Food Engineering Reviews

https://doi.org/10.1007/s12393-020-09223-2

Recent Advancements in Design, Application, and Simulation Studies

of Hybrid Solar Drying Technology
Aprajeeta Jha 1 & P. P. Tripathy 1

Received: 5 September 2019 / Accepted: 14 April 2020

# Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020

Abstract
Hybrid solar drying technology for food products is a clean and cost-effective replacement of highly energy intensive thermal
dryers employed in agri-food processing chain. This involves the amalgamation of “only solar dryer” with various other energy
harvesting systems like, biogas, heat pump, and thermal storage materials. This paper reviews the significance of hybrid solar
dryers in terms of withstanding varied climatic and uncontrolled environmental conditions and their impact on drying charac-
teristics of food products. From the appraisal, heat pump hybrid solar dryers proved to be more efficient, having wide range of
drying temperature, and is suitable for heat-sensitive products. On the other hand, the advantages of biomass hybrid solar dryer
lies in its ability to utilize cheap local resources for assisting the energy requirements and have low constructional cost. However,
the state of art indicated that sanitary aspects of solar drying have not been explored much and should be encouraged. The
presented review also explores the research scenario of relevant virtual platforms, applicable for simulating the dryer design and
drying parameters. The important findings on modeling aspects of dryer design and thick layer drying of food products in solar
dryer are also discussed. The economic assessment of presently available hybrid solar dryers showed competitive profitability
metrics and equipment cost. Moreover, it is suggested for the promotion of energy-efficient hybrid solar dryers and its environ-
mental benefits in the future to provide a benchmark for drying applications in food processing industries.

Keywords Hybrid solar dryer . Biogas . Heat pump . Thermal storage . Modeling . Sanitary . Profitability

Nomenclature Dh Hydraulic diameter (m)

ΔT Temperature rise (K) E Energy (kJ)
A Area (m2) Eb Electrical energy consumed by
Ae and Ac Edge area and collector area (m2) blower (kWh)
ANItaxes Average net income after taxes Ecomp Electrical energy consumed by
Aprofit Annual cash benefits compressor (kWh)
Av Area of the vent (m2) Eday Energy consumed per day (kWh/day)
BC Capacity of the dryer per batch Efan Electricity used/generated by fan
BCR Benefit cost ratio (kWh)
CFU Colony forming unit Eheater Electricity used/generated by heater
COP Coefficient of performance (kWh)
Cosϕ Power factor EL Latent heat storage (kJ)
Cp Specific heat capacity (J/kg K) Ep and Ei Specific enthalpy of plenum and
Ct Cost per year inlet air
D Distance between dryer floor and Epump Electricity used/generated by pump
cover (m) (kWh)
Epv Electricity generated by photovoltaic
panel (kWh)
* P. P. Tripathy
Es Energy stored as sensible heat (kJ)
punam@agfe.iitkgp.ac.in
EUcol Useful heat gained by solar collector
1
Agricultural and Food Engineering Department, Indian Institute of (kW)
Technology Kharagpur, Kharagpur, West Bengal 721302, India EUR Energy utilization ratio (%)
 Food Eng Rev

Evap Energy stored as latent heat of SI Solar radiation (W/m2)

vaporization (kJ) SMER Specific moisture extraction rate
f Drying rate per unit bed volume (kg/m3s) (kg/kWh)
Fp Fraction of radiation falling on product Smonth Savings per month
g Gravitational acceleration (m/s2) T Temperature (K)
Ga Mass flux (kg/m2s) t Time (h)
Gb Generation of kinetic energy due to td Drying time (h)
buoyancy tR Residence time (h)
Gk Generation of kinetic energy due Ub Bottom heat loss co-efficient
to mean velocity Ue Edge heat loss coefficient
h Humidity ratio (kg/kg of dry air) UL Overall heat loss coefficent
H Pressure head (m) UP1kWh Unit price of the auxiliary energy
hc and hr Convective and radiative heat transfer resource
coefficient (W/m2K) Ut Top heat loss co-efficient
hc,a-f Heat transfer coefficient from storage V Voltage (V)
material to fluid inside dryer (W/m2K) Vg and Vg,intial Grain volume (m3)
hc,p-s Heat transfer coefficient from plate to w Absolute humidity (g/m3)
storage material (W/m2K) Ww Weight of water to be removed (kg)
Hd Vertical height (m) X Exergy (kJ)
ht Heat transfer coefficient (W/m2K) x, y, z Cartesian coordinates
I Current (A) z Bed thickness (m)
K Thermal conductivity (W/mK)
k Turbulent kinetic energy (J/kg) Greek symbols
km Mass transfer coefficient (kg/m2s) μ dynamic viscosity
L Length (m) ɛ turbulence dissipation rate
LCV Lower calorific value ɛX exergy efficiency
Lv Latent heat of vaporization (J/kg) αf absorptance of floor
ṁ Mass flow rate (kg/s) αg absorptance of glass
m Mass of desiccant αp absorptance of product
M Moisture content (db) αs coefficient of volume shrinkage
MR Moisture ratio β coefficient of thermal expansion
Mw Mass of water removed per hour (kg/h) δ thermomigration coefficient
NPV Net present value εb and εp bed porosity and grain porosity
Nu Nusselt number εpl and εg emissivity of absorber plate and
Nwd Number of working days in a month glass cover
P Power (kW) ζ phase conversion factor
Pavglifetime Average investment over the life of η efficiency
project κ drying rate constant
Pin Total initial investment λ evaporation enthalpy of water
Pinput Input power (kW) λaeff effective thermal conductivity of
Pr Prandtl number solid phase
Q Heat generated (J) ν velocity of fluid
q” Auxiliary parameter to define ρ density
analytical solution σ Stefan-Boltzmann constant
Qc Condenser capacity (kW) σk and σɛ turbulent Prandtl number
r” Radial coordinate (m) τ transmittance
r Radius ϕ energy dissipation
Re Reynolds number
ROR Rate of return (%) Superscript and Subscripts
Rt Revenue return over a period of time * melting
S Salvage value 1 minimum
SEC Solar energy consumption (%) 2 maximum
SF Solar fraction a air
Food Eng Rev

amb ambient NOCT nominal operating cell temperature

as adiabatically saturated OSD open sun drying
b bed PCM phase change material
c panel surface PLC programmable logic controller
ch chimney PVT photovoltaic thermal
charging charging period of storage material SHS sensible heat storage
col collector TBU thermal back up unit
comp compressor
cond conduction
conv convection Introduction
da dehumidified air
discharging discharging period of storage Drying is extensively explored technology to preserve agricul-
material tural products for a longer duration. Nevertheless, the highly
eq equilibrium energy-intensive thermal dryers employed in food processing
f fluid industries harness the heat derived either from electricity or
F1 and F2 fan1 and fan2 conventional energy resources, for example coal, liquid fuel
f-a floor cover to air etc. It was estimated that the agro-food processing chain alone
g-amb glass to ambient consumes up to 30% of global energy demands and is respon-
heated heated air sible for producing 20% of the world’s greenhouse gas emis-
i initial sions [1, 2]. Environmental sustainability and food security are
ideal ideally dehumidified saturation thus the most enduring challenges enlisted in sustainable devel-
in inlet opment goals (SDG)-2030, which include food-related strate-
ins insulation gies (advancements in better and cheaper food processing and
ins-amb insulation to ambient storage technologies) and non-food related strategies (inclusion
l liquid of clean energy technology as alternatives to fossil fuels) [3].
out outlet Moreover, the unavailability/intermittent supply of electricity to
p product remote rural locations of the developing countries and negative
p,eff effective diffusion coefficient environmental impacts of fossil fuel energy are the major draw-
of the product back for the utilization of thermal dryers in long run.
P1 and P2 pump1 and pump 2 Developing countries like India has a geographical position in
p-a product to air tropical and subtropical regions (north latitude: 8°04′ to 37°06′
pl plate and east longitude: 68°07′ to 97°25′), which bestows it to receive
pl-g absorber plate to glass ample amount of sunlight almost throughout the year. Most parts
pl-ins absorber plate to insulation of India have around 250–300 sunny days in a year, and in 2018,
pv photovoltaic panel India has received average solar radiation in the range of 2.5–
rad radiation 7 kWh/m2/day. It clearly demonstrates the aptness of solar ener-
s solid gy as a potential replacement over conventional energy resources
stored storage material for drying purpose. Consequently, new technological advance-
sys system ments to harness and properly utilize solar energy for drying of
TES thermal energy storage agricultural commodities have become a keen area of interest to
WF working fluid many researchers in recent few years [4–10]. Nevertheless, the
solar dryers are of little use during cloudy weather, and offer
Acronyms limited control over drying conditions. In order to combat these
CFD computational fluid dynamics issues, solar dryers are supplemented by other auxiliary energy
CSP concentrated solar power sources and are termed as ‘Hybrid solar dryer’. In these dryers,
HHPSD hybrid heat pump–assisted solar dryers solar energy can be supplemented with other sources of energy
STPV semi-transparent photovoltaic system as electricity, heat pumps, biomass energy etc., in order to run the
HSD hybrid solar dryer system even in the absence of solar radiation. Many researchers
HTSSD hybrid thermal storage–type solar dryers have come up with novel designs of hybrid solar drying system
IDS integrated drying system in recent years and thereupon, an updated review regarding var-
ISD indirect solar dryer ious hybrid solar dryer design, capacity, performance and appli-
LHS latent heat storage cation of these dryers for a variety of agricultural produce needs
MSD mixed-mode solar dryer to be reorganized. Furthermore, it is noteworthy that sanitation

and hygienic processing of food products are most important
aspects to meet food safety. However, in concern with solar
dryers, the sanitary aspect has been largely ignored by re-
searchers and reviewers till date. In this review, a brief outline
of the sanitary aspects to be followed during solar dryer design-
ing and drying process is included.
In recent years, modeling and computer simulations are
gaining immense importance in analyzing and predicting per-
formance of different kinds of solar dryers, thereby, reducing
time and budget involved in the dryer development [11].
Several researchers have employed various computational and
statistical modeling software for either analyzing the drying
behavior of different foodstuff or design aspects [8, 10,
12–23]. Considering the computational versatility of modeling
techniques and its remarkable usage by researchers in recent
few years, the review of several modeling platforms for simu-
lating various aspects of solar drying has also been included.
Moreover, the state of art regarding profitability metrics of var-
ious hybrid solar drying system has also been reviewed.
Systematic Classification of Solar Drying
System
The simplest solar dryer was pioneered by Everitt and Stanley in
1976, which comprised of a box-type drying chamber for plac-
ing food materials and was covered with a transparent glass
cover at the top. Solar radiation falls upon the glass cover which
allowed a part of incident short wavelength radiation to pass
through it while the rest gets reflected back to the atmosphere.
Food products present inside the drying chamber thus absorbs
the radiation and the product surface gets heated. The heated
product thereby emits long wavelength radiations which cannot
pass through the glass cover, consequently air temperature with-
in the chamber increases significantly [24]. This increased air
temperature around the food surface creates a temperature gradi-
ent and thus temperature of product increases resulting in quick
and efficient drying. Box type design was introduced to avoid
direct exposure of food materials to the environment and degra-
dation of product quality. Further advancements were done in
the design, which includes the addition of separate collector and
drying chambers, or an air blower unit, and/or transparent or
opaque drying chamber to slightly modify the working princi-
ples and achieve better control and higher drying rates. Many
such early designed systems have been reviewed [25–31],
readers can refer these for more insight. Specific designs of solar
dryers along with their performance and techno-economic anal-
ysis were studied by Vijayvenkatraman et al. [32].
Solar dryers can be systematically classified according to
their mode of heating, the way in which solar heat is utilized
and the type of external energy supplemented to the dryer. A
systematic classification of solar dryers is shown in Fig. 1. The
solar dryers can be further arranged into three major groups,
Food Eng Rev
namely passive solar energy dryers, active solar energy dryers
and hybrid solar dryers. Three distinct sub-classes of either the
active or passive solar drying systems can be recognized as
direct type, indirect type and mixed-mode type solar dryer. A
brief outline on direct, indirect and mixed mode solar drying
of food products has been discussed in Table 1.
Overview of Hybrid Solar Drying System
The foregoing literatures strongly indicated that solar dryers
are potential replacements of energy-intensive thermal dryers;
nonetheless, they are completely dependent on the number of
sunny hours and climatic conditions. This is why, the use of
solar dryers at commercial scale is restricted. In order to avail
continuous drying facility in adverse weather condition and
better control of processes parameters, researchers have fo-
cused on employing different forms of the auxiliary heating
source to be integrated with solar dryers. Based on the mode
of operation, the hybrid solar drying systems can be classified
into a) solar-assisted conventional drying systems and b) solar
drying system assisted by auxiliary energy source.
The auxiliary unit can either be a renewable type energy
system including wind, solar, geothermal or non-renewable sys-
tem as biomass, conventional electricity, chemical forms (desic-
cant), heat pumps etc. Further, based on the type of supplemen-
tary energy resources integrated with solar dryer, the hybrid
solar drying systems can be arranged into two categories.
•Renewable-non-renewable drying systems
•Renewable-renewable drying systems
Renewable–Non-renewable Type Hybrid Solar Drying
System
Hybrid Thermal Storage–Assisted Solar Dryers
These dryers comprises of an additional heat storage unit,
where the heat collected during sunshine period is used in
off sunshine hours to support drying [1]. The storage material
can conserve thermal energy as a) sensible heat or b) latent
heat and it can be solid, liquid or combination of these [7].
Sensible heat storage (SHS) system includes water, oil, rock,
brick, organic solvents (propanol, butanol, octane, iso-
propanol etc.) to store solar energy. Latent heat storage
(LHS) system uses phase change materials (PCMs) and has
the ability to store energy at a constant temperature and pro-
vides a high energy storage density. Quantification of heat
storage capacity is required to forecast probable extension in
drying period, for choosing right storage material and/or en-
hancement of drying rate. The liquid sensible heat storage
materials such as butanol, octane, iso-propanol can offer
Food Eng Rev
Fig. 1 Broad classification of the solar drying system
temperature up to 150 °C whereas, solid heat storage material
(rock, brick concrete and granite) reach 20–100 °C.
Applicability of solar dryer in hot and very humid areas
possess its own challenges, as the air effectiveness of traditional
solar dryer in such conditions gets compromised due to high
moisture content in the air. In this queue, a solar dehumidifica-
tion system for medicinal herb was fabricated, which consisted
of a solar collector, storage tank, auxiliary heater, adsorber, heat
exchangers, drying chamber, fan, and pumps as shown in
Fig. 2a [31]. This system follows three sequential processes,
namely (a) regeneration, (b) adsorption, and (c) drying. In the
day time, the useful heat energy harvested via solar air collector
was stored as heated water in the storage tank. The heated air
was further passed through adsorber unit, where the moisture of
the air was removed and dry air leaves dehumidification sec-
tion. Thereby, dehumidification heats up the air up to 40 °C
with relative humidity of 20–30%, which was used for batch
drying of the medicinal herb. The dehumidification based dry-
ing systems are suitable for the heat sensitive materials because
it can avoid case-hardening effect, browning reaction as well as
the evaporation of the active ingredients in medicinal herbs.
An advanced dual-purpose solar collector consisting of both
water and air as heat transfer fluid was well thought-out in order
to maximize the total throughput of the system [52]. This sys-
tem was capable of heating air and water simultaneously, and
hot water was used as phase change material (PCM) to perform
continuous heating during off-sunshine period. The air flows
beneath the absorber plate, and water flows through the mani-
fold attached to absorber plates just above the airflow unit. The
heated water was stored in a water tank and recycled at night
hours to heat air which further was used for drying parsley, dilli
and coriander successfully (Fig. 2b). Additionally, an electric
heater was placed inside the drying chamber for auxiliary
heating. Effects of electric heater on drying rate were also
studied and it was found that tray temperature was raised by
20–30 °C when electric heaters were employed. The review
suggested that upon implementation of dual-purpose solar col-
lector, there is approximately 50% reduction in cost and space
requirement for installing the system. However, the electric
heater based system derives its auxiliary energy indirectly from
the electricity, which may increase the cost of dried product in
comparison with solar-only systems.
A comparative study of water-based heat storage system
with the paraffin wax–based (heat transfer fluid) system was
conducted [54]. The study revealed that the system efficiency
can be significantly enhanced up to 21%; on the contrary,
 Food Eng Rev

t

Table 1 Brief outline on direct, indirect, and mixed-mode solar drying  T in
of food products X in ¼ mWF C WF ∫ ðT in −T out Þ−T amb ln dt ð3Þ
0 T out
Classification Types Food Advantages References
products t

 T amb
X stored ¼ mWF C WF ∫ ðT in −T out Þ− 1− dt ð4Þ
Direct solar a) Cabinet Carrot, They are [9, 24, 0 T TES
dryers type stevia, tea easy to 33–37]
b) Greenhouse turmeric, construct,  t

type cocoa, handle and  T out
cabbage, are the most X out ¼ mWF C WF ∫ ðT out −T in Þ−T amb ln dt ð5Þ
0 T in
and peas economical
type

Indirect solar a) Rack type Green peas, Produces [37–43]

dryer b) Tray type onions, superior iii. Charging and discharging of thermal energy storage
c) Bin type banana, quality of
figs, product and (SHS or LHS): During heat transfer between working
pineapple, are suitable fluid to the storage material, some amount of energy is
potato, for heat- lost, which must be taken into account while analyzing
carrots, sensitive
french food the exergy efficiency. The overall exergy efficiency
beans, and products (ɛ Xoverall ) can be given in terms of charging and
tomato discharging of storage material as shown below:
Mixed-mode a) Integrated Potato, Most [4, 6, 23, εXoverall ¼ εXcharging  εXdischarging ð6aÞ
solar dryer type cluster optimal in 44–51]
b) Distributed beans, context to
type yam, cost X stored
thymus, involved
εXcharging ¼ ð6bÞ
X in
turmeric, and drying
grapes, rate X stored
bitter εXdischarging ¼ ð6cÞ
gourd, X out
nuts, mint,
and fish
where ṁWF is mass flow rate of working fluid; CWF is specific
heat of working fluid, Tin, Tout, Tamb, and TTES represent tem-
perature of the inlet, outlet, ambient air, and temperature of
thermal storage material. Ein and Eout are energy absorbed by
exergy efficiency reduces by 59% upon increasing the flow storage material and energy absorbed by working fluid from
rate of heat transfer fluid above 0.167 kg/min. Therefore, for storage material.
optimum operation, optimization of process parameter such as Additionally, for any solar dryer, heat losses across the walls
flow rate is recommended. Furthermore, viability of thermal and edges play an important role in proper heat utilization
storage–based solar dryers largely depend on heat collection inside the system and aid in analyzing the efficiency of the
and recovery from storage material. It is recommended to dryer. Heat loss to the ambient is also one of the key factors
consider three important criteria while evaluating the perfor- to be considered for determining the thermal efficiency of a
mance of hybrid thermal storage–type solar dryers, namely hybrid solar collector. The overall heat loss coefficient is the
sum of energy lost through top (Ut), bottom (Ub), and edges
i. Efficiency of thermal storage system: It can be explained in (Ue) of the collector and can be mathematically expressed as:
terms of energy absorbed and released by the storage ma-
terial and can be given as:
t
UL ¼ Ut þ Ub þ Ue ð7aÞ

E in ¼ mWF C WF ∫ ðT in −T out Þdt ð1Þ
0  
1 1
t Ut ¼ þ ð7bÞ

E out ¼ mWF C WF ∫ ðT out −T in Þdt ð2Þ hcpl−g þ hrpl−g hw þ hrg−amb
0
K ins
Ub ¼ ð7cÞ
ii. Exergy analysis: It computes maximum useful energy Lins
available during the drying process. The input (Xin),
stored (Xstored), and output exergy (Xout) can be estimated K ins  Ae
Ue ¼ ð7dÞ
using the following equations. Lins  Ac
Food Eng Rev
Ka
hcpl−g ¼ Nu ð8aÞ
Lc
 
σ T 2pl þ T 2g T pl þ T g
hrpl−g ¼
 ð8bÞ
1 1
þ −1
εg εpl
h
4  i
σεg T g þ 273 − T sky þ 273
hrg−amb ¼  ð8cÞ
T g −T amb
where Tpl, Tsky, and Tg are temperatures of absorber plate, sky,
and glass cover, respectively; hcpl-g, hrpl-g, and hrg-amb are convec-
tive and radiative heat transfer coefficient from absorber plate to
glass and glass to ambient, respectively. σ is Stefan-Boltzman
constant. Kins and Ka are thermal conductivity of insulation and
air, respectively. εpl and εg symbolize emissivity of absorber plate
and glass cover, respectively. hw is wind heat transfer coefficient.
Ae and Ac are edge area and collector area, respectively. Lins and
Lc denote thickness of insulation and length of collector.
Nabnean et al. [53] designed a hybrid solar dryer for drying of
cherry tomatoes. The system consisted of a solar water heater,
drying cabinet, cross-flow heat exchanger, and heat storage unit
as shown in Fig. 2c. The cherry tomatoes were osmotically
predehydrated and then subjected to solar dryer with air temper-
ature between 30 and 65 °C. This dryer was capable of drying
100 kg of cherry tomatoes in just 4 days. This study brings out an
interesting fact that osmotic pretreatment improves product qual-
ity. However, the effect of osmotic pretreatment on microbial load
could be further explored to establish the sanitary potential of the
drying system. Sekyere et al. [55] used concrete absorber and rock
pebble bed to store solar energy and auxiliary electric heaters to
assist heating of pebble bed for off sunshine drying purpose. This
system has four main components: (a) an air heater, (b) electric
heater to support heating of the rock pebble bed, (c) drying cham-
ber, and (d) air outlet. Six infrared heat lamps were used to sim-
ulate solar radiation in the laboratory conditions. This dryer was
tested with pineapples having a loading capacity of 2.3 kg, and it
was observed that a drying time of 7 h was required to bring out
the moisture from 912 to 155% (db). This study also revealed that
operation of the dryer in hybrid mode gave better performance
and product quality in comparison with solar-only mode; howev-
er, there is still a need of proper optimization of drying parameters
viz. temperature, air velocity, and loading density.
A solid desiccant–based solar dryer for drying kenaf core
fiber was investigated by Misha et al. [56]. The experimental
moisture profile of the kenaf core fibers placed in different trays
stacked in the dryer and open sun dried samples is shown in
Fig. 3a. As observed, the drying rate of fiber subjected to open
sun drying was comparatively lower than the desiccant-based
hybrid solar dryer. It can be inferred that the position of the
trays significantly influences the instantaneous drying rate. It is
noteworthy that the final moisture content of the tray 18 was
higher than other trays. This may be due to the fact that the
samples would have reabsorbed more moisture as the tray was
placed near outlet. The moisture profile also indicated that dur-
ing night time, samples tend to reabsorb moisture. Hence, in
order to avoid rehumidification, samples should not be placed
near outlet or certain design modifications should be attempted
to avoid it. During the entire drying period, the temperature
profile of drying air inlet to the chamber, outlet, and ambient
air temperature along with solar radiation data is shown in Fig.
3b. The maximum achievable drying air temperature was ap-
proximately 50 °C, corresponding to the solar radiation values
above 800 W/m2, whereas the maximum temperature achieved
for open sun drying was around 35 °C. Therefore, the drying
time in hybrid solar dryer reduces by 24% as compared with
open sun drying. However, it can be noticed that average solar
radiation for entire period of drying was below 400 W/m2,
resulting in lower overall dryer efficiency of 12%.
The efficiency of dehumidification system can be assessed
in terms of thermal, regeneration, and dehumidification effec-
tiveness.
T da −T in
εthermal ¼ ð9Þ
T heated −T in
ðwin −wda ÞLv
εregeneration ¼ ð10Þ
hheated −hre
win −wda
εdehumidification ¼ ð11Þ
win −wideal
where T d a , T i n , and T heat ed are the temperatures of
dehumidified air, inlet air, and heated air after regeneration;
w in , w da , and w ideal are absolute humidity of inlet and
dehumidified air, respectively, whereas the ideal humidity of
dehumidified air is assumed to be zero.
Baniasadi et al. [57] designed a hybrid thermal storage–
assisted solar dryer, which was coupled with PV panels for
supplying solar electricity to the blower during forced convec-
tion drying of apricot. In this system, copper coils filled with
paraffin wax were embedded at the bottom of the drying
chamber. The granulated paraffin wax having a melting tem-
perature of 70 °C was used as phase change thermal storage
material. The coupling of thermal storage system to PV panels
resulted in a reduction of drying time by 50%. However, it
was energetically expensive, and the moisture pickup efficien-
cy and overall thermal efficiency of the system were reported
to be only 10% and 11%, respectively. A comparative study
was performed for hybrid thermal storage–assisted solar dryer
and mixed-mode solar dryer (MSD) during drying of corian-
der leaves by Mall and Singh [58]. Coriander leaves were
dried from initial moisture content of 88% (wb) to 10% (wb)
final moisture in 3 h. From this review, energetic superiority
of hybrid system was reassured and the overall efficiency of
the system was found to be 73% higher than MSD.
 Food Eng Rev

Fig. 2 Schematic diagram of a solar-assisted dehumidification system [31], b water-based hybrid thermal storage-assisted dryer with a dual purpose
solar collector [52], c water-based hybrid thermal storage–assisted dryer with a dual purpose solar collector [53]
Food Eng Rev

Fig. 3 a Moisture profile of the kenaf core fibers, b temperature profile of air and solar radiation during drying of kenaf core fibers in the hybrid
desiccant-assisted solar dryer [56]

Hybrid Biomass-Assisted Solar Dryers
To alleviate the problems of intermittency of available solar
radiation, agricultural biomass, for instance, processed fruit
and vegetable wastes, are used to generate biogas in order to
support the drying process. These dryers offer continuous op-
eration and better regulation of temperature within the dryer
and increases system throughput. The system efficiency of
this dryer can be evaluated by considering both solar and
biomass energy sources into account and is given as [11]:
WLv
ηsystem ¼  ð12Þ
IA þ P f þ ðmb þ LCV Þ
where W is mass of water evaporated, Lv represents latent heat
of vaporization, I is solar radiation, A is area of collector, mb
denotes mass of biomass fuel used, and LCV is lower calorific
value.
Various studies were conducted by several researchers to
construct solar-biogas system for drying of different food
products [11, 59–63]. For proper sizing of the dryer, accurate
estimation of collector area is a critical designing parameter.
The required collector aperture area (A) to harness required
energy can be estimated as [62]:

A ¼ ma Ep −Ei =ðηt H d Þ ð13Þ
t2
W
ma ¼  ; H d ¼ ∫ I t dt ð14Þ
h f −hi t1
where ma is the mass of air required; W is amount of water
removed; It is instantaneous solar radiation; t is time; Hd is
vertical height; Ep and Ei are specific enthalpy of air at plenum
and inlet, respectively; hf and hi are humidity ratio at initial
and final conditions, respectively.
Okoroigwe et al. [64] constructed a combined solar and
biomass dryer for drying yam chips. The dryer unit was sim-
ilar to cabinet dryer in construction, with a solar collector,
angled transparent top cover, drying chamber, and below that,
a biomass stove was placed. The biomass-heated air was
undrafted via the pipe protrusion and further used for drying
purpose. Similarly, Olaoye et al. [65] constructed a lab-scale
portable system having a drying capacity of 3 kg ginger per
batch. The dryer comprised of a solar drying unit placed on
top of the biomass stove section as shown in Fig. 4a. The heat
generated by biomass burner was used to heat the drying
chamber in addition to solar radiation, thus reducing the dry-
ing time by 30–40%. Since the movement of hot air in such
designs takes place via pipe protrusion/air vent, thus sizing of
air vent plays an important role in governing air flow rate and
drying rate of the sample. As a result, estimation of pressure
drop across the bed of dryer and area of air vent needs to be
evaluated with utmost care. A generalized equation to asses
pressure and vent area are given as follows [65].
Food Eng Rev
P ¼ 0:00308gðT i −T amb ÞH p ð15Þ
W L
Av ¼  w v ð16Þ
C pa ρa T i −T f V a t d
where P is pressure across bed; g is gravitational acceleration;
Hp represents pressure head; Av denotes area of the vent; Ww
weight of water to be removed, and Lv is latent heat of vapor-
ization; Cpa, ρa, and Va correspond to specific heat capacity,
density, and velocity of the air, respectively; td is drying time;
Ti and Tf are initial and final temperatures, respectively. Upon
review, it was found that the most common dryer design in this
category comprises of a biomass stove stacked over drying
chamber or collector. It was noticed that although the quality
of the product in these dryers was better than open sun drying,
still inconsistent temperature was attained in different stacked
trays, resulting in nonuniform drying of samples in a batch.
Stacked-type hybrid biomass solar dryer also presented is-
sues related to excessive smoking and underutilization of bio-
mass energy in some cases. In this context, a hybrid biomass-
assisted solar dryer along with a Co-Gen unit for drying red
chili was investigated by Yassen and Al-Kayiem [66]. Here the
exhausted flue gas from the burner was reutilized for drying
purpose. The dryer consisted of a solar collector, drying cham-
ber, thermal backup unit (TBU), and Co-Gen unit as shown in
Fig. 4b–c. The flue gas was recirculated to the chimney, which
enhances the circulation of warm air in the drying chamber,
slows down the pressure drop, and avoided the need for a fan.
Addition of Co-Gen unit to this system led to an increase of
volumetric flow rate by 23%. The overall drying efficiency of
systems with and without the Co-Gen technique was 9.9% and
10.5%, respectively. This study also revealed an increment of
6% in overall drying efficiency due to better air circulation
within the system. It can be said that the Co-Gen technology
definitely adds up to a more hygienic and an environment
friendly aspect of the conventional hybrid biomass-assisted so-
lar dryers. However, this technology increases the effective cost
of the system, and thus, extensive studies regarding wide appli-
cability and cost analysis of this technology are required to be
established.
A natural convection solar-biomass integrated drying sys-
tem (IDS) was designed and developed by Borah et al. [68] for
drying of turmeric rhizome. The main components of the dry-
er were sun-tracking–type parabolic solar collector, combus-
tion chamber, hot air generation chamber, detachable husk-
feeding assembly, chimney, drying chamber with trays, and
wind turbine at the top to increase the air draft. There was
significant decrease in drying time of turmeric in comparison
with open sun drying i.e., IDS took 14 h and OSD took 25 h.
The drying kinetics of turmeric in this system was best de-
scribed by Page and Modified Page model, establishing sound
drying conditions. Interestingly, it was noticed that despite of
decrease in drying time, IDS-dried samples showed lesser
Food Eng Rev

Fig. 4 a Lab-scale portable biomass-assisted hybrid solar dryer [65], b photograph of hybrid biomass-assisted solar dryers, c schematic diagram of solar-
biomass hybrid dryer enhanced by the Co-Gen technique [66], d hybrid-type biomass-assisted solar dryer for fish [67]

retention of curcumin. This indicated that slower removal of
moisture may be beneficial for curcumin retention. However,
the proper explanation of impact of drying rate and drying
time on curcumin retention during solar drying of turmeric
has not been systematically reported.
Mondol and Ganguly [69] presented a solar-biomass–
integrated fluidized bed dryer for drying of food grain.
Hot air from solar air heater was supplied to the dryer for
drying of grains in the sunshine period. Whereas, in cloudy
weather, the biomass-assisted heat exchanger heats up the

air entering in the dryer to assist drying. The loading capac-
ity of the system was 60 kg paddy and drying time was
60 min. This complete system was automated using pro-
grammable logic controller (PLC) unit and electrical sig-
nals. The drying time required in this solar-fluidized bed
dryer is given as:


1 M in −M eq
tR ¼ −1 ð17Þ
κ M out −M eq
where Min, Mout, and Meq are inlet, outlet, and equilibrium
moisture content of paddy sample (db); k is the drying rate
constant.
Rizal and Mohammad [67] constructed a hybrid drying
system for fish in Indonesia (Fig. 4d). The dryer consisted of
air heaters supported by biomass fuel, drying chamber,
chimney, and fan. The time required for drying 25 kg fish in
this system was reported to be 15 h. A conclusion drawn from
existing reports suggested the viability of these dryers for rural
small-scale farmers and industries, having abundant sources
of natural biomass. It was also noted that these dryers offers a
wide range of applicability for drying different types of food
products. However, accurate design modifications are still re-
quired in order to achieve uniform drying and higher
efficiency.
Hybrid Heat Pump–Assisted Solar Dryers
These systems are gaining immense attention since last few
decades as they provide a solution to achieve well-
controlled drying conditions for low-temperature drying ap-
plications [70]. The heat pump principally comprises of
evaporator, compressor, condenser, and expansion valve.
Heat pump–assisted dryers offer better process control and
quality at low temperatures in addition to higher energy
efficiencies because of the requirement of both sensible
and latent heat of vaporization. The unique advantage of
such system is that the operating time is considerably low
and thus these systems become economically more suitable.
One of such systems was designed by Hawlader et al. [71],
comprising of a heat pump, based on vapor compression
refrigeration cycle involving an evaporator-collector, a
compressor, a condenser, a dehumidifier, two expansion
valves, drying chamber, and a blower. Evaporator collector
was unglazed-type and was maintained at a lower tempera-
ture than ambient by using refrigerant and ensured heat ab-
sorption from ambient. Process flow chart of the drying
mechanism in this system is depicted in Fig. 5a. The
evaporator-collector system was reported to be 14.5% more
efficient than the air collector system. Similar systems were
reported by Daghigh et al. [70] and Li et al. [73], which
indicated the suitability of hybrid heat pump–assisted solar
dryers (HHPSD) for low-temperature drying of food
Food Eng Rev
products, as well as for achieving a higher coefficient of
performance (COP) and thermal efficiency under more con-
trolled conditions. It is also noteworthy to highlight that the
heat pump attached to the dryer also prevents the buildup of
heat and steam inside the dryer, thus improving the efficien-
cy of the system, and this also attributes to safe and hygienic
drying conditions in heat pump–assisted dryers.
Reports also presented evidence supporting that COP of
heat pump solar dryers was higher than in comparison with
only heat pump systems due to the assistance gained by solar
energy. Şevik et al. [74] developed a heat pump system, which
was assisted by solar energy for drying mushroom. The COP
values were found to be 3.1, whereas for heat pump only
system, it was 2.1, thus conforming the performance superi-
ority of hybrid systems. Performance evaluation of hybrid
heat pump–assisted solar dryers generally involves coefficient
of performance and the type of heat pump used. The COP of
the overall system is given as:
Qc
COPHP ¼ ð18Þ
Pcomp
∑QSys Qc
COPSys ¼ ¼ ð19Þ
∑PSys Pcomp þ P F1 þ P F2 þ PP1 þ PP2
where Qc is condenser capacity; Pcomp, PF, PP, and PSys are
power input for compressor, fans, pumps, and the entire
system.
The energy utilization ratio (EUR) gives the ratio of the
total energy used in the drying chamber for dehumidifica-
tion process to the total energy gained by air from the
collector. This can be calculated using the following equa-
tion.
ma ðhin −hout Þ
EUR ¼ ð20Þ
ma C pa ðT in −T out Þ
where ma is mass of air; hin and hout are specific enthalpy
of inlet and outlet air; Tin and Tout represent inlet and
outlet air temperature.
Specific moisture extraction rate (SMER) represents ener-
gy required to remove 1 kg water per hour (Mw), which ac-
count for every input power to the system (compressor,
pumps, and fans), and is given as follows.
Mw Mw
SMERSys ¼ ¼ ð21Þ
∑P Pcomp þ P F1 þ P F2 þ PP1 þ PP2
Mortezapour et al. [72] designed a heat pump–assisted
hybrid photovoltaic thermal (PVT) solar dryer for saffron
(Fig. 5b). The hybrid PVT heat pump–assisted solar dryer
was consisted of a hybrid PVT solar air collector, drying
chamber, DC fan, and an auxiliary electrical heater. Solar
air collector was installed with a heat pump to recirculate
the drying air. It was concluded from the results that with
Food Eng Rev

Fig. 5 Schematic illustration of a heat pump–assisted solar dryer [71], b hybrid heat pump–PVT solar dryer for saffron drying [72]

an increase in air temperature from 40 to 60 °C, the drying drying rate to be 1.3 kg/h and 1.9 kg/h, respectively. The
time was reduced by 62%. Yahya et al. [75] performed a average pickup efficiency of hybrid heat pump–assisted
comparative study of the cabinet type solar dryer and hy- solar dryers was reported to be 11% higher than solar dryer
brid heat pump-assisted solar dryer and found the average and was calculated as follows:

Mw
ηpickup ¼ ð22Þ
ma t d ðwas −win Þ
where was indicates adiabatic saturated humidity of the air
entering in to the drying chamber.
SMER was estimated to be 0.47 kg/kWh and 0.38 kg/kWh,
respectively, and COP of the hybrid heat pump–assisted solar
dryers ranged from 3.2 to 3.5. Solar fraction can be understood
as the share of solar energy into the system, and it is a critical
parameter to be accounted when the system is not completely
run by solar energy. The average solar fraction of hybrid heat
pump–assisted solar dryer (SFHHPSD) was estimated by the
equation given below.
EUcol
S F HHPSD ¼
E Ucol þ E comp þ E b
ma C pa ðT out −T in Þ
¼ ð23Þ
ma C pa ðT out −T in Þ þ 2ðVIcosϕÞ
where EUcol is the useful heat gain by the solar collector;
Ecomp and Eb represent electrical energy consumed by com-
pressor and blower; V, I, and cosφ are line voltage, current,
and power factor, respectively. The average value of solar
fraction was found to be 44.6%. Similarly, Verma and
Murugesan [76] designed a solar-assisted ground source
hybrid heat pump–assisted solar dryer for domestic space
heating purpose in Indian climatic conditions. In this sys-
tem, the heat stored in day time was used for space heating at
night hours, thereby indicating that this system can be used
for space heating in large scale greenhouse type solar
dryers. Ceylan and Gürel [77] reported a solar-type fluid-
ized bed dryer assisted by heat pump system for drying of
mint leaves. A flat plate air collector, a zigzag absorber
plate, and a parabolic trough collector were attached to flu-
idized bed dryer, water-based heat storage system, and heat
pump. During the day time, the heat energy was drawn from
the flat plate and zigzag absorber plate. The parabolic col-
lectors were attached to water storage unit, and the heated
water was used to support the drying in case the heat energy
provided by air collectors fall short to maintain drying con-
ditions up to 50 °C. Furthermore, if both the air collectors
and water collector generate insufficient heat energy, then
the heat pump was operated. The drying air temperature and
energy and exergy efficiencies obtained by the system were
50 °C, 50%, and 26%, respectively. This system was proved
to be highly efficient having a coefficient of performance of
10. Review of various designs indicated that solar-assisted
heat pump system proved to be an important advancement
in the field of solar drying, which could eliminate the dis-
advantages of ‘solar only’ drying methods [78]. Although
these systems have been reported to produce better product
quality and have higher performance parameters, yet the
Food Eng Rev
higher cost involved, feasibility of the technology at a larger
scale and for rural application yet needs rigorous
investigation.
Novel Hybrid Solar Dryers Based on Combination Technology
In recent years, solar drying has been complemented by var-
ious other drying techniques, namely microwave,
ultrasonication, vacuum drying, and osmotic dehydration to
either achieve more efficient drying or to improve quality
aspects of the sample. When hybrid solar drying combines
to any of the other drying methods, then it can be called as
“combination technology based hybrid solar drying systems.”
In this section, the present status of these dryers is discussed.
Janjai [79] used a combination of osmotic dehydration and
solar greenhouse drying technology to process 1000 kg of
tomatoes in the small-scale industry. Freshly harvested whole
tomatoes were blanched for 5 min and further subjected to
osmotic dehydration for 72 h using 40% sugar solution, fol-
lowing which samples were placed in the greenhouse for dry-
ing. Subjection of tomato samples to osmo-solar drying sig-
nificantly lowered the drying time and enhanced the product
quality as compared with the OSD samples. This dryer offered
the benefit of decent loading size applicable to small-scale
industries in comparison with other laboratory-scale designs
and exhibited effective and economic solution as the payback
period was only 0.65 years. Similarly a distributed, indirect-
type hybrid solar drying system for drying osmotically
predehydrated cherry tomatoes was presented by Nabean
et al. [53]. The dryer consisted of drying cabinet, heat ex-
changer, a solar water heater, and hot water storage unit with
a loading capacity of 100 kg. Although cherry tomatoes were
osmotically predehydrated in both of these systems described
above, the distributed-type indirect solar dryer offered better
control of air flow rate and temperature within the dryer.
However, greenhouse drying system could achieve larger
loading capacity making it more feasible for industrial appli-
cation. Moreover, the effect of sugar solution–based osmotic
treatment on the sanitary quality of dried product in storage
condition must be looked into details in order to demonstrate
its potential for large-scale application.
Analysis of quality attributes and drying rate for pea samples
subjected to solar-assisted spouted bed drying and open sun
drying (OSD) was investigated by Sahin et al. [80]. Solar-
assisted spouted bed dryer comprised of a solar collector and
air blower attached to the spouting column for providing hot air
for drying of the sample. Spouted bed dried pea samples
witnessed 60% lesser shrinkage during drying in comparison
to OSD, as well as retained better microstructure post-drying.
The results indicated that spouted bed drying offers uniform
removal of moisture, thus causing lesser collapse of food ma-
trix. Correspondingly, peas dried in the solar-assisted spouted
bed dryer exhibited better rehydration ability than OSD
Food Eng Rev
samples. These results can establish the fact that more control
over drying parameters can result in a better quality product.
However, there is a need to evaluate the detailed mechanism of
drying and proper cost analysis with respect to other thermal
dryers in order to show the economic potential of these systems.
Rajkumar et al. [81] developed a vacuum-assisted solar dryer
for drying of tomato slices. The drying unit consisted of a
drying chamber (polycarbonate vacuum bell), vacuum pump,
and temperature probe. The vacuum pressure inside the drying
chamber was upheld up to 85 kPa. The time taken to reduce the
moisture content of 4, 6, and 8 mm thick tomato slices from 94
to 11.5% (w.b.) in vacuum-assisted solar dryer was 25% lesser
than the OSD. The review also projected that the color reten-
tion, especially in terms of redness (a*) value and rehydration
ratio, were 59% and 66% higher in case of vacuum-assisted
solar-dried slices as compared with OSD slices.
It is well known that direct or indirect application of high-
intensity ultrasound increases the moisture removal rate from
various agricultural produce [82]. Ultrasound causes successive
expansion and compression in continuous series due to which a
pressure is build up inside the food matrix and many micro-
scopic channels are created that enhances the rate of moisture
removal [83]. This technique in combination with solar energy
was employed for drying of pistachio by Kouchakzadeh [84].
The effect of ultrasound waves on the pistachio sample subject-
ed to open sun drying conditions was studied. A piezoelectric
bolt clamp-type transducer with a maximum pulse power of
3000 W and carrier frequency of 17.5–28.5 kHz was used to
generate ultrasonic waves. The setup for pistachio drying
consisted of 20 kHz ultrasound transducer clamped to flat bed
at opposite corners as shown in Fig. 6a. The assessment of
literature showed that the application of ultrasonic waves inten-
sify the heat and mass transfer process. Hence, this system is
capable of achieving lower final moisture content (0.5 to 4.3%
wb) and higher drying rates (14.7 to 28%) in comparison with
the case when no ultrasound was implemented. It was observed
that the drying kinetics of pistachio in convective drying and
open sun drying fitted well with logarithmic model, whereas
ultrasound-assisted sun drying fitted best to page model.
PVT-assisted intermittent infrared dryer was designed and
developed by Ziaforoughi and Esfahani [85]. This dryer
consisted of a solar accumulator, cabinet dryer, chimney, PV
panels, infrared source, temperature and power regulator as
shown in Fig. 6b. Drying kinetics of the potato slices of vary-
ing thickness 3, 5, and 7 mm were studied at three different
temperatures of 50, 60, and 70 °C. The dryer was able to
achieve 40–69% reduction in the electrical energy consump-
tion and 31–52% reduction in drying time as compared with
the infrared dryer. It can be clearly inferred from these inves-
tigations that combination of drying technologies definitely
have a positive impact on the quality of dried product, but
these systems are still at their infancy stage of the develop-
ment. Application of ultrasound, vacuum, osmotic
dehydration in amalgamation with solar dryer for industrial-
scale application still possesses challenges, and more studies
are required to validate economic viability, sanitary, and tech-
nical aspects.
Renewable–Renewable Type Hybrid Solar Drying
System
Hybrid Photovoltaic-Assisted Solar Dryers
Photovoltaic integrated hybrid solar drying system (PVT sys-
tem) is an amalgamation of photovoltaic (PV) panels to har-
ness electricity and solar thermal systems to produce heat
energy from the single system [86, 87]. This resilient system
has gained much importance and has a remarkable market
growth among all renewable systems i.e. 39 to 54% from
2008 to 2013 [88]. Hybrid PVT solar drying systems were
constructed and studied by various researchers due to its high
efficiency and handy operation [89–96].
A hybrid photovoltaic thermal (PVT) greenhouse dryer
built up of ultraviolet (UV)-stabilized polyethylene was devel-
oped for drying and testing of mint (Mentha piperita) [96].
The dryer consisted of two PV modules integrated on the roof
of a forced convection–type greenhouse having 3 DC fans.
Drying efficiency of the hybrid PVT greenhouse dryer was
calculated as 34%. Anyanwu et al. [96] fabricated an active
solar drying system for drying of cassava chips, which relies
on a roof-scale collector and a photovoltaic (PV)-powered
blower. Results indicated that the moisture content of 50 kg
of cassava was reduced from 74 to 12% (wb). Studies signify
that even under unfavorable weather conditions, these dryers
were able to produce good quality products, and these systems
can be reasonably applicable for rural establishments. Fudholi
et al. [97] studied the energy consumption of a hybrid solar
drying system for drying salted silver jewfish as shown in
Fig. 7a. The dryer consisted of V-grooved solar heaters, rotat-
ing rack–type drying chamber, photovoltaic panels, diesel
stove, and fans. A series of six solar air heaters were integrated
to a diesel burner, in order to meet continuous energy require-
ments for drying. Collector efficiency (ηc) was calculated by
using Eq. (24) and was found to vary from 30 to 68%. The
total energy requirement for drying silver jewfish was
90 kWh, out of which solar energy consumption was about
66% followed by diesel burner (29%) and fan (5%), respec-
tively.
M w Lv
ηc ¼  ð24Þ
SIAc þ P f þ ðmb  LCV Þ
where Mw is mass of water removed per hour (kg/h), Lv de-
notes latent heat of vaporization (J/kg), SI represents solar
radiation (W/m2), Ac is area of collector, mb is mass of bio-
mass required, and LCV denotes lower calorific value.

Fig. 6 Schematic diagram of a ultrasound-assisted drying system [84], b photograph of PVT-assisted intermittent infrared dryer [85]
Solar dryer was associated with a photovoltaic (PV) system
for continuous drying of amla (Indian gooseberry), during off-
sunshine period. Photovoltaic panel of power rating of 100 W
was placed on a mild steel angle frame in such a way that it
could also act as a solar air collector. Thus, the double-pass
arrangement of the collector was fabricated, which produces
both electric and thermal energy for drying amla, a fruit rich in
vitamin C [92]. A hybrid electric solar dryer was designed by
Reyes et al. [93] for drying mushrooms. Temperature, pres-
sure, humidity, and solar radiation were well monitored within
this system by the help of sensors. In this system, drying air
temperature up to 50–60 °C was achieved by the application
of a 5 kW electric heater supported by PV panel. It was found
that the thermal efficiency and accumulator panel efficiency
varied between 22–62% and 10–21%, respectively. A
photovoltaic-assisted industrial dryer was analyzed by
Taskin et al. [100]. The loading capacity of the system was
3 kg/batch of green pea samples, and the moisture content was
reduced from 75.6 to 20% (wb). The specific energy con-
sumption of the system for different temperatures (50–
70 °C) and air velocity (3–4 m/s) were varied from 7.7 to
11.2 kWh/kg. Although these dryers were found to offer better
control and higher efficiency, the major limitation presented
was capacity with respect to requirement of substantial floor
area for PV installation.
Tiwari et al. [98] designed a PVT dryer, which consisted of
semitransparent PV module, collector, DC fan, and a drying
chamber. The structure of dryer was made of thick glass, fitted
into an aluminum frame as shown in Fig. 7b. The overall
Food Eng Rev
thermal exergy of the system was evaluated to be 0.54 kWh.
Tiwari and Tiwari [101] developed a photovoltaic thermal
(PVT)–integrated greenhouse system for predrying fruit and
vegetable waste as fuel for the biogas plant. Thermal analysis
of the system was performed, and maximum thermal efficien-
cy, electrical efficiency, and overall efficacy were analyzed at
load conditions, and the values were found to be 13.4%,
14.2%, and 47%, respectively.
Jamali et al. [94] confirmed that increase in PV panel sur-
face temperature reduces the system efficiency, and hence
they have developed a novel solar chimney in order to cool
the circular semitransparent PV (STPV) system. Contrary to
conventional panels, which are opaque in nature, the semi-
transparent panels were made up of thin solar cell that allows
the light to pass and hence can be used as a top covering for
the drying chamber, as replacement of glass covers. The over-
all temperature (ΔToverall) rise in STPV solar chimney was
given as:
πq″  2 2
ΔToverall ¼ : r −r ð25Þ
Cp m col ch

 13
2gρρo βo 1 4 2 1
00 3
ṁ¼π 3
hch 3
rch 3
rcol q ð26Þ
Cp
where ṁ is mass flow rate of air in chimney, rch and hch are
chimney radius and height, rcol is radius of circular collector, q
″ represents auxiliary parameter defined during analytical so-
lution, β o is volumetric coefficient of expansion, g is
Food Eng Rev
Fig. 7 Photograph of a hybrid biomass-PV solar dryer used for jewfish drying [97], b PV-assisted solar dryer [98], c hybrid PV solar tunnel dryer for
potato chips [95], d lab-scale sun-tracking type hybrid PV solar dryer [99]
gravitational acceleration (m/s2), ρ and ρ0 are local and total
density (kg/m3). They observed that the addition of a cooling
chimney section in the dryer reduced the average temperature
up to 15 °C; this, in turn, enhanced the dryer performance by
29%. This was a unique design capable of providing optimum
PV (electricity) and thermal collector (heat) performance and
can be implemented to enhance the total throughput of solar
energy in sunshine period.
Solar PV-powered mixed-mode tunnel dryer was con-
structed by Eltawil et al. [95] for drying of potato chips. The
dryer was run on forced convection mode at different airflow
rates and was accompanied by a flat plate collector to enhance
the thermal performance. A black curtain was placed over the
sample tray, in order to retain better color and quality of potato
chips. The average drying time was reported to be 6–7 h at an
airflow rate of 3 m3/min. Nevertheless, the maximum efficien-
cy attained by the dryer was 34.3%, which still should be
enhanced via design modifications for optimal use of solar
energy. Investigational arrangement of solar PV-powered tun-
nel dryer for potato chips is shown in Fig. 7c. An integrated
drying system attached to photovoltaic-based collector and an
additional desiccant unit for drying of tomatoes was designed
by Dorouzi et al. [102]. The SMER of the system was found to
be 0.26 kg/kWh. The solar heat fraction and the ratio of solar
electricity to consumed electricity were reported to increase
with decrease in the drying air temperature. These systems
offered an advantage that they can be operated independent
of electrical grid; however, SMER values reported in literature
shows that, yet, these systems can be applicable for very small
scale and there is prime need of scaling up.
A sun-tracking PV-ventilated solar dryer for lab-scale use
was designed by Samimi-Akhijahani and Arabhosseini [99] as
shown in Fig. 7d. The significant effect of sun-tracking mech-
anism with respect to open sun drying was reported to give a
reduction in drying time up to 16.6 to 36.6% and increase in
effective diffusivity by 9.1 to 64.6% respectively, for tomato
slices. However, a comparative study with solar dryer devoid
of sun-tracking mechanism would have helped to establish the
potential of sun-tracking technology better. Moreover, sun-
tracking technology used as of now is either empirical in
 Food Eng Rev

Table 2 Summary of advantages and limitations along with recommendations for hybrid solar dryer

Hybrid solar drying technology Advantages Disadvantages/recommendations

Hybrid thermal storage–type
solar dryers
Hybrid biomass-assisted solar •The dryer offers continuous operation
dryers
Hybrid heat pump–assisted
solar dryers
Novel hybrid solar dryers based •Have better technological fusion
on combination technology
Hybrid photovoltaic-assisted
solar dryers
•Thermal storage can reduce the drying time
by half, compared with open sun drying
•Suitable for tropical region
•The utility cost of sensible heat
storage is very low
•This technology is safe and
environment friendly
•Cost-effective and approachable technology gases
for small scale food industries or farmers
•Drying rate is twice faster than the open sun •The operational cost and maintenance is comparatively higher
drying
•Higher efficacy and reduced drying time
•Wide range of drying temperature is
achievable (− 20 °C to 100 °C)
•Uniform product quality is achievable
•Very reliable and have long life span
(~ 50 years)
•Significantly reduce drying time
•Applicable for heat sensitive products
•Continuous drying facilities
•Greater control over drying parameters
•Completely environment friendly and carbon 25%.
neutral
•Operating costs for PV panels are almost
negligible
•The expected life is about 25 years
•It is dependent on the ability of storage material to hold heat, and
thus, the stored energy must be used within the stipulated time
•Low thermal conductivity of phase change materials (PCM) and
efficiency is also low (~ 20%)
•Presently available heat storage material can provide lower
temperature for drying
•More investigation on working fluid and PCMs having higher heat
transfer rate is required
•Presently, hydrate salts give decent phase-change enthalpy, hence
can be employed for heat storage
•Commercial scale systems are scarce
•It is a combustion-based technology, hence releases many harmful
•Regulation of biomass and solar mode is critical
•Commercial scale systems are scarce
•Capital costs incurred are very high
•Dependent on electricity and hence are not completely carbon neutral
•Fairly difficult to install, maintain and requires skilled labor
•Poses environmental concerns (CFC-based refrigerants are used)
•Standardization of these systems is required
•Commercial scale systems are scarce
•Limited to laboratory scale
•Initial cost is higher
•Not standardized for specific applications
•Partially dependent on electricity
•Commercial scale systems are extremely scarce
•Requires large surface area
•Maximum electrical efficiency of PV panels ranges between 14 and
•Regular dust cleaning is required
•Requires cautious scheme for the electrical insulation and effective
heat dissipation

nature or the automated tracking systems are limited to labo-
ratory scale. Further investigation of several types of
photosensors and automation of tracking is required.
Although above hybrid solar drying systems represent better
potential than OSD or primitive driers discussed in “Systematic
Classification of Solar Drying System”, despite of that, each
technology still poses certain challenges and advantages, which
should be taken into consideration by researchers. A brief sum-
mary of the advantages and limitations/recommendations for
hybrid solar drying systems is discussed in Table 2.
Application of Hybrid Solar Dryers
for Different Agricultural Commodities
Different types of hybrid solar drying technologies are
employed to process various agricultural commodities.
These dryers are gaining immense importance due to the fact
that the hybrid systems offer quicker drying, more control on
process parameters, and ease of handling larger capacity
products. Hence, they can be employed in industrial-scale
processing of agricultural products. Table 3 summarizes a list
of recently developed hybrid solar drying systems for different
agricultural produce.
Sanitary Aspects of Solar Drying Technology
Food sanitation can be defined as a dynamic process in order
to protect food from any type of external or internal
contamination/deterioration [125]. High amount of agricultur-
al commodities are dried with solar energy in many areas of
developing countries. During the designing of solar dryers,
researchers have primarily focused on energy saving, efficien-
cy, drying kinetics, and/or cost evaluation of the system.
However, the consideration of sanitary aspects during solar
dryer designing has been largely ignored. Lack of information
on sanitation standards and improper control of hygiene dur-
ing drying lead to poor quality end products. Hence, it is
imperative to maintain and employ suitable sanitary standards
Table 3 Hybrid solar drying systems for different agricultural produce

Food Type of dryer Loading Moisture Drying time Drying Other salient findings References
product capacity content temperature
Food Eng Rev

(kg/batch)

i) Hybrid solar drying systems for fruits

Palm oil Hybrid electrical solar 100 IMC—60% 22 h 46–53 °C •Collector efficiency—31% [103]
fronds dryer FMC—10% •Drying system efficiency—19%
(wet basis) •Pick-up efficiency—67%
•Exergy efficiency—10–73%
Date fruit Hybrid electrical solar – IMC—50% 8h 39–55 °C •Recommended parameters for dates drying: [104]
dryer FMC—34% Air temperature—50 °C
(wet basis) Flow rate—1.2 m/s
Drying time—8 h
Litchi fruit Hybrid photovoltaic 100 IMC—84% 36 h – •Drying time reduced almost half of open sun drying [105]
solar dryer FMC—13% •Dried litchi product obtained were of higher quality
(wet basis)
Ber fruit Hybrid photovoltaic 18 IMC—80% 240 h – •Effective moisture diffusivity—3.34 × 10−7 m2/s [106]
thermal storage–type FMC—20% •Dryer efficiency 16.7%
solar dryer (wet basis) •Phase change material other than paraffin, for example hydrate salts must be
attempted
Banana Hybrid electric solar 12 IMC—69% 4 h (Hybrid solar dryer) 70 °C •More efficient in comparison with open sun drying and conventional electrical [107]
dryer FMC—20% 8.5 h (Electric dryer #) dryer
(wet basis) > 10 h (Open sun •This hybrid solar dryer uses incandescent lamps for drying which could lead to
drying) significant thermal losses
Grapes Hybrid photovoltaic 100 – 7h – •Heat transfer coefficient—0.45 to 1.21 W/m2K (ripen yellow grapes) [108]
greenhouse dryer 0.26 to 0.31 W/m2K (green grapes)
•Yellow grapes dried quicker than green grapes
ii) Hybrid solar drying systems for vegetables
Potato Hybrid photovoltaic 100 g IMC—5.4 2 h 45 min 76 °C •Two panels are required only in the initial phase of drying (i.e. up to 13% db) [109]
(chips) solar dryer FMC—0.13 •In later phase only one PV panel is enough to reduce moisture further up to 5%
(dry basis) (db)
Mushroom Hybrid thermal 10 IMC—80% 8h 60 °C •Paraffin wax was used as PCM for thermal storage [110]
storage–type solar FMC—10% •Thermal efficiency—22–67%
dryer (wet basis) •Maximum moisture content after rehydration of hybrid solar dried mushroom
was around 66% (wb)
Potato Hybrid photovoltaic 400 g IMC—4.44 6 h 10 min 50 °C •Recommended drying condition—air temperature (50 °C) and air flow rate [111]
solar dryer FMC—0.13 (1 m/s)
(dry basis)
Cassava Hybrid Biomass – IMC—76% 90 min 68 °C •The Midilli, Kucuk, and Yapar kinetic model best fits to explain drying [112]
flour photovoltaic solar FMC—20% behavior of Cassava flour
dryer (wet basis)
iii) Hybrid solar drying systems for spices
Red chili Hybrid electrical solar 40 IMC—80% 33 h •Double pass solar collector efficiency—28% [113]
dryer FMC—10% •Drying system efficiency—13%
(wet basis) •Pick-up efficiency—45%
•Exergy efficiency—57%
Table 3 (continued)

Food Type of dryer Loading Moisture Drying time Drying Other salient findings References
product capacity content temperature
(kg/batch)

Mint Hybrid photovoltaic 100 IMC—80% 21 h 45 °C •Dried mint retained good amount of chlorophyll (617 mg/g on dry weight [96]
thermal greenhouse FMC—11% basis) and other nutrients, for example protein, oil, carbohydrate etc., when
dryer (wet basis) compared with fresh sample
Coleus Hybrid biomass solar – IMC—87% – – Final moisture content (wb) achieved in [114]
forskohlii dryer FMC—12.3% •Hybrid system—87 to 12.3%
stems (wet basis) •Solar dryer alone—87 to 33%
•Biomass dryer—87 to 19.6%
Habanero Hybrid fluidized bed – IMC—90% 10.3 h 60 °C •Reduction in drying time—50% [115]
chili solar dryer FMC—5% •Reduction in energy usage—77%
(wet basis) •Saving of energy equivalent to 0.5 kg of natural gas per kg of fresh Habanero
chili.
Garlic Hybrid thermal – IMC—56% 8h 55 °C •Use of Propylene glycol as solar fluid facilitated temperature rise up to 391 K [116]
storage–type solar FMC—7% •Air recirculation is recommended
dryer (wet basis)
Turmeric Solar conduction dryer 12 IMC—78.6% 12 h 39–51 °C •Effective diffusivity (Deff)—1.85 × 10−10 m2/s (Sliced rhizome); [68]
rhizome FMC—6.4% 1.46 × 10−10 m2/s (Whole rhizome)
(whole •Overall thermal efficiency—55%
rhizome) •Superior quality of turmeric can be achieved for slices instead of whole
FMC—5.5% rhizomes
(slices) (wet
basis)
Black Hybrid thermal 15 IMC—73.4% 18 h – •Solar air collector efficiency—25.6% [117]
turmeric storage–type solar FMC—8.5% •Overall efficiency—12%
dryer (wet basis)
iv) Hybrid solar drying systems for fish
Fish Hybrid biomass solar 25 IMC—64% 22–23 h 40–50 °C •It was reported that there was no significant change in fish moisture content [67]
dryer FMC—10% after 15 h
(wet basis)
Fish (salted Hybrid biomass solar 100 IMC—57.4% 23 h – •Biomass used—coconut husk [118]
soles) dryer FMC—9.6% •Page model is recommended to describe the drying kinetics
(wet basis)
Tafi fish Hybrid solar 270 pieces IMC—4.2 44 h 60 °C •Effective diffusivity (Deff)—6.53 × 10−12 m2/s (salted fish) [119]
tunnel-windmill dryer FMC—0.8 (dry 6.63 × 10−12 m2/s (unsalted fish)
basis) •The page model—best fit kinetic model
Anchovies Hybrid solar tunnel 16 IMC—80% 8h 30–80 °C Nutritional profile of hybrid solar dried (HSD) fish samples was compared with [120]
fish dryer FMC—10% open sun dried (OSD) samples
(wet basis) •Fat content—4.12 ± 0.01% (OSD) and 4.00 ± 0.10% (HSD)
•Ash content—12.02 ± 0.06% (OSD) and 9.57 ± 0.04% (HSD)
•Protein value—70.01 ± 0.28% (OSD) and 74.83 ± 0.45% (HSD)
•Histamine content—13.02 ppm (OSD) and 18.55 ppm (HSD)
v) Hybrid solar drying systems for other agricultural commodities
Paddy Hybrid solar dryer 500 IMC—23.9% 4–7.5 h •At 44 °C, maximum germination of 86% and viability of 97.5% was obtained [121]
Food Eng Rev

seed •The germination percentage decreased with increasing drying temperature

Food Eng Rev

References
during solar drying of food products to ensure quality and
safety of the final dried product. According to the Food

[122]

[123]

[124]
Safety and Standards (Food Products Standards and Food
Additives) Regulations, 2011 [126], the following parame-
ters must be maintained with regard to sanitary aspects of
dried food:

•Use of heat storage material increases the drier efficiency by 2 to 3%

•Collector efficiency—49 to 81% at thermal intensity of 750 W/m2 & Devoid of fungus, living/dead pests, pest remains, and
rodent contamination
•Black painted gravel was used as heat storage material & Microbial load must be below prescribed limits
& Devoid of any extraneous matter of similar kind as stalks,
mud, bits of shells, concrete, fiber, and peel
& Should retain uniformity in color, taste, and aroma char-
•Safe temperature for paddy seeds—44 °C

acteristic of the particular food

& Should not have bad smell, staleness, rancidity, and in-
dication of fermentation
& Should be stored properly to avoid infestation and pro-
•Thermal efficiency—15%

gression of toxic microorganisms

&
Other salient findings

Tainted, discolored, and damaged products must be re-

moved to avoid infection

Three major agencies/regulations prescribed for food

equipment hygienic design are European Hygienic Design
Group, National Sanitation Foundation, and 3A Sanitary
temperature

Standards Inc. To maintain proper hygienic conditions, func-

40, 42, 44,

25–30 °C

10–25 °C

tional thermometers at multiple locations of the dryer should

IMC initial moisture content, FMC final moisture content, HSD hybrid solar dried, OSD open sun dried
Drying

46 and
48 °C
45 °C

be installed in order to regulate temperature during the dry-

ing period. Secondly, the operator must use gloves during
loading and unloading of the samples. Additionally, the
equipments particularly scales, thermometers, hygrometers,
and pyranometer must be well calibrated. Surfaces of food
Drying time

equipment that comes in direct contact with food must be

1 h 20 min

fabricated from materials that are smooth, impervious, non-

72 h

54 h

toxic, nonabsorbent, and corrosion-resistant under condi-

tions of intended use. As per instruction from 3A Sanitary
Standards, American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) 300 se-
IMC—53.4%
FMC—3.6%

FMC—7.1%
FMC—12%

FMC—12%
IMC—22%

IMC—52%
(wet basis)

(wet basis)

(wet basis)

(wet basis)

ries with 304 and 316 stainless steel are most commonly
Moisture
content

used in food industries and can also be recommended for

solar dryer fabrication [125]. Most hygiene standards require
that food contact surfaces have a roughness average of
0.8 μm or less in order to avoid any surface damage to the
(kg/batch)
Loading
capacity

food product while loading and unloading. A common error

50

during equipment construction, fabrication, and repair is the

3

use of inappropriate welds and welding materials and/or the

Hybrid photovoltaic

use of noncleanable bolts and threads within the food contact

storage–type solar

storage–type solar

zone [125]. To evaluate the effect of coating material, Chen

Hybrid thermal

Hybrid thermal
Type of dryer

et al. [127] developed a solar energy–assisted photocatalytic

solar dryer
Table 3 (continued)

closed-type dryer. They coated the drying chamber with ti-

dryer

dryer

tanium dioxide (TiO2) to cause a bactericidal effect during

the drying process. The dried samples were evaluated for
microbial load, and it was found that the average total counts
beans
product

Cocoa
Paddy

Copra

of potato dextrose agar and plate count agar were reduced

Food

from 20 CFU/plate (before coating with TiO2) to no more

 Food Eng Rev

than 5 CFU/plate (after coating with TiO2). It is noteworthy
that, without proper sanitary measures, the samples dried in
solar dryer can have a microbial load greater than the pre-
scribed limit (i.e., 15 CFU/plate) and this also signifies the
importance of titanium dioxide (TiO2) as a coating material.
Influence of solar drying on the microbiological, physico-
chemical, and organoleptic quality of meat was investigated
by Chouch et al. [128]. They showed that in comparison with
open sun drying, microbial load of dried meat was lesser when
dried in an indirect type solar dryer. On top of that, biochem-
ical changes indicated that the protein content of fresh meat
dropped down from 22 to 9% when subjected to open sun
drying, whereas final protein content retained in an indirect
type solar dryer was 18.4%. During solar drying, contamina-
tion may also be introduced by food handlers or drying plat-
forms maintained at low sanitary standards. An increase in
natural microbiota after sun drying of peeled and unpeeled
ginger has been reported in the literature [129]. It was noticed
that higher levels of microbial contamination were inevitable
during traditional sun drying. Total variable count was re-
duced to 66.7% for peeled dried ginger and 57.6% for un-
peeled ginger. Proper operation of the solar dryer in terms of
temperature and moisture distribution variation across differ-
ent drying trays must be taken into account to maintain proper
sanitation of the dried product. Since solar drying can take
days to achieve the required final moisture content, proper
monitoring should be done. Tray reshuffling is needed during
drying to avoid over or under drying condition that may lead
to mold growth in under dried samples [130]. The studies
involving sanitary standards specific to solar drying is scarce
in open literature as of now, and hence there is a requirement
for the researchers to look into this aspect of solar drying for
attaining safe and better quality dried products.
Simulation and Modeling Studies for Solar
Drying Systems
In recent years, computer simulations are gaining immense
importance in analyzing and predicting the performance of
different kinds of solar dryers. Simulation aids in predicting
the sample temperature, moisture profile, and air flow behav-
ior in the system with variable operating and design parame-
ters, which includes air velocity, collector design, drying
chamber specification, chimney height, and material of con-
struction. In this context, modeling techniques can be
employed for optimization of any new solar drying system
for reducing cost and drying time. Table 4 represents some
of the commercial computational simulation software and
their application in the field of solar drying. Furthermore, out-
line of steps involved in computational fluid dynamics (CFD)
analysis is presented in Fig. 8 [131].
Computational Fluid Dynamics Analysis of Hybrid
Solar Dryers
Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is a very essential tool
for numerical testing of various solar dryer geometries
employing different operating conditions without the need of
building the prototype of each geometrical model. This aids

Table 4 List of commercially available CFD softwares

Name of software Method Year and company Application

PHOENICS Finite difference 1978, CHAM Ltd. •Newtonian and non-Newtonian

method fluid modeling
•Flow through porous media
•Direction-dependent
resistances
•Conjugate heat transfer
FLUENT (general purpose software with Multiphysics capabilities), Finite volume 1990, FLUENT Inc., •Heat transfer
FIDAP (modeling complex physics) modeling (in 2006, ANSYS took •Fluid flow
over Fluent) •Multiphase flow
•Moving component
ANSYS CFX Finite element 2001, ANSYS Inc. •Heat transfer
method •Fluid flow behavior
COMSOL Multiphysics Finite element 1986, Comsol Inc. •Heat transfer
method •Mass transfer
•Chemical rection
•Fluid flow analysis
TRNSYS – SEL – UW Wisconsin •Dynamic simulation of drying
behavior
Food Eng Rev

Fig. 8 An outline of steps

involved in CFD analysis [131]

the manufacturer to improve dryer design and generate quan-
titative information about fluid flow behavior and temperature
distribution inside the dryer under varied climatic conditions.
Janjai et al. [90] employed finite difference method to develop
a computational model to predict heat and mass transfer dur-
ing drying of peeled longan and banana in a hybrid
photovoltaic ventilated solar green house dryer. The simula-
tion studies were conducted on Compaq Visual FORTRAN
software platform, and temperature and moisture profile of the
samples were predicted and validated. The energy balance
equation inside the greenhouse dying chamber was given as:

dTa   dMp
ma Cpa ¼ Ap ht;p−a Tp −Ta þ Ap ht; f −a ðT f −Ta Þ þ Ap Dp Cpv ρp Tp −Ta
dt  dt
ð27Þ
þ ρa Cpa ðVout Tout −Vin Tin Þ þ Uc Ac ðTam −Ta Þ

  
þ 1− Fp ð1−α f Þ þ 1−αp Fp It Ac τc

The energy balance equation on the product was given as:

 dTp  
mp Cpp þ Cpl Mp ¼ Ap ht;p−a Ta −Tp þ Ap ht; f −a Tc −Tp
dt ð28Þ

  dMp
þAp Dp ρp Lp þ Cpv Tp −Ta þ Fp αp It Ac τc
dt
 Food Eng Rev

The mass balance inside the greenhouse drying chamber where Va is air speed in the dryer; va is kinematic viscosity of
was given by: air; Dh, W, and D represents hydraulic diameter, width of the
dryer floor, and average distance between the floor and the
dh dM p
ρV ¼ ρa hin V in −ρa hout V in þ Ap Dp ρp ð29Þ cover. The simulation results were validated with experimen-
dt dt tal data, and authors have suggested the use of the given model
where ht,p-a and ht,f-a represent heat transfer coefficient from to predict design data for hybrid PV solar greenhouse dryer.
product to air and floor cover to air; ma, Ta, and ρa are air mass, Rigit and Low [132] performed the simultaneous heat and
air temperature, and density of air, respectively; mp, Tp, ρp, mass transfer analysis of pepper berries by using software
and Mp are mass, temperature, density, and moisture content STAR-CD. In this work, a hybrid solar dryer with biomass
of the product respectively; Cpv, Cpa, Cpp, and Cpl represent as backup energy source was simulated to predict optimum
specific heat capacity of water vapor, air, product, and liquid operating temperature and air velocity profiles for both natural
water, respectively; Dp, Vin, Vout, Tam, Tin, and Tout represent and forced convection mode within the drying chamber dur-
thickness of product, velocity of inlet and outlet air, tempera- ing drying process. Figure 9 a and b represents the contour
ture of ambient, inlet and outlet air, respectively; Fp, Uc, and τc plot for depicting air velocity profile and temperature profile
denote fraction of solar radiation falling on the product, over- of the system in natural convection condition. It can be noticed
all heat loss coefficient from cover to air, and transmittance of that the velocity profile varied with the spatial location within
the cover material, respectively; hin and hout denote humidity the dryer, and the highest velocity was attained near the chim-
ratio of air entering and leaving the dryer, respectively. ney outlet (0.23 m/s) and lowest at the center (0.10 m/s). It can
Heat transfer coefficient is generally deduced using Nusselt be highlighted that contour plot was capable of providing a
(Nu) relationship with Reynolds number (Re) and/or Prandtl better insight of factors causing positional variation in airflow
number (Pr). Janjai et al. [90] used the following relation to within the dryer. Temperature profile of the system in natural
estimate convective heat transfer coefficient, ht inside the solar convection condition showed that the temperature of drying
greenhouse dryer through the greenhouse cover and floor/ chamber varied from 291 to 366 K, whereas in forced convec-
food product: tion mode, it was reported to be 335 to 352 K. Upon review, it
was found that natural convection condition provided more
uniform heat distribution within the chamber due to longer
NuK a
ht ¼ ð30aÞ retention time of hot air inside. Furthermore, it can be con-
Dh cluded that the model developed using STAR-CD is capable
4WD of optimizing the drying conditions within the solar dryers.
Dh ¼ ð30bÞ
2ð W þ D Þ ANSYS-CFX 11 software package was explored to simu-
late airflow inside the electrical hybrid solar dryer by Maia
Nu ¼ 0:00158Re0:8 ð31aÞ
et al. [133]. Figure 10a depicts the discretization of dryer ge-
Dh V a ometry using finite volume method. Reynolds-Averaged
Re ¼ ð31bÞ
υa Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations were solved at every nodal

Fig. 9 Contour plot of a velocity distribution, b temperature profile in natural convection mode [132]
Food Eng Rev

Temperature

3.122e+002

3.115e+002

3.108e+002

3.100e+002

3.093e+002
[K]
(a) (b)

Velocity

4.058e+00

3.044e+00

2.029e+00

1.012e+00

1.408e-04
1.40
8e-004 (c)
[ms^-1]

Fig. 10 Simulation results illustrating a discretization of dryer model geometry, b temperature distribution, c flow stream lines inside collector and
drying chamber [133]

point to predict temperature profile and flow pattern inside the
drying chamber as shown in Fig. 10b, c. The Boussinesq
approximation was used for thermal buoyancy, and k-ω
SST model was employed to get simulated results. It is note-
worthy that, in the present study, authors have not considered
drying trays or loaded sample, thereby ignoring turbulence-
causing features and cooling effect due to moisture removal.
Thus, the results predicted by this model tend to provide com-
promised temperature data; hence, in order to give proper
prediction, simulation studies at load condition are necessary
and recommended. Manoj et al. [134] developed a 3-D model
for greenhouse solar drying of cocoa beans using Crank-
Nicholson method. MATLAB 2010 was implemented to pre-
dict the drying process, and the simulation results predicted
that the cocoa beans were dried up to a moisture content of 7%
(wb) within 7 days. This study used simulation as a virtual
platform to estimate the drying time for cocoa beans having
different initial moisture content. The results can definitely be
used to minimize experimental loads; nevertheless, it lacks
proper validation, and hence its wide applicability is
questionable.
Numerical study for optimizing the geometry of a solar
chimney prototype in Tehran was performed by Kasaeian
et al. [135]. k-ɛ turbulence model was employed for simulating
fluid flow profile in the solar chimney using FLUENT 6.3
platform. Turbulent viscosity was calculated by assuming a
specific relation between the transported variables, viz., the tur-
bulent kinetic energy (k) and the turbulence dissipation rate (ε),
which was determined (empirically or theoretically) for specific
flow conditions as given in Eqs. 32 and 33, respectively.
 Food Eng Rev


  achieve higher air temperature and its retention within chim-

∂ μt
ðρkÞ þ ∇:ðρkvÞ ¼ ∇: μþ ∇k þ Gk ney, smaller diameter and more height should be kept for
∂t σk optimum performance.
þ Gb −ρε ð32Þ Heat and mass transfer analysis of fruits and vegetables

  in a forced circulation–type solar dryer was studied by
∂ μ Patel and Patel [136]. ANSYS platform was implemented
ðρεÞ þ ∇:ðρεvÞ ¼ ∇: μ þ t ∇ε
∂t σε to solve the pressure and velocity distribution inside the
ε ε2 solar dryer. The geometry discretization was done by
þ C1ε ðGk ρ þ C3 Gb Þ−C2ε ρ ð33Þ ANSYS Gambit tool, and flow pattern of fluid and pres-
k k
sure drop in specific regions of the different physical de-
where Gb and Gk are expressed as: sign was predicted. The overall system efficiency was im-
proved by about 3% over the existing system, and this
μt ∂T
Gb ¼ βgi ð34Þ simulation tool was really found to be effective in optimiz-
Prt ∂x

 ing the design prior to fabrication. ANSYS CFX interface
μt ∂vi ∂vi ∂vi was implemented by Aukah et al. [137] to design and op-
Gk ¼ þ ð35Þ
ρ ∂x j ∂x j ∂xi timize hybrid solar biomass dryer to obtain uniform drying.
The tunnel type collector and the drying chamber were
where ρ, Gk, and Gb are the density of fluid, generation of connected as a single unit, and the airflow patterns and
kinetic energy due to the mean velocity gradients, and buoy- temperature profile within the unit were predicted in accor-
ancy, respectively. The quantities σk and σε are the turbulent dance with standard k-ɛ turbulence model. Velocity profile
Prandtl numbers for k and ε, respectively, and C3, C1ε, and was reported to be higher at the inlet and outlet; however,
C2ε, are constants; v is velocity in axial direction. The turbu- the temperature and air profile inside the drying chamber
lent (or eddy) viscosity (μt) was calculated from k and ε as was homogenous in nature. A 3D computational model of
follows: hybrid solar greenhouse dryer using ANSYS Fluent was
k2 developed by Kumar et al. [138]. The temperature varia-
μt ¼ ρCμ ð36Þ
ε tion inside the dryer at different time interval was predicted
and validated with the experimental results, and the final
Preceding equations have five adjustable constants C1ε,
temperature reached within the dryer was recorded to be
C2ε, Cμ, σk, and σε, which were determined by exhaustive
59 °C. Excessive increase in PV panel temperature resulted
data fitting for a wide range of turbulent model.
in a reduction of its electrical efficiency, and hence schem-
C1ε ¼ 1:44; C2ε ¼ 1:92; Cμ ¼ 0:09; σk ¼ 1:0 and ð37Þ ing of PVT-collector with an appropriate distribution of
cooling fluid on the absorber was done with the help of
σε ¼ 1:3
numerical simulation technique by Amanlou et al. [139]
The energy balance equation for hot air inside the collector (Fig. 12). Eight different geometries and three different
can be expressed as: airflow rates were theoretically tested using Boussinesq
approximation on ANSYS Fluent platform. Simulated re-
∂T f sults showed that a concentrator can enhance the overall
ρin Cp Vin Hch ¼ hc ðT f −Tc Þ þ he ðT f −Te Þ ð38Þ
∂r efficiency of the system up to 41%; on the contrary, it leads
in rise of panel temperature, thereby reducing electrical
 2 2 
 ðr −r0 Þ
2πh
1 efficiency of PV panels. From this study, it can be con-
T f ðrÞ ¼ Tc þ Te þ ð2Ta −Tc −Te Þe p ð39Þ
C m

2 cluded that the electrical efficiency can be substantially

where e, Te, and he represents chimney height, temperature
and heat transfer coefficient of air inside the chimney. Tc
and r denotes temperature and radius of the collector, respec-
tively. The predicted temperature profile at different positions
of the chimney was successfully validated as shown in
Fig. 11. An interesting outcome of this study suggested that
geometrical parameters can impact performance positively
only within a certain range, which can be optimized on a
virtual platform. Moreover, in comparison with height, the
chimney diameter appeared to affect the air velocity profile
more distinctively. Upon review, it can be inferred that to
increased by the application of concave side walled dif-
fusers instead of triangular conventional diffusers. This
study presents a significant insight of achieving maximum
electrical efficiency as well as thermal efficiency by
employing concentrated solar power (CSP) technology
and the virtual testing of design modifications in diffuser
for optimization. Nonetheless, lack of experimental valida-
tion of velocity profiles within diffuser makes the study a
bit probabilistic for further implementation and scale-up.
Multi-pass solar dryer filled with granite pebbles for ther-
mal storage enhancement was numerically simulated using the
finite element method on COMSOL Multiphysics platform by
Food Eng Rev

Fig. 11 Validation of temperature

distribution at different position
of solar chimney (collector
entrance: 6 cm, chimney height:
2 m, chimney diameter: 20 cm)
[135]

Kareem et al. [140]. The rock particles were used to enhance
the thermal storage of the drying system. It can be concluded
that collector with rock pebble–based heat storage system was
7% more efficient than double pass solar collector due to
better distribution of hot air within the cabinets. Heat transfer
analysis of the photovoltaic system in different seasonal and
climatic conditions for an outdoor setup was performed on
COMSOL Multiphysics 5.3a platform by Jha and Tripathy
[141]. They reported that the panel efficiency in winter and
summer seasons ranged between 13 and 13.9% and 16 and
16.4%, respectively. They also confirmed that finite element
(FE) model was capable of predicting panel surface
temperature more accurately in comparison with nominal op-
erating cell temperature (NOCT) model (Fig. 13a). Moreover,
the temperature variation during different season is shown in
Fig. 13b. The model was reported to successfully predict heat
transfer coefficient, solar radiation, and efficiency of solar
panel in outdoor conditions. However, simulation studies on
heat transfer were attempted for clean conditions only, and
effects of dirt and wind flow were not optimized using finite
element model but were experimentally investigated. Hence,
it is recommended to attempt the simulation studies to predict
and optimize the effect of dust and wind on the performance of
PV power plant.

5.03e-01
4.78e-01
4.53e-01
4.28e-01
4.03e-01
3.78e-01
3.52e-01
3.27e-01
3.02e-01
2.77e-01
2.27e-01
2.01e-01
1.76e-01
1.51e-01
1.22e-01
7.55e-02 Z

5.04e-02 X
2.55e-02
1.89e-05 Y

Fig. 12 Air velocity profile within novel diffuser for cooling low concentration PVT collector [139]

Fig. 13 Validation of panel
surface temperature a comparison
between finite element model and
NOCT model, b temperature
profile in winter and summer
season [141]
Modeling of Thick Layer During Drying of Food
Products
Food stuffs are multicomponent systems comprising of
solid matrix, air, and water and are generally subjected
to drying in bulk as deep bed or multilayer. Among var-
ious factors affecting the drying behavior of food prod-
ucts, one of the most important parameter is the thickness
of the dying material. Nevertheless, many researchers
have attempted simple models considering samples as
continuum, single phase system and/or disregarding air
component [8, 10, 23, 122, 142, 143]. Simple one-
component models consider food domain to be a single
phase system for estimating heat and mass transfer param-
eters in order to reduce model complexity; therefore, they
can only produce compromised predictions of the system.
For the realistic estimation of temperature and moisture
profile of bulk sample, a multiphase model must be
attempted accounting for convective air flow, solid phase,
liquid phase, bed porosity, and convective moisture
Food Eng Rev
transfer at sample surface. Therefore, for precise simula-
tion of heat and mass transfer phenomenon during drying
of food products, consideration of multicomponent
modeling becomes critically important. Generally, for
modeling the heat transfer process in deep bed, re-
searchers have considered convection in the solid surface
as the predominant mechanism, and to simulate mass
transport, internal diffusion within solid sample was con-
sidered as the governing physics. A fixed bed drying
model for soybean considering both fluid and solid phases
was developed [144]. Heat balance equations for the dry-
ing air and soybean sample was given as below.
 ∂T a
∂T a −hA T a −T p −Ga f ðCpa þ wCpv Þ ∂t
¼ ð40Þ
∂t ερa ðCpa þ wCpv Þ
  
∂T s −hA T a −T p − f λ þ Cpv T a −T p
¼   ð41Þ
∂t ð1−εÞρp Cpp þ MCpl
Food Eng Rev

Table 5 Thermodynamic properties of drying air used for modeling of heat and mass transfer process

S. No. Thermo-physical property Expressions Equation No

1 Air density (kg/m3) (ρa) ρa ¼ 0:287101:325

ðT þ273:15Þ (51)
2 Specific heat capacity of air (Cpa) (J/kg. K) Cpa = 1009.26 − 0.0040403 T + 0.00061759 T2 − 0.000004097 T3 (52)
3 Latent heat of vaporization of water (Lv)(J/kg) Lv = 2.503 × 106− 2386T; 0 ≤ T ≤ 260oC   (53)
ðT þ273:15Þ
4 Saturated vapor pressure (pasat) (Pa) pasat ¼ 100exp 27:0214− ðT þ273:15
6887
Þ þ 5:31ln 273:15 (54)
0:622pasat RH
5 Absolute humidity (w) (kg water/kg dry air) w ¼ 101:325−p RH (55)
asat

Mass balance equations for the drying air and soybean
sample were represented as:


∂w 1 ∂w
¼ f −Ga ð42Þ
∂t εpa ∂y
∂M 1 transfer in potato sample within a cabinet dryer was de-
¼ ð43Þ
∂t ð1−εÞρa
where w is absolute humidity, ε is the porosity, f is drying
rate per unit bed volume, λ denotes evaporation enthalpy
of water, hA is volumetric heat transfer coefficient of flu-
id-solid interface, Cpv, Cpa, Cpp, and Cpl represents spe-
cific heat capacity of water vapor, air, product, and liquid
water, respectively, and Ga represents mass flux. The ma-
jor limitation of the present model was the consideration
of a constant velocity of fluid as well as the heat transfer
was assumed to be unidirectional. Development of a 3D
model should be taken up by forthcoming researchers for
inclusion of heat transfer component in X, Y, and Z
directions.
A mathematical model was developed for analyzing the
simultaneous heat and mass transfer in a hybrid fluidized
bed-infrared dryer during drying of bulk corn grains
[145]. The single phase model consisting of heat and mass
transfer equations was applied over the fluidized bed, and
then the effect of infrared heating was incorporated into
the model as a source term to develop the model for the
dryer. The transport equations were numerically solved by
MATLAB software, and the model was found suitable to
predict the moisture content of bulk corn grains as well as
outlet air temperature and absolute humidity during dry-
ing. However, temperature gradient as well as moisture
diffusion within the grain was considered negligible, and
therefore the model represented the grain bed as a com-
pact, homogenous, and continuous material; hence, it can
be considered as global approach, where the mechanism
of transport process within grain was not dealt. A two
component computational model to predict heat and mass
veloped on Comsol Multiphysics platform [18]. The mod-
el considered diffusion as major governing mechanism for
moisture migration through the porous matrix of sample
and used solid dry mass and fluid filled in pores as sep-
arate phases. The model also accounted shrinkage phe-
nomenon along with time-dependent, thermophysical
properties of both the phases. However, this model lacks
the consideration of convective mass transfer and latent
heat transfer during drying. Heterogeneous modeling of
deep bed grain dryers based on two-phase model by ac-
counting coupled heat and mass transfer within corn bed
was studied by Sitompul, Istadi, and Widiasa [146]. To
develop this model, authors have incorporated bed poros-
ity and the moisture transfer mechanism within each par-
ticle was studied as a function of radial coordinate. The
mass and heat balance equation across the drying air can
be represented as follows.


∂ð ρ a w Þ ∂ ∂ð ρ a w Þ ∂ðU z ðρa wÞÞ
¼ Da;eff −
∂t ∂z ∂z ∂z


1−εb 
þa k m w* −w ð44Þ
εb

 
   
∂ ρa C pa þ wC pv T a ∂ ∂T b ∂ U z ρa C pa þ wC pv T a
¼ λa;eff −
∂t
∂z ∂z ∂z ð45Þ
1−εb   *
þa h T a −T p þ k m w −w δLv
εb
 Food Eng Rev

Table 6 Profitability metrics analysis of hybrid solar dryer

Profitability metrics Explanation Mathematical expressions Equations

Amount of The most apparent and easiest way to analyze the profitability of hybrid Eday = Pinput × t (56a)
money saved solar drying technology is by estimating the amount of money saved t ¼ BC
M
 Dt (56b)
due to application of solar energy instead of conventional energy
Emonth = Eday × Nwd (56c)
resources
Smonth = S.F × Emonth × UP1−kWh (56d)
Payback period (PP) Payback period is an important indicator that gives the estimate of time PP ¼ APprofit
in
(57)
period required to recover the initial investment done for establishing
the specific design. It can be calculated as the ratio of total initial
investment (Pin) by annual cash benefits (Aprofit)
Rate of return (ROR) Rate of return estimates the ratio of average income after deducting taxes ROR ¼ PANI taxes
avglifetime
(58)
to the average investment or average book value after depreciation
t þS
Net present value (NPV) Net present value of the solar dryer indicates cash flows expected from the NPV ¼ ∑nt¼1 ðR1þi Þt
(59)
project over future years and can be calculated as the difference between
the present value of cash inflows and present value of cash outflows over
t¼n A
a period of time. tprofit
∑ ð1þi Þt
Benefit cost ratio (BCR) It can be estimated as the ratio of the present benefit inflow divided by the BCR ¼ t¼1
t¼n
Ct
(60)
∑
present value of the cost. t¼1 ð1þiÞ
t

The mass and heat balance equation across the drying bed predict the spatial and temporal variation in average mois-
of corn can be represented as: ture content, sample temperature, air temperature, and ab-


 solute humidity of large-sized granulated food grains. A
∂ðρa MÞ 1 ∂ ∂M δ ∂ ∂Tp
¼ ″2 ″ r″2 Da;eff ″ − ″2 ″ r″2 Dp;eff ″ heat and moisture transfer model for ultrasound-assisted
∂t r ∂r ∂r r ∂r ∂r
convective drying of small size grains forming a packed
ð46Þ bed was successfully developed by Musielak [147]. The


∂Tp λpeff ∂ ∂T p ∂M model described the drying of highly shrinkable small
ρp Cpp ¼ ″2 r″2 þ ζρp εp ΔLv ð47Þ
∂t r ∂r″ ∂r″ ∂t grains across the entire bed and assumes constant bed po-
rosity. To describe the bed shrinkage, change in grain vol-
where z is bed thickness, Uz is velocity of air in z direction, ume was assumed to be linear in nature and can be repre-
εb and εp represent bed porosity and grain porosity, respec- sented as:
tively; δ and ζ denotes thermomigration coefficient and  
phase conversion factor, respectively; λa,eff represents ef- V g ¼ V g;initial 1−αs M initialdb −M finaldb ð48Þ
fective thermal conductivity of solid phase; a represents
the specific surface per volume of the bed, km is mass where Vg and Vg,intial are grain volume; αs represents coef-
transfer coefficient; r" is radial coordinate; and Dp,eff de- ficient of volume shrinkage. The result showed an increas-
notes effective diffusion coefficient of the product. The ing trend of drying rate with increase in drying air temper-
review showed that this two phase model can be used to ature and ultrasound power level.

Fig. 14 Summary of methods to analyze profitability of hybrid solar drying system

Food Eng Rev

Table 7 Economic indicators

adapted for profitability analysis Reference Hybrid drying Payback Net present Rate Life cycle Benefit-
of hybrid solar dryers technology period value of benefit cost
(years) (USD) return ratio

Poonia et al. Photovoltaic/thermal 2.3 530 0.55 Annuity— 1.9

[106] (PVT) hybrid solar 4989
dryer
Chaudhari et al. Electric hybrid solar 6 months 2960 × × 2.3
[150] dryer
Naemsai et al. Heat pump hybrid 1.9 916 × × ×
[151] solar dryer
Jain and Tiwari Thermal storage 2.2 3940 0.45 × ×
[152] hybrid solar dryer
Yahaya et al. Heat pump biomass 1.6 8564 × × ×
[153] hybrid solar dryer
Qui et al. [154] Thermal storage heat Radish—6 × × – ×
pump hybrid solar Pepper—4
dryer
Mushroom—
2
Yelmen et al. Electrical hybrid solar 1.3 7324 × × ×
[155] dryer
Sajith and Photovoltaic/thermal 5.7 × × × 2.8
Muraleedharan (PVT) hybrid solar
[156] dryer
Pavne et al. Biomass hybrid solar 6 months 10,682 × × 3.0
[157] dryer
Hage et al. Electrical hybrid solar 5.1 × × × ×
[158] dyer

Similar study encompassing simulatneous heat and
mass transfer in fig fruit, coupled with shrinkage phenom-
enon, was also reported by Bennamoun and Belhamri
[148]. In this study, authors assumed that the volume of
shrinkage was equal to the volume of evaporated moisture.
A macroscopic model was attempted to simulate the deep
bed drying of fig fruit as a porous media, showing that the
pickup efficiency of bottom layers was less than top layers
of the bed. Additionally, authors demonstrated that the lo-
cal thermal equilibrium hypothesis can be used to estimate
the effective heat transfer properties of entire bed and can
be given as:
   gives a summary on various economic indicators adapted
ρC p eff
¼ εb ρC p a þ ð1−εb Þ ρC p p
k eff ¼ εb k a þ ð1−εb Þk s
where ka and ks denotes coefficient of exchange by conduction
of air and dried solid, respectively.
It was evident from the above studies that thermody-
namic properties of air plays a critical role in analyzing
the heat and moisture transfer mechanism during drying
of food materials and is dependent on the temperature of
the system. Table 5 shows a list of equations that can be
used for determining thermodynamic properties of air
component [145, 149].
Profitability Metrics Analysis of Hybrid Solar
Dryer
The most important factor dictating suitability and wide
spread industrial applicability of hybrid solar drying technol-
ogy is the economics and profitability. A concise summary of
various methodologies adopted to assess the economic aspect
and profitability of hybrid solar dryer is given in Fig. 14 and
Table 6.
The above mentioned profitability metrics have been
used by researchers in the past for establishing the profit-
ability of the newly designed hybrid solar dyers. Table 7
ð49Þ for profitability analysis of hybrid solar dryers. From the
table, it is evident that benefit cost ratio (BCR) of mostly
stated designs are above 1.5, which shows very good pres-
ð50Þ
ent benefit inflow over present value of cost of these tech-
nologies. This, in turn, indicates profitability and sustain-
ability of these technologies and also shows promising
economical potential of hybrid solar dryers if implemented
at larger scale.
Conclusions and Recommendations
A solar drying system supported by other energy sources
has proven to withstand the disadvantages of “solar only”

drying systems in particular, uncontrolled drying, intermit-
tent energy supply, and climatic and seasonal dependency.
These hybrid dryers can be classified into five categories,
namely (a) hybrid thermal storage-solar dryer, (b) hybrid
heat pump–solar dryer, (c) hybrid biomass–solar dryer, (d)
hybrid solar with novel drying techniques, and (e) hybrid
photovoltaic solar dryers. These drying systems have the
advantages of heat storage and auxiliary energy source,
provided better control over drying conditions, and can
be used for a wide range of agricultural produce. The even-
tual objective of employing these appropriate drying tech-
nologies is to significantly improve the agricultural return
for farmers and large-scale industrial application.
Following are few recommendations based on the review
of present state of the art.
& Heat pump hybrid solar dryers and desiccant-based solar
dryers are recommended for drying heat sensitive food
product.
& Biomass hybrid dryer offers the advantage of low cost
operation; however, the most prominent stove-type design
presents challenges of nonuniform drying. Hence, the re-
searchers should attempt design modifications for better
enforcement of the system.
& For industrial usage, it is recommended that PVT-assisted
thermal storage system supplemented with electric heaters
be used as they offer the advantages of quick and large
scale drying.
& Further, R&D activities should be encouraged by the re-
searchers to come up with thermal storage materials hav-
ing better heat transfer properties, cheaper price, and great-
er stability in order to reinforce the heat storage capacity
and durability.
& The review suggested that the efficiency of most of the
presently available drying system is in the range of 12–
25%, which needs to be enhanced. Under this light, the
authors would intend to encourage researchers to come up
with more efficient designs.
& Scale-up studies should be attempted for commercializa-
tion and industrial applicability of hybrid solar drying
systems.
& Researchers are strongly recommended to practice pres-
ently available modeling software, for simulating design
and drying parameters on virtual platform before realiza-
tion of a novel solar dryer design. This would significantly
reduce the labor, time, and cost involved.
& It is suggested that dryer-operating conditions and design
parameters can influence the hygienic features of dried
food. However, sanitary aspects of solar drying have not
been explored much, and therefore, readers are proposed
to consider this as a vital point while designing or analyz-
ing hybrid solar dryers.
Food Eng Rev
Funding The authors would like to acknowledge the Ministry of Human
Resource Development (MHRD), India (Sanction letter number: F. NO.
4-25/2013-TS-I) for providing financial support to the first author.
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