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T 2: Development of energy-efficient systems for high-quality fruit drying - initiated by the SFB subproject E1

Description: Das Projekt "T 2: Development of energy-efficient systems for high-quality fruit drying - initiated by the SFB subproject E1" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Universität Hohenheim, Institut für Agrartechnik, Fachgebiet Agrartechnik in den Tropen und Subtropen durchgeführt. Background: Thailand is an agriculture-based economy with production of high value fruits as one of the main sources of crop revenue. Among them, longan and litchi have significant importance for the economy. Those fruits are produced mainly in the northern region. Litchi is grown primarily by smallholders in the mountainous areas. However, the orchards are being substituted by seasonal field crops because the profitability of litchi growers has been jeopardized by unstable prices and insufficient access to markets. Consequently, this substitution have resulted on increasing levels of erosion, pesticide use and water demands. Local production of dried fruits by small-scale industries or farmer cooperatives is a promising solution for the upland growers. Such practice keeps the value adding process in the rural area, allows decoupling producer from the unstable fresh market and eliminates the middle man from the value chain. However, with the rising fuel cost the profitability of this operation may be reduced. Particularly because the current drying technology used in small-scale food processing industries has low energy efficiency and yield heterogeneous product, not allowing them to achieve the standards of the international market. Therefore small-scale fruit drying equipment has to be optimized to increase energy efficiency and to meet export quality standards. Additionally, renewable sources like biomass or biogas produced from fruit processing wastes, such as pruning wood, seeds, and peels, can provide energy for drying and replace fossil fuels. Therefore, biogas and biomass combustion should be integrated in the drying systems. Results until now: A survey of litchi drying facilities in Northern Thailand was conducted. Semi-structured questionnaires were applied to evaluate the facilities in terms of age, equipment, operational procedures, energy, labor and costs. Various types of cabinet tray dryers heated either with LPG or firewood were found and it was observed that in general producers face difficulties in achieving uniform batches. An additional survey was carried at the sites where the LPG-fueled tray dryer from the Likhitchewan company are used. Users mentioned its convenient operation, good temperature control and cost-capacity ratio as its main advantages. The high fuel consumption and non-uniformity of the drying batch were consistently regarded as drawbacks. The quality and energy performance of the Likhitchewan tray dryer was experimentally analyzed for litchi drying in a farmers cooperative. Non-uniform temperature distribution in the drying chamber was observed resulting on heterogeneous batch. Regarding the energy performance, about 15 kg of LPG was required per batch which yielded approximately 15 kg of dry litchi. Losses via exhaust air and convective losses were the main heat sinks identified. (abridged text)

Types:

SupportProgram

Origin: /Bund/UBA/UFORDAT

Tags: Biogas ? Brennholz ? Terahertz-Strahlung ? Fossiler Brennstoff ? Obstgehölz ? Export ? Obstbau ? Obstwiese ? Abfallbehandlung ? Ackerbau ? Kraftstoffverbrauch ? Saatgut ? Pflanzensamen ? Skigebiet ? Temperaturverteilung ? Verarbeitende Industrie ? Erosion ? Main ? Thailand ? Feldfrucht ? Energieeffizienztechnik ? Abluft ? Fragebogen ? Fruchtqualität ? Genossenschaft ? Temperatur ? Verbrennung ? Industrie ? Pflanzenschutzmittelanwendung ? Standortwahl ? Treibstoffkosten ? Produktnorm ? Energie ? Energieeinsparung ? Energiekosten ? Trocknung ? Tropengebiet ? Weltmarkt ? Geodäsie ? Gütekriterien ? Lebensalter ? Schaden ? Energieeffizienz ? Marktpreis ? Mensch ? Frucht ? Effizienztechnologie ? Agrartechnik ? Gebiet ? Heizung ? Biomasse ? Hintergrundwert ? Kosten ? Ländlicher Raum ? Markt ? Landwirtschaft ? Lebensmitteltechnologie ? Wasserbedarf ? Effizienzsteigerung ? Arbeit ? Wirtschaft ? Anlage ? Vermehrung ? Zusatzbrennstoff ? Kontrollfunktion ? Entkopplung ? Beerenobst ? Wertschöpfung ?

Region: Baden-Württemberg

Bounding box: 9° .. 9° x 48.5° .. 48.5°

License: cc-by-nc-nd/4.0

Language: Deutsch

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Time ranges: 2000-01-01 - 2012-12-31

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