Energy Saving from Heat Recovery in Paddy Drying
Process
Ponthep Vengsungnle and Jarinee Jongpluempiti
Department of Agricultural Machinery Engineering
Rajamangala University of Technology Isan
Thailand
ponthep.ve@rmuti.ac.th
Mana Wichangarm
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
Ubon Ratchathani University.
Thailand
Wanchai Suthapan
Ministry of Energy
Ubon Ratchathani
Thailand.
Abstract - Moisture removal station is an important process to
perverse the quality of paddy rice. This process is usually energy
intensive and cost a lot of money which significantly reduced the
margin profit. This research is regarding the reuse of hot air from
rice paddy drying process using the installation of a heat
exchanger at the air outlet duct. The installed heat exchanger will
increase the inlet air temperature from 303 K to 310.5 K by using
the released air. The results were reduction in energy consumption
by 1,837,080 MJ per year that is worth 145,800 Baht per year. The
net present value is worth 237,260.87 Baht and the Internal Rate
of Return (IRR) payback ratio is 17.32 %. The expected payback
period is 6 year. Therefore, the application is practical and cost
effective for agricultural usage. This research provided an
incentive for rice mill entrepreneur to upgrade
Index Terms – Hot Air, Drying Process, Heat exchanger, Paddy
moisture, Energy Saving.
I. INTRODUCTION
Drying is an important operation in the removal of moisture
content of paddy rice before the milling process [1]. To
minimize enzymatic activity which accelerate the degradation
of lipid component inside the paddy an appropriate drying
technique must be utilized under specific operating temperature
and conditions. Additionally, it is also important to analysis
energy consumption, which have been known to cause rapid
and unexpected fluctuation in the production cost. This is
because the process of moisture removal is an operation that is
both time consuming and energy intensive. For a large exporter
of rice such as Thailand with approximately 9.8 million tonnes,
an effective usage of energy will lead to a significant reduction
in financial deficit and strengthen the energy security of the
country [2, 3]. Many different type of drying processes and
technique were proposed during the last decade including
Nattadon Pannucharoenwong and Snunkhaem Echaroj
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
Thammasat University
Thailand
pnattado@engr.tu.ac.th
Chatchai Benjapiyaporn and Julaporn Benjapiyaporn
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
Khon Kaen University
Thailand
fluidized bed [4, 5], spouted bed [6], intermittent paddy rice
dryer [7], microwave-assisted drying [8], and Louisiana State
University (LSU) dryer [9]. Due to financial consideration
more research are now turning toward improvement of LSU
dryer for many different type of applications including heat
treatment for paddy rice [10].
Researches conducted on grain drying at low temperature
(<343 K) revealed the operation to consist of three important
phases, including the initial period (rapid reduction in
biomass’s weight), constant rate period (mass transfer from
saturated surface) and the falling-rate period (moisture in the
center of the grain move toward the surface) [11]. For paddy
rice, desorption of water take place during the falling-rate
drying period where there is very small trace of free moisture
[12, 13]. The significant operating conditions for drying
included temperature, air velocity, and initial moisture content
[14]. It is obvious that an increase in drying temperature will
cause moisture diffusivity to increase as well [15]. Lbrahim et
al. reported formation of fissure in rice grain during drying due
to high content of initial moisture causing high internal stress
[16]. The presence of fissure will result in a reduction in quality
and price of finish rice product.
LSU dryer is a continuous mix type of dryer developed
especially for moisture removal of paddy rice used in industrial
rice mill [17]. This type of dryer is vertical with an inlet at the
top and rows of air channel along the column with a blower
attached on the sides to provide air circulation [18]. Grain is
fed at the toped and then stumble down along the inverted V-
shape that is staggered in the column. Industrial rice milling
facility usually included more than one dryer in order to avoid
breakage of rice due to high temperature treatment required for
a one stage drying system [19]. A drying system with an initial
fluid-bed stage followed by three LSU dryer effectively Temperature of hot air
reduced moisture content from 21% down to 10% at air (𝜂𝑋 ×(𝑉𝐴𝐼 ×(𝑇−𝑡1 ))
temperature of roughly 328 K and energy consumption of 𝑡2 = 𝑡1 + (2)
(𝑉𝐴𝐼 )
3.874 and 4.421 MJ per kg of water evaporated [9]. Cholera et
al. reported effective moisture removal from red chill using a
Volume of hot air reduced per day
LSU dryer at roughly 326 K and operating time of 20 hours
[20]. However, one problem associated with a LSU dryer is
that this technic is not suitable for grain with high moisture 𝑄 = 72 × 𝑉𝐴𝐼 × (𝑡2 − 𝑡1 ) × ℎ (3)
content due to high energy consumption and time requirement.
Very few research have addressed this problem seriously For Fuel of biomass saved
this reason it is interesting to design a LSU drying system with 𝑄
heat exchangers to convert loss heat into useful heat for drying 𝐹𝑠 = (4)
of high moisture paddy rice. . 𝐻𝐿 × 𝜂𝑓
This research aim to investigate the operation of a LSU dryer
for moisture removal from paddy rice in terms of energy Where 𝑉𝐻𝐿 volume of heat loss, 𝑉𝐴𝐼 is is flow rate of air into
consumption and financial feasibility. Heat exchangers are
attached to the system in order to save energy and lower cost of the heat exchanger, 𝑑 is the number of day, ℎ is operating
production. The effectiveness of heat transfer process is hours, 𝐻𝐿 is the heat capacity of biomass used as feedstock for
discussed in detail regarding the drying operation of paddy rice.
the boiler, 𝜂𝑓 is the efficiency of boiler, and 𝜂𝑋 is the
II. METHODS efficiency of heat exchanger

A. Experiment procedure C. Economic analysis and payback period

The LSU dryers system in this experiment is used to reduce
the moisture content of paddy Jasmine rice (RD23) from 18 %
wet basis (w.b) to 14 % w.b. The drying temperature varied
from 338 K to 363 K.
The multiple LSU dryers with heat exchanger attached are
shown in Fig. 1. High-moisture Paddy rice in the tank (referred
to as A in Fig. 1) is delivered to a cleaning device (B) via a belt
conveyor in order to separate particulate dust and light-weight
contaminant. Another belt conveyor is used to transfer the
treated paddy rice from cleaning device (B) to four consecutive
LSU dryers (C); 3m wide, 3m long, 10m high and containing 4
heating chambers. The temperature of these heating chambers
are 338 K, 343 K, 353 K and 363 K. Heat is generated from the
furnace (E) using husk as biomass fuel in a storage tank (D) and
then transferred via ambient air that entered through the blower
(F). Paddy rice is dried along location X shown in Fig. 2. In
normal LSU dryer, heat is usually loss at this position. This
research proposed addition of an extra heat exchanger to recycle
the loss heat at these location.
B. Data analysis and calculation
Paddy is the paddy rice in silo with initial humidity of
around 14-15%Grain is the peel of paddy which account for
approximately 20-24 %of paddy weight, it is composed of calyx
seed, straw and grain terminal .The percentage of grain can be
calculated using the following equation:
Analysis of the volume of recovered hot air
Volume of heat loss per day
𝑉𝐻𝐿
= 𝑉𝐻𝐿 × ℎ × 60 (1)
𝑑
𝐶𝑜𝑠𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑖𝑛𝑣𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡
𝑃𝑎𝑦𝑏𝑎𝑐𝑘 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑜𝑑 = (5)
𝐴𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑛𝑒𝑡 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑓𝑖𝑡 𝑝𝑒𝑟 𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟
𝑛
𝑅𝑡 − 𝐶𝑡
𝑁𝑃𝑉 = ∑ (6)
(1 + 𝑟)𝑡
𝑡=1
Where 𝑅𝑡 is net profit gain during period t, 𝐶𝑡 is the amount of
investment during period t, r is the interest return rate (IRR), t
is the project period, n is the duration of the whole projec t.
III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
A. Analysis of the amount of recovered heat
Drying operation inside a LSU dryer demonstrated high
degree of heat loss. This heat loss can be reduced by delivering
part of the outlet stream to connect with the inlet. However,
direct connection may cause the pipeline to be plugged due to
particulate that is present in the outlet air stream. Consequently,
this problem can be solved by installing a heat exchanger to
indirectly acquire heat from the outlet air stream as shown in
Fig. 2. The operating condition is shown in Table 1, where flow
rate of air used for heat exchanging is 945 m3/min, heat
exchanging efficiency is 0.5, heat capacity of husk is 14.4
MJ/kg, and efficiency of furnace is 0.7. Results showed that the
LSU dryers produced 1,360,800 m3 of waste heat per day.
These values are obtained from various sources such as
equipment vendors, in-house measurement and equations.
Installation of heat exchangers was found to increase the inlet
air from 303 K to 310.5 K, which help reduce the 12,247.2 MJ
of heat consumption per day and reduce the amount of fuel
required by 1,215 kg per day.
 TABLE 1
Operating condition for LSU dryer with heat exchanger and heat recovery system
No. Parameter Amount Unit
1 𝐻 14.4 MJ/kg
𝐿
2 f 0.7 -
3 H 0.5 -
4 𝑇1 45 C
5 𝑡1 30 C
6 𝑉𝐻𝐿 945 m3/min
7 𝑉𝐴𝐼 945 m3/min
8 ℎ 24 hour
9 𝑉𝐻𝐿 1,360,800 m3/day
𝑑
10 𝑡2 37.5 C
11 Q 12,247.20 MJ/day
12 Fuel 1,215.00 kg/day

Fig. 1 Component and process of the LSU dryer for moisture removal from paddy rice
 Fig 2 LSU dryers with heat exchanger as heat recovery system

B. Economic analysis Investment

Table 2 demonstrated economic analysis of the LSU dryers Construction and instillation cost 600,000 baht
with heat recovery system. In this setup, hot air from outlet of Maintenance cost (5% per year) 30,000 baht/year
the LSU dryer is set past the in air inlet. Economic analysis Income
revealed recovery system to be able to save approximately Selling husk 800 baht/ton
1,837,080 MJ per year beginning with 600,000 initial Profit analysis
investment and a net present value of 237,260.87 baht. When Energy saved 1,837,080 MJ/year
compared with the future value the investment was found to Cost saved 145,800 baht/year
give an internal rate of return (IRR) of 17.32%, which is clearly
Investment cost 600,000 baht
higher than the interest rate obtainable from deposition in a
Payback Period 6 year
bank considering 6 years of project operation. The payback
Net Present Value: 237,260.9 baht
period for our operating system is significantly higher than the
Internal Rate of Return :IRR 17.32 %
biomass fired system for glutinous rice crackers, because the
LSU station studied in this research is a continuous process and TABLE III
have a greater capacity compared with the batch system [21]. Rice production quality from the experiment based on composition of paddy
Another research suggested an efficient usage of a microwave rice after the husk removal and milling process
which required power to be as high as 15 kW (enough to power Husk removal process Milling process
8 ordinary apartment), but can only dried an even smaller Total Total
Brown White Broken
Husk paddy after
amount of rice per batch [22]. rice rice rice
rice milling
TABLE II Day 10
Economic analysis of LSU dryers after installation of the heat recovery Old system 76 24 100 70 30 100
system New system 87 13 100 65 35 100
Background information Day 20
Energy saved 12,247.2 MJ/day Old system 84 16 100 74 26 100
Amount of operating days 150 day/year New system 77 23 100 68 32 100
Flow rate waste in heat exchanger 1,360,800 m3/day Day 30
Biomass saved (Efficiency boiler =70%) 1,215.0 kg/day Old system 81 19 100 71 29 100
Project duration 10 year New system 78 22 100 73 27 100
Discount 10 %
IV. CONCLUSION
 This research studied the recovery process of loss heat [17] A.S. Mujumdar, Handbook of Industrial Drying, Fourth Edition, CRC
Press, 2014.
from the paddy rice moisture removal unit by using a heat
[18] J.K. Campbell, Dibble sticks, donkeys, and diesels. Machines in crop
exchanger. The new operation system for reduction of moisture production, International Rice Research Institute, Manila, 1990.
content was evaluated by the amount of biomass fuel and the [19] K.R. Bhattacharya, S.Z. Ali, Y.M.I. Swamy, Commercial drying of
operating cost after installation of the heat exchanger. Results parboiled paddy with LSU dryers, Journal of Food Science and
Technology, 8, pp.57-63, 1971.
indicated an increase in the temperature of air inlet to 37.5 oC
[20] S. P. Cholera, N. C. Patel, D. M. Vyas, Development of Waste Fired Dryer
due to presence of heat exchanger in the system. Additionally, for Drying Red Chillies, in: 2001 ASAE Annual Meeting, ASAE, St.
it was found that the system was able to save 12,247.2 MJ per Joseph, MI, 2001.
day and reduced 1,215.0 kg of biomass fuel per day. From [21] P. Thanompongchart, P. Pintana, K. Phimphilai, N. Tippayawong,
Utilization of Biomass Energy in Drying of Glutinous Rice Crackers,
economic analysis and net present value calculation it was
Energy Procedia, 138, pp.331-336, 2017.
revealed that the internal interest rate (IRR) was 17.3%, which [22] D.L. Smith, G.G. Atungulu, Impact of drying deep beds of rice with
guarantee a payback period of 6 years. Using the system studied microwave set at 915MHz frequency on the rice milling yields, Innovative
in this experiment it is possible for moisture removal to be Food Science & Emerging Technologies, 45, pp.220-227, 2018.
carried out at lower energy consumption. At this IRR it is
possible to attract potential rice mill entrepreneur to venture in
this investment.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The author would like to thank the Thammasat University
for providing the necessary research funding for this project.
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