi & Rohani, 1996)
(Wahidi & Rohani, 1996) (Wahidi & Rohani, 1996) vegetables
(i.e., peels) are removed as unwanted items while cooking due to its
higher moisture content (Wahidi & Rohani, 1996). Dried peels of
vegetables can be further used for the feeding of the animals. Moreover,
the transportation cost of vegetables is also reduced due to reduction
in the weight and size of such dried product. It has been studied that
lack of appropriate technology, inappropriate farming, fertilization, the
non-existence of marketing channels, inappropriate transportation,
high post-harvest losses etc., cause a food loss in the range of 10 to
40% (Esper & Mühlbauer, 1998). Hence, food preservation is the need
of the hour to reduce the food loss and drying is widely accepted as an
important tool in this direction, since a long time. Therefore, efficient
drying technologies are required to reduce moisture content from
food and vegetables for preservation. Well-designed solar dryers may
provide a much-needed suitable substitute for drying of some of the
agricultural crops in developing countries (Mahapatra & Imre, 1990;
Sodha & Chandra, 1994; Ekechukwu & Norton, 1999; Hossain, Woods,
& Bala, 2005; Zhiqiang, 2005). Application of solar energy in the agricul-
tural area has enlarged due to fluctuation in the price of fossil fuels,
environmental concerns and expected running down of conventional
fossil fuels. Fig. 1 shows the drastic increase in energy consumption
being experienced in the food and related sector. This is putting a
pressure on very many fields related to energy production as well as en-
ergy transmission. Solar energy is the most abundant energy resource
available on the regular basis (during day time) which can become
the most efficient and feasible way out to deal with the increasing
energy demand and supply gap. Particularly, to facilitate the drying of
food and agriculture products, the solar energy is most suitable but
intermittent in nature due to non-availability of solar radiation in the
night. Therefore thermal energy storage facility is required to store
solar energy to be used in off sunshine hours (Saxena & El-Sebaii,
2015; Shalaby, Bek, & El-Sebaii, 2014).
Solar drying technique facilitates domestic as well as industrial
sector for number of food and agricultural products, so as;
— to make the preservation process much easier,
— to develop a certain product much more usable,
— to increase storage capacity and cost-effective transportation, and
— to harness direct or indirect ecological benefits.
Hence, an efficient solar dryer system could be of much use for the
larger benefit of the mankind. This certainly requires the challenging
task of developing novel solar dryers with efficient energy consumption
for the specific product. Solar energy is considered quite effective for
food drying, due to the following reasons:
• Solar energy diffuses in nature easily and provides low-grade heat.
These characteristics of solar energy are good for drying food products
at low temperature, high flow rate with the gradual and low-
temperature rise.
• The irregular nature of solar radiation will not affect the drying perfor-
mance at low temperature. Even the energy stored in the product
itself will help in removing excess moisture during the period of no
sunshine.
• Solar energy is available at most of the required sites of drying food
products.
• The solar dryer for food products could also be put to other multiple
usages, such as space heating.

Source: Central Electricity Authority 2015

Fig. 1. Sector wise electricity consumption growth in India (GWh).

88 K. Kant et al. / Innovative Food Science and Emerging Technologies 34 (2016) 86–99

Table 1 there is no sun in the night hours. Available solar energy also depends
Initial and final moisture content of the product (Garg, 2000). on the metrological condition of location and climate. Reliability of
Product Moisture content % Maximum temperature solar energy can be improved by storing its share when it is in excess
Initial Final
allowable for drying (°C) to the requirement, and using the same stored energy, whenever
needed. Solar energy can be stored by thermal, electrical, chemical,
Potatoes 75 13 75
and mechanical methods (Mahlia, Saktisahdan, Jannifar, Hasan, &
Chilies 80 5 65
Apples 80 24 70 Matseelar, 2014; Hasnain, 1998; Zalba, Marı́n, Cabeza, & Mehling,
Apricot 85 18 65 2003). System operability and utility of solar dryer can be enhanced
Grapes 80 15–20 70 by storing solar energy in the form of thermal energy in thermal energy
Bananas 80 15 70 storage materials. The initial moisture content and final moisture
Guavas 80 7 65
Opra 80 20 65
content along with the maximum temperature at which product may
Pineapple 80 10 65 be dried are very crucial for safe drying, depending on the specific
Tomatoes 96 10 60 product, which is given in Table 1.
Brinjal 95 6 60
Millet 21 14 NA
2. Thermal energy storage
Spinach 80 10 NA
Cassava 62 17 NA
Cassava leaves 80 10 NA Thermal energy can be stored in well-insulated materials as a
Fish raw 75 15 30 change in internal energy of the material, as sensible heat, latent
Fish water 75 15 50 heat and thermochemical or combination of these. Fig. 2 displays an
Onion ring 80 10 55
Prunes 85 15 55
overview of the major techniques involved for solar thermal energy
Peaches 85 18 65 storage.
Mulberries 80 10 65
Figs 80 24 NA 2.1. Sensible heat storage
Yams 80 10 65
Nutmeg 80 20 65
Sorrel 80 20 65 In the sensible heat storage, thermal energy is stored by increasing
Coffee 50 11 NA the temperature of a liquid or solid, using the heat capacity and change
Coffee beans 55 12 NA in temperature of the material during the process of charging and
Cocoa beans 50 7 NA discharging. The amount of heat stored depends on the specific heat of
Cotton 50 9 75
Cotton seeds 50 8 75
the medium, the temperature change and the amount of storage
Copra 30 5 NA material. Generally, water appears to be the best SHS materials due to
Ground nuts 40 9 50 its high specific heat and inexpensive. The amount of energy stored is
Silk cocoons 68–70 10–12− 80 determined by the temperature change of the material and can be
Timber
stated in the form of
Foliage trees 25–35 17–20 50
Conifers 30–40 010–015 50 Z T2
Soaked trees 60 12 50
E¼m C p dT ð1Þ
Mahogany 35 11 NA T1
Leather 50 18 35
Fabrics 50 8 75
¼ mC p ðT 2 −T 1 Þ ð2Þ

Solar energy is abundantly and freely available, environmentally where, m is the mass and Cp is the specific heat at constant pressure. T1
clean so it is recognized as one of the most promising alternative energy and T2 signify the lower and upper temperature levels in the middle of
resource options. However, solar energy is intermittent in nature, as which the storage operates. The difference (T2–T1) is denoted as the

Fig. 2. Different types of thermal storage of solar energy (Bal, Satya, & Naik, 2010).
 K. Kant et al. / Innovative Food Science and Emerging Technologies 34 (2016) 86–99 89

temperature swing (Gogus, 2009). Table 2 gives a list of selected solid–

liquid materials which can be used for sensible heat storage based
applications.

2.2. Latent heat storage

Latent heat storage (LHS) stores thermal energy at the time of phase
transition from solid to liquid or liquid to vapor in the form of latent heat
of fusion and vaporization respectively. Phase change materials (PCMs)
have been widely studied and used for wide range of applications
(Sharma, Tyagi, Chen, & Buddhi, 2009) due to its property of heat
absorption and discharging during melting and solidification process
respectively. Fig. 3 shows the temperature variation with the amount
of stored heat. The temperature of storage materials is increased in the
sensible heating and it became constant during the transition phase
and stores large amount of energy at this time. Heating a material causes
a phase change (usually melting), storing energy in the form of latent
Fig. 3. Sensible and latent heat storage.
heat, commonly referred as latent heat storage process. The amount of
energy stored E, in this case, hangs on the mass (m) and latent heat of
fusion (λ) of the material. 3. Phase change materials for thermal energy storage

E ¼ mλ ð3Þ Amongst above thermal heat storage techniques, latent heat thermal
energy storage is particularly more attractive to other due to its ability
to provide high-energy storage density per unit mass and per unit
The storage functions isothermally at the melting point of the mate-
volume in a more or less isothermal process, i.e., store heat at a constant
rial. If isothermal operation at the phase change temperature is difficult,
temperature corresponding to the phase-transition temperature of
the system operates over a range of temperatures T1 to T2 that includes
PCM. Thus, PCMs release large amounts of energy upon freezing in the
the melting point. The sensible heat contributions have to be considered
form of latent heat and absorb equal amounts of energy from the imme-
and the amount of energy stored is given by
diate environment upon melting. Number of PCMs were investigated by
28 9 8T 93 different investigators for different applications (Sharma, Tyagi, Chen, &
>
<ZT >
= <Z2 = Buddhi, 2009; Sharma, Dong, Buddhi, & Un, 2005; Sharma, Shukla, Chen,
6 7
E ¼ m4 C ps dT þ λ þ C pl dT 5 ð4Þ & Dwivedi, 2013; Sharma, Shukla, Chen, & Wu, 2014; Abhat, 1983;
>
: >
; : ;
T1 T Baetens, Jelle, & Gustavsen, 2010). A classification of PCMs is shown in
Fig. 4. Various types of PCMs studied and used for different applications
with their operating temperature ranges are tabulated in Table 4 which
where, Cps and Cpl denote the specific heats of the solid and liquid phases
can be used for integrating PCM with the solar dryer in the appropriate
and T ⁎ represents the melting temperature of PCM. Comparison of var-
temperature range. During sunshine hours, the maximum temperature
ious heat storage media has been given in Table 3.
within the drying chamber varies from 40 °C to 54 °C (Devahastin &
Pitaksuriyarat, 2006a, 2006b).
2.3. Thermochemical energy storage

4. Solar dryer systems embedded with thermal energy storage

Thermochemical systems rely on the energy absorbed and released
materials
in breaking and reforming molecular bonds in a completely reversible
chemical reaction. In this case, the heat stored depends on the amount
The entire review for solar drying with thermal energy storage can
of storage material, the endothermic heat of reaction, and the extent
be discussed in two subsections. In the first section, authors have
of conversion.
reviewed, solar drying systems using sensible heat storage methods
and discussion related to solar dryers based on latent heat storage
Q ¼ ar mΔhr ð5Þ
methods has been given in the subsequent section.

Table 3
Table 2 Comparison of various heat storage media (stored energy = 106 kJ = 300 kWh; ΔT = 15 K)
A list of selected solid–liquid materials for sensible heat storage (Sharma, Tyagi, Chen, & (www.eolss.net/ebooks/sample%20chapters/c08/e3-14-02-00.pdf).
Buddhi, 2009).
Heat storage material
Medium Fluid type Temperature Density Specific
Sensible heat Phase change
range (°C) (kg/m3) heat (J/kg K)
storage materials
Rock 20 2560 879
Property Rock Water Organic Inorganic
Brick 20 1600 840
a a
Concrete 20 1900–2300 880 Latent heat of fusion (kJ/kg) 190 230
Water 0–100 1000 4190 Specific heat (kJ/kg) 1.0 4.2 2.0 2.0
Caloriea HT43 Oil 12–260 867 2200 Density (kg/m3) 2240 1000 800 1600
Engine oil Oil Up to 160 888 1880 Storage mass for storing 106 kJ (kg) 67,000 16,000 5300 4350
Ethanol Organic liquid Up to 78 790 2400 Relative massb 15 4 1.25 1.0
Proponal Organic liquid Up to 97 800 2500 Storage volume for storing 106 kJ (m3) 30 16 6.6 2.7
Butanol Organic liquid Up to 118 809 2400 Relative volumeb 11 6 2.5 1.0
Isotunaol Organic liquid Up to 100 808 3000 a
The latent heat of fusion is not of interest for sensible heat storage.
Isopentanol Organic liquid Up to 148 831 2200 b
Relative mass and volume are based on latent heat storage in inorganic phase change
Octane Organic liquid Up to 126 704 2400
materials.
90 K. Kant et al. / Innovative Food Science and Emerging Technologies 34 (2016) 86–99
Fig. 4. Classification of phase change materials.
4.1. Solar dryer systems with sensible heat storage
4.1.1. Indirect solar dryers
Jain (2007) carried out a study on solar crop drying with reversed
absorber plate type collector having natural air flow. Thermal storage
materials affect natural mass flow rate in the drying system. The ther-
mal model was developed based on energy equation. The reversed
absorber, packed bed, inclined absorber and dryer are shown in Fig. 5.
The absorber plate with built-in thermal storage (Aboul-Enein, El-
Sebaii, Ramadan, & El-Gohary, 2000) is inclined at 30°. 1 m length and
1 m breadth reversed absorber plate having 0.15 m packed bed could
dry 95 kg of onion from a moisture content of 6.14–0.27 kg water/kg
of dry substance in a 24 h drying period. In this type of solar dryer, no
external power was required to operate dryer. Air flow takes place nat-
urally due to the thermosyphon effect. Mohanraj and Chandrasekar
(2009) carried out an experimental study of chili drying on indirect
forced convection solar dryer integrated with different sensible heat
storage materials as shown in Fig. 6. Solar air heater consists of the
glass cover, copper absorber plate painted with black paint. The
gap between absorber plate and insulation is filled with sand
mixed with aluminum scraps to store the heat during sunshine
hours and to obtain hot air during off-sunshine hours. The dryer is
capable of holding about 50 kg of chili per batch. The drying chamber
was isolated with glass wool of 10 mm width. The solar air heater
was tilted to an angle about 25° with respect to horizontal surface
(Shariah, Al-Akhras, & Al-Omari, 2002). Integration of storage mate-
rials increases the drying time by about 4 h per day and maintain
consistent air temperature. The chili was dried from initial moisture
content 72.8% to the final moisture content about 9.2% and 9.7% (wet
basis) in the bottom and top trays respectively. Jain and Jain (2004)
presented a transient analytical model for inclined multi-pass solar
air heater with inbuilt thermal storage and attached with the deep
bed solar dryer as shown in Fig. 7. Dryer was evaluated for drying
paddy crop in the month of October for climate condition of Delhi
(India). Jain (2005) presented an analysis of multi-tray crop drying
attached to an inclined multi-pass solar air heater with inbuilt ther-
mal storage. Multi-tray dryer attached with solar air heater (Jain &
Jain, 2004). The grain temperature increased with the increase in
the collector area and tilt angle of solar air heater up to its certain
critical value. The thermal energy storage gets affected during the
off-sunshine hour and proposed mathematical model is useful
for evaluating the performance of solar air heater and predicting
moisture content, grain temperature, humidity of drying air and
drying rate in the grain bed. Hawlader, Chou, Jahangeer, Rahman,
and Lau (2003) carried out a study on solar-assisted heat pump
dryer and water heater. The performance indices considered to
evaluate the performance of the system are solar fraction (SF) and
coefficient of performance (COP) with and without a water heater.
The values of COP, obtained from the simulation and experiment
are 7.0, and 5.0, respectively, whereas the solar fraction (SF) values
of 0.65 and 0.61 are obtained from simulation and experiment,
correspondingly.
4.1.2. Greenhouse dryers
Ayyappan and Mayilsamy (2012) developed a natural convection
solar tunnel dryer integrated with rock bed as sensible heat storage ma-
terial to test its performance for copra drying. The experiments were
carried out with and without the integration of heat storage material.
The temperature gradient inside the tunnel dryer is about 10–25 °C
during the clear day and 7–12 °C during off-sunshine hours, which is
quite sufficient to dry agricultural commodities. The dryer reduces the
moisture content of copra from 52% (w.b.) to 7.1% (w.b.) in 54 h and
60 h respectively with and without the heat storage material. It
produces 85% milling copra grade 1 (MCG1). In open sun drying,
moisture content reduces from 52.3% (w.b.) to about 7.1% in 153 h
with an average of 53% MCG1. The average solar tunnel dryer thermal
efficiency estimated to be about 15%. The use of heat storage material
increases the dryer efficiency by 2% to 3%. Ayyappan, Mayilsamy, and
Sreenarayanan (2015) conducted an experiment with natural convec-
tion solar greenhouse dryer using different sensible heat storage
materials (concrete, sand and rock-bed) in order to study their thermal
performance. For both sand and rock-bed, 4″ thickness was found to be
optimum as it provides better drying environment both during day and
night. The dryer reduced the moisture content of coconuts from 52
(w.b.) to 7% (w.b.) using concrete as heat storage material in 78 h saving
55% of drying time compared to open sun drying which takes 174 h for
reducing the moisture content to the same level. The sand took 66 h
saving 62% of drying time whereas rock-bed took only 53 h thereby
saving 69% of drying time compared to open sun drying. The efficiency
of the dryer was found to be 9.5, 11 and 11.65% using concrete, sand
and rock-bed respectively.
4.2. Solar dryer with latent heat storage
4.2.1. Indirect solar dryer
Devahastin and Pitaksuriyarat (2006a), (2006b) investigated the
feasibility of latent heat storage (LHS) with paraffin wax as a PCM to
store surplus solar energy and discharge it when the energy availability
is inadequate or not available. Heat transfer characteristics, temperature
profiles as well as the effects of the inlet air temperature and velocity on
the charge and discharge periods were investigated. A schematic
diagram of the experimental set-up is shown in Fig. 8(a). PCMs are
stored in LHS tank, the detailed sketch of LHS tank is shown in
Fig. 8(b). PCM solidifies from outer surface to inner due to heat loss
from surrounding. The amount of extractable energy per unit mass
flow rate of inlet ambient air was 1920 and 1386 kJ min kg−1 when
using inlet air velocity of 1 and 2 ms−1, correspondingly. PCMs could
save energy during drying of sweet potato up to 34–40%, when using
inlet air velocity of 2 and 1 ms−1, correspondingly.
Shanmugam and Natarajan (2007) investigated the performance of
an indirect forced convection and desiccant integrated solar dryer
[shown in Fig. 9(a, b)] for drying of green peas and pineapple slices
with and without the reflective mirror. The system is operated in two
modes, sunshine hours and off-sunshine hours. During sunshine
hours, the hot air from the flat plate collector is forced to the drying
Table 4
PCMs and their properties which can be used for drying purpose.

Compound Tm (°C) Hf (kJ/kg) Cp (kJ/kg K) k (W/m K) ρ (kg/m3) Ref.

Eicosane 36.6 247 – – 788 Paris, Falardeau, and Villeneuve (1993)

Paraffin C20–C33 48–50 189 2.1 0.21 769 (l) Abhat (1983)
912 (s)
1-Tetradecanol 38 205 – – 825 Hawes et al. (1993)
Paraffin wax 64 173.6 – 0.167 (l) 790 (l) Lane (1980)

K. Kant et al. / Innovative Food Science and Emerging Technologies 34 (2016) 86–99
266.0 0.346 (s) 916 (s) Dincer and Rosen (2002)
Tridecylic 41.8 157 – – – Solé, Neumann, Niedermaier, Martorell, Schossig, and Cabeza (2014)
Methyl-12 hydroxy-stearate 42–43 120–126 – – – Feldman, Shapiro, and Banu (1986)
Elaidic 47 218 – – 851 (l) Hale, Hoover, and Neill (1971)
Galactitolhexa laurate 40.21 157.60 – – – Sarı and Biçer (2012)
Stearyl laurate 42.21 201.03–201.53 1.97 (s) – – Alper Aydın (2013)
2.31 (l)
Methyl eicosanoate 45 230 – – – (Hale, Hoover, and Neill (1971)
Sorbitol 55 166 – – – Barone, Gatta, Ferro, and Piacente (1990)
Stearyl palmitate 57.34 219.74–219.88 1.55 (s) – – Alper Aydın (2013)
1,4 Butanediol stearic acid 58 186 – – – Cabus, Bogaerts, Van Mechelen, Smet, and Goderis (2013)
Glycerol tripalmitate 58.50 185.9 – – – Sarı, Biçer, Karaipekli, Alkan, and Karadag (2010)
Methyl oxalate 54.3 178 – – – Sharma, Tyagi, Chen, and Buddhi (2009)
Palmitic 63 187 – 0.165 (l) 874 (l) Abhat (1983)
61 203.4 – 0.159 (l) 847 (l) Kaygusuz Kamil (2001)
64 185.4 – 0.162 (l) 850 (l) Sari and Kaygusuz (2002)
Stearic 70 203 2.35 (l) 0.172 (l) 941 (l) Abhat (1983)
69 202.5 – – 848 (l) Kaygusuz Kamil (2001)
60–61 186.5 – – – Sari and Kaygusuz (2001)
69.4 199 – – – Hale, Hoover, and Neill (1971)
Nonadecylic 67 192 – – – Sarier and Onder (2012)
Arachidic 74 227 – – – Bailey (1950)
Heneicosylic 73–74 193 – – – Sarier and Onder (2012)
Phenylacetic 16.7 102 – – – Sharma, Tyagi, Chen, and Buddhi (2009)
Acetamide 81 241 – – – Hale, Hoover, and Neill (1971)
Cd(NO3)2·4H2O 59.5 – – – – Naumann and Emons (1989)
Fe(NO3)2·6H2O 60 – – – – Belton and Ajami (1973)
Ba(OH)2·8H2O 78 265.7 – 0.653 (l, 85.7 °C) (Dincer & Rosen, 2002); 1937 (l, 84 °C) (Dincer & Rosen, 2002); Abhat (1983), Dincer and Rosen (2002), Heckenkamp and Baumann (1997),
(Lane, 1980) (Lane, 1980) Naumann and Emons (1989), Lane (1980), and Lindner (1996)
267 (Abhat, – 0.678 (l, 98.2 °C) (Lane, 1980) 2070 (s, 24 °C) (Dincer & Rosen, 2002);
1983) (Naumann & Emons, 1989); (Lane, 1980)
280 – 1.255 (s, 23 °C) (Dincer & Rosen, 2002); 2180 (s) (Abhat, 1983)
(Lane, 1980)

(l) stands for liquid and (s) stands for solid.

91
 92
Table 5
Summary of research work carried out by different authors.

Author/Ref. Type of study Type of dryer used for study Crop of drying Thermal energy storage materials Findings
experimental/numerical

K. Kant et al. / Innovative Food Science and Emerging Technologies 34 (2016) 86–99
Jain (2007) Transient analytical model Reversed absorber plate type collector Onions Granite grits Packed bed could dry 95 kg of onion from a moisture
content of 6.14–0.27 kg water/kg of dry substance in a
24 h drying period
Mohanraj and Chandrasekar (2009) Experimental study Indirect forced convection solar dryer Chili Gravel The chili was dried from initial moisture content 72.8%
to the final moisture content about 9.2% and 9.7% (wet
basis) in the bottom and top trays respectively.
Jain and Jain (2004) Transient analytical model Indirect forced convection solar dryer Paddy crop Granite grits The thermal storage effect during the off-sunshine hour.
Jain (2005) Parametric study Indirect forced convection solar dryer Paddy crop Granite grits _
Ayyappan, Mayilsamy, and Sreenarayanan Experimental study Solar tunnel dryer Copra Rock bed _
(2015)
Ayyappan, Mayilsamy, and Sreenarayanan Experimental study solar greenhouse dryer Concrete, sand and rock-bed The efficiency of the dryer was found to be 9.5, 11 and
(2015) 11.65% using concrete, sand and rock-bed respectively
Devahastin and Pitaksuriyarat (2006a), Experimental study Indirect forced convection Sweet potato Latent heat storage (paraffin wax) Energy savings 40% and 34% with air flow rate 1 and 2
(2006b) m/s respectively
Berroug, Lakhal, El Omari, Faraji, and El Numerical modeling Greenhouse dryer Plants Latent heat storage at the north The rise of air temperature 6–12 °C and 10–15% reduced
Qarnia (2011) wall relative humidity.
Shalaby and Bek (2014) Experimental study Indirect solar dryer OcimumBasilicum and Latent heat storage (paraffin wax) The temperature of drying air is higher 2.5–7.5 °C up to
ThevetiaNeriifolia 5 h after sunset with PCM.
Shringi, Kothari, and Panwar (2014) Thermodynamic analysis Indirect solar dryer Garlic cloves _ The initial and final moisture content of garlic cloves are
55.5 (w.b.) % and 6.5% (w.b.) respectively for 8 h
Jain and Tewari (2015) Experimental study Indirect solar dryer Thermal efficiency 28.2% and Payback period is 1.5 year
Reyes, Mahn, and Vásquez (2014) Experimental study Hybrid solar dryer Mushrooms Paraffin wax Moisture content of 1.91 dry basis and thermal
efficiency fluctuate 10% to 21%
Sain, Songara, Karir, and Balan (2013) Experimental study Natural Convection Type Solar Dryer Ginger Paraffin wax Back up period 2. The overall thermal efficiency of the
solar dryer was found to be 22.7%.
Shanmugam and Natarajan (2007) Experimental Study Indirect forced convection Green peas and Pineapple _ The inclusion of reflective mirror on the desiccant bed
slices increases the drying potential by 20%
Dina, Ambarita, Napitupulu, and Kawai Experimental Study Continuous solar dryer Cocoa beans CaCl2 as absorbent and molecular Maximum temperature of drying chamber varied from
(2015) sieve 13× (Na86 [(AlO2)86. 40 °C to 54 °C that is higher than 9–12 °C from ambient
(SiO2)106].264H2O) as adsorbent temperature
 K. Kant et al. / Innovative Food Science and Emerging Technologies 34 (2016) 86–99
Table 6
Advantage and drawbacks of different types of thermal energy based solar dryers.
Name of solar dryer Advantages
Direct solar dryer • Least expensive
• Simple
Indirect solar dryer • Products are protected from UV radiation
• Lesser damage from temperature extremes
Mixed mode solar dryer • Lesser damage from temperature extremes
Hybrid solar dryer • Ability to operate without solar radiation which reduces chances of food loss
• Allows better control of drying
• Fuel mode may be up to 40 times faster than solar drying
Green house solar dryer • Simple structure, low cost, suitable for basic unit to use
• Suitable for the requirements of low drying temperature is low and allows direct
exposure to the sun.
chamber for drying the product and simultaneously the desiccant bed
receives solar radiation directly and through the reflected mirror. In
the off-sunshine hours, the dryer is operated by circulating the air inside
the drying chamber through the desiccant bed by a reversible fan. The
inclusion of reflective mirror on the desiccant bed increases the drying
potential by 20%. The useful temperature rise of about 10 °C was
achieved with mirror, which reduced the drying time by 2 and 4 h for
green peas and pineapple, respectively. Also, the pick-up efficiency,
drying rates and average dryer thermal efficiency were relatively higher
when compared to solar drying and desiccant integrated drying.
Uniform drying in all the trays was achieved with good quality in
terms of color and microbiological decay when compared to solar
drying. Taste of the dried pineapple was found to be satisfactory. The
desiccant material is stable even after continuous operation for more
than a year. The dryer can be used for drying various agricultural
products. It can reduce drying time and improve the quality of the
dried product.
A novel indirect solar dryer was used to study the effect of PCMs on
drying performance by Shalaby, Bek, and El-Sebaii (2014). Dryer
consists of two air heater, PCMs blower and drying chamber. Solar
Fig. 5. Schematic view of reversed absorber natural convective solar crop dryer with
thermal storage.
93
Drawbacks
• UV radiation can damage food
• More complex and expensive than direct sun
• UV radiation can damage food
• More complex and expensive than direct sun
• Expensive
• Fuel dependence and hence increase in cost
• Efficiency is very low
• Effective utilization rate of received total solar radiation is
only 15% used for moisture evaporation and remaining is
lost to the atmosphere.
dryer is tested with and without PCM. The results indicated that PCM
smoothens drying air temperature and also shows that the temperature
of the solar dryer with PCM is higher, 3.5–6.5 °C than the dryer without
PCM after 2:00 pm.Shringi, Kothari, and Panwar (2014)carried out a
thermodynamic analysis of indirect solar air heater for drying garlic
cloves with PCMs. The initial and final moisture contents of garlic cloves
are 55.5% (w.b.) and 6.5% (w.b.) respectively for 8 h. The energy efficien-
cy of drying chamber without and with recirculation of air is varied from
43.06 to 83.73%, and 3.98 to 14.95%, respectively, while the exergy
efficiency corresponding to the energy efficiency of the drying process
ranged from 5.01 to 55.30% and 67.06 to 88.24%, respectively.
Jain and Tewari (2015) designed and fabricated a solar dryer with
PCMs. Dryer contained four major parts i.e., flat plate collector, packed
bed for thermal storage, drying chamber and natural draft system as
shown in Fig. 10. This stored energy helped in keeping the drying
temperature ranged between 40 and 45 °C, thus extended the period
of drying. Experiments showed the good performance of the system
over the night and the thermal efficiency of the dryer was found to be
28.2%. Considering the reasonable cost of raw material 20₹ kg−1 and
price of product 400₹ kg−1, the solar dryer was found financially viable
with a payback period of 1.5 years.
Sain, Songara, Karir, and Balan (2013) carried out a study on the
natural convection type solar dryer with latent heat storage. The dryer
was tested under full load and no load condition. The full load perfor-
mance of the system was estimated with ginger. The ginger dehydrated
from moisture content (w.b.) of 74% to 3% in 24 h. The typical daily
drying efficiency was found to be 12.4%. Throughout the no load test,
the collector efficiency varied in the range of 53 to 96% and full load
test in the range of 40 to 55%. And backup period 2 h. The overall
thermal efficiency of the solar dryer was found to be 22.7%.
Dina, Ambarita, Napitupulu, and Kawai (2015) carried out an
experimental study to test the effectiveness of continuous solar dryer
combined with desiccant thermal energy storage for drying cocoa
beans. The experimental setup consists of three main components
namely: solar collector, drying chamber and thermal energy storage
as shown in Fig. 11. Two types of desiccant, CaCl2 as absorbent and mo-
lecular sieve 13× (Na86 [(AlO2)86. (SiO2)106]∙264H2O) as adsorbent,
were tested and it showed that during sunshine hours the maximum
temperature of drying chamber varied from 40 °C to 54 °C that is higher
than 9–12 °C from ambient temperature. The drying times for intermit-
tent direct sun drying, solar dryer integrated with an adsorbent, and
solar dryer integrated with absorbent were 55 h, 41 h, and 30 h,
respectively.
Çakmak and Yıldız (2011) carried out an experimental evaluation
for drying kinetics of seeded grapes. The developed drying system con-
tains expanded-surface solar air collector to achieve high heat transfer
and turbulence effect, a solar air collector with the PCM to perform
the drying process even after the sunset and drying room with swirl
element to give the swirl effect to air flow in drying room as shown in
Fig. 12. The experiment was performed simultaneously under natural
94 K. Kant et al. / Innovative Food Science and Emerging Technologies 34 (2016) 86–99

Fig. 6. Schematic view of experimental setup.

flow and dryer with swirl flow and without swirl flow at three different
air velocities. The obtained moisture ratio values have been compared
to six different moisture ratio models in the literature. The model having
the maximum correlation coefficient (R) and the minimum chi-square
(χ2) value has been determined as the most relevant one for each
seeded grape drying status.
Esakkimuthu, Hassabou, Palaniappan, Spinnler, Blumenberg, and
Velraj (2013) developed an indirect solar dryer which utilizes a PCM.
The dryer contains a solar air heater, a blower, a packed bed type PCM
thermal energy storage unit, and a drying compartment. The collector
area was 6 m2 and made of three panels. A V-corrugated aluminum
sheet of 1.1 mm thickness with corrugation height of 38 mm and an
included angle of 60° was used as the absorber plate. The height be-
tween the absorber and the bottom surface is 15 cm. A toughened
glass with thickness 5 mm was placed tightly above the absorber sur-
face in rubber footing. The 25 mm and 50 mm thick rock wool was
used to insulate the two sides and the bottom of the collector, respec-
tively. The thermal energy storage tank with 1.8 m length and 0.4 m
in diameter was made of a galvanized iron sheet and isolated with
glass wool which is enclosed with an aluminum covering to prevent
the insulation from deteriorating due to rain and wind. High-density
polyethylene is used to construct spherical capsules filled with a PCM
(HS 58) and is kept inside the storage tank. The conclusion was drawn
that the collector efficiency was improved when the mass flow rate

Fig. 7. Inclined multi-pass air heater with inbuilt thermal storage attached with deep-bed drying system.
 K. Kant et al. / Innovative Food Science and Emerging Technologies 34 (2016) 86–99 95

Fig. 8. (a) A schematic diagram of the experiment set-up with attached drying chamber. (b) Detailed sketch of the LHS vessel.

Fig. 9. (a) Schematic of the desiccant integrated solar dryer. 1. Blower, 2. flat plate solar air collector, 3. drying chamber, 4. insulation, 5. absorber plate, 6. bottom plate, 7. transparent cover,
8. desiccant bed, 9. plywood, 10. air inlet, 11. duct for air exit, 12. drying trays, 13. reversible fan, 14. valve, 15. plywood. (b) A pictorial view of the experimental set-up.
96 K. Kant et al. / Innovative Food Science and Emerging Technologies 34 (2016) 86–99

Fig. 10. Schematic view of flat plate absorber with the thermal storage natural convective solar crop dryer.

increased; this increment can be associated to the reduction in the heat
losses associated with the reduction in the average temperature of the
collector. Furthermore, the increase in the value of the heat transfer co-
efficient at a greater mass flow rate can be considered as another factor.
The selection of the PCM with a suitable melting temperature is very im-
portant and is a key factor to avoid the spoiling of the food products. The
recommended storage tank with the particular size of the PCM balls and
a mass flow rate of 200 kg/h can offer a near-uniform rate of heat ex-
change with minimum additional energy consumption. Therefore, it
will overcome the pressure drop during the melting and solidification
of PCM. Furthermore, the maximum capacity of the PCM and a uniform
supply of the storage system can be achieved by using lower mass flow
rate.
4.2.2. Greenhouse dryer
Berroug, Lakhal, El Omari, Faraji, and El Qarnia (2011) carried out a
numerical study on solar greenhouse dryer with PCM integrated its
north wall. The dryer is oriented in east–west direction and CaCl2·6H2O
was used as a PCM. The rise of inside air temperature was found to be in
the range of 6–12 °C and the cover temperature was 4–5 °C due to the
use of 4 cm thick PCM north wall (NW) as a storage medium. Fluctuation

Fig. 11. Picture of the experimental setup of solar dryer (a), drying tray (b) and thermal resistance analogy (c) of solar collector envelope.
 K. Kant et al. / Innovative Food Science and Emerging Technologies 34 (2016) 86–99
Fig. 12. Schematic view of manufactured experimental set-up, (1) fan, (2) valves, (3) connection pipe, (4) expanded-surface solar air collector, (5) collector with PCM, (6) adjustable
mirror, (7) adjustable collector tripod, (8) diffuser, (9) observation glass, (10) drying room, (11) air exit chimney, (12) data logger and (13) PC.
of temperature for greenhouse air is less in a greenhouse with PCM NW
and relative humidity is 10–15% lower in a greenhouse with PCM NW.
4.2.3. Hybrid solar dryer
Reyes, Mahn, and Vásquez (2014) carried out a study on the hybrid
solar dryer with PCMs for dehydration of mushrooms. The temperature
was maintained at up to 60 °C after recycling of air (70% to 80%). Several
runs were carried out in a day and every run showed a varying darken-
ing and shrinkage of mushrooms. Thermal efficiency swung between
22% and 62% while the efficiency of the accumulator panel varied
between 10% and 21%. The accumulator allowed dropping the electric
energy input.
An extensive review of different types of solar dryer based on sensi-
ble and latent heat storage is carried out. The summary of research work
carried out by the different researchers on the different types of solar
dryer is represented in Table 5.
5. Use of software in solar drying systems
Solar dryers exist in a variety of designs and sizes depending on the
requirement and drying capability. To investigate a dryer, it is important
to calculate its complete and relative performance with the other
similar dryers. The investigation results provide the related facts to the
researchers, producers and end consumers (Augustus Leon, Kumar, &
Bhattacharya, 2002). The use of software has proved to be very signifi-
cant in developing and analyzing the mathematical models to forecast
the performance of different types of solar dryers. The design of solar
dryer can be improved with the help of software and it saves time
which otherwise is spent in performing real-time experiments. It is
also useful for predicting the moisture content, crop temperature and
drying rate, texture drying kinetics, and color of the crop. Computational
fluid dynamics (CFD) can be used for the analysis and investigation of
air flow rate, temperature distribution pattern and humidity inside the
solar dryer, through appropriate simulation of energy and momentum
equations and heat and mass transfer in both gaseous and solid phases
(Chen, Huang, Tsai, & Mujumdar, 2008). It is also very helpful to inves-
tigate the melting of PCMs used in solar dryers. The commonly used
software tools for such studies are Ansys, Comsol Multi-physics, CFX,
FORTRAN etc. by various researchers (Qiu, Yan, & Tan, 2012; Biwole,
Eclache, & Kuznik, 2013; Giangi, 2000; Galione, Lehmkuhl, Rigola, &
Oliva, 1991) applied such software based on CFD to investigate the ther-
mal performance of solar dryers in general and PCMs particularly when
97
embedded in various geometries and boundary conditions. MATLAB is
successfully used to investigate the crop temperature, air temperature,
the moisture evaporated and for forecasting the thermal performance
of the solar dryer by Kumar and Tiwari (2006). Statistical software
SPSS is an important tool for analysis of statistical data obtained from
experiments. It computes the coefficient of determination (R2), the per-
centage of root mean square error (RMSE) and reduced chi-square,
which can be used for, catch the best-fit equation to analyze the drying
procedure. Another software Statistica can also be used for statistical
analysis and Sigma Plot V software is used for data fitting (Tripathy,
2015). TRNSYS software has been found useful for modeling and under-
standing the drying behavior (Reuss, Benkert, Aeberhard, Martina,
Raush, Rentzell, & Sogari, 1997).
6. Summary and conclusions
The present study gives an overview of solar dryers based on
thermal energy storage materials. A brief summary of the same study
has been presented in Table 6, which gives a comparative look of the
available solar dryers based on thermal energy storage materials. As
can be seen, a great deal of experimental, as well as theoretical work,
has been performed over the last few decades, which has resulted in
the fruitful development of solar dryer technology for drying of agricul-
tural food products. The effective thermal energy storage technology in
solar dryers for drying of products is an area, where existing information
should be consolidated to better facilitate the end user in cost effective
manner. For a better thermal performance of solar dryers, a PCM with
a high latent heat of fusion and with a large surface area for heat transfer
is mandatory and is currently explored widely. The poor thermal
conductivity characterizes a common problem to most of the PCMs. A
number of studies are currently underway to investigate and enhance
the heat transfer between the heat transfer fluid and the PCM is still of
significant interest. Fan and Khodadadi (2011) carried out a novel re-
view of thermal conductivity enhancement with nonmoving structure
and suspension of nanoparticles in PCM is also suggested by the defer-
ent researchers (Das, Choi, Yu, & Pradeep, 2007). Drying of medical
plants is proposed to be a new trend in using PCMs, where it needs rea-
sonable and constant temperature throughout the drying process. It is
found that the addition of highly thermal conductive of nanoparticle
and use of encapsulation and metallic fins can improve the thermal con-
ductivity of PCMs significantly; consequently, they could be combined
with solar energy storage devices to enhance their charging/discharging
98 K. Kant et al. / Innovative Food Science and Emerging Technologies 34 (2016) 86–99
capabilities. It is also suggested to use commercial numerical packages,
Comsol Multi-Physics, CFX, FORTRAN, OpenFOAM and Fluent-Ansys,
to improve the dryer design which utilizes the PCMs.
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