Energies, Vol. 12, Pages 4588: Exergetic, Energetic, and Quality Performance Evaluation of Paddy Drying in a Novel Industrial Multi-Field Synergistic Dryer (Energies)

The present work proposes a novel industrial multi-field synergistic dryer with a drying capacity of 3.45 t/h. The energy, exergy, and quality aspects of the drying process were studied. An energy–exergy methodology was employed to estimate the energetic and exergetic performance, heat loss characteristics and heat recovery behavior of the dryer. Additionally, the quality of the dried paddy seeds was evaluated by its crackle ratio, generation potential, and generation rate. The results showed that the overall energy and exergy efficiency ranged from 13.26% to 56.63% and 39.03% to 60.23%, respectively. The improvement potential rates of the whole system varied from the lowest 8.49 kW to the highest 15.83 kW and respectively accounted for 15.81%–29.48% of the total exergy input, indicating that the performance of the dryer is acceptable. The total recovered radiant energy and radiant exergy recover rate were respectively ascertained to be 237.64 MJ and 0.26 kW. As for the quality aspect, the generation potential and generation rate of the dried paddy seeds respectively ranged from 75% to 90% and 69% to 88% while the crackle ratio of the paddy seeds was 1%, which indicated that the quality performance of the dried seed is of economic viability.