Microgas Food Dryer: Field Experiment. Final Report, June 1987-November 1989

摘要

The drying of physically delicate products poses unusual technical challengesbecause of the temperature sensitivity of products. The conventional approach in drying these temperature-sensitive materials has been to employ mild drying conditions, but this prolongs the drying process and requires large, and thus costly, drying hardware. A promising alternative to the conventional drying equipment is the utilization of dielectric energy (such as microwave or resonant radio frequency) in the final stages of drying. The microGas dryer has been developed at Energy International. MicroGas is an integrated, gas-fired thermal system which offers the advantages of dielectric heating together with convective process heat on a turn-key basis. In this concept, the gas prime mover provides dielectric power through the generator and the magnetron and additional convective heating from waste heat recovery units. A pilot-scale microGas system was designed, constructed, and tested in a vegetable drying application for proof-of-concept in a field experiment. Results confirmed time and energy savings and the potential for significant productivity improvements.