REAL PROJECT

SOLAR AIR HEATING PROJECT

TEA DRYING / WEST JAVA, INDONESIA

06

RESULTS
A solar tea leaf dryer was installed at a plantation in Malabar, West Java, Indonesia. The perforated collector system was built with the assistance of the R&D Centre for Applied Physics LIPI, and was funded by the Canadian government in cooperation with the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN). The purpose of the project was to determine the feasibility of using solar energy to displace oil as the heating system for the wilting of tea leaves. The solar air heating system SAH was able to meet the full heating load for tea drying at a payback of 1.5 years, not including design and development costs. New projects would have to include these, but they would be offset by credits for eliminating the fossil fuel heating system.

SYSTEM DESCRIPTION
The system is designed to wilt tea leaves through a batch process using the existing drying troughs and shelter. The troughs are manually loaded with tea leaves from a trolley that moves through the wilting area. An axial fan delivers solar-heated air at a rate of up to 24,000L/s to a chamber beneath the troughs. The 600 m2 solar collector is mounted on the north-facing roof of the shelter at an angle of 22o with the horizontal. The heated air then rises through the troughs and the tea leaves, carrying moisture with it. In 1993 and 1994, prior to installation of the solar system, industrial diesel oil was used at an average rate of 0.11 litres per kilogram of tea. After the conversion, no oil was burned and only the fan required energy. It is estimated that approximately the same amount of fan energy was required before and after the conversion. In September 1994, three of the solar-heated troughs produced 108,000 kg of high-quality wilted tea for a total saving of 11,880 L of oil. The cost of oil is $0.40 per litre. At this rate, the solar system is expected to deliver 850 MWh of heat on an annual basis.

REAL PROJECT

SOLAR AIR HEATING PROJECT

TEA DRYING / WEST JAVA, INDONESIA

06

LESSONS LEARNED

The (SAH) system was able to completely displace oil heating. Because a low temperature rise was required, the system performed best with a high flow rate per unit area. There was no incremental fan power required. The system was easily integrated into the existing operation.

THE BIG PICTURE

Drying of crops is an excellent application for SAH systems especially when used in sunny climates. In this case the year-round use of the system and low temperature required meant that the payback of the system was less than 2 years.

REFERENCES
Air Systems Working Group, Low Cost, High Performance Solar Air-Heating Systems Using Perforated Absorbers - A (Draft) Report of Task 14, International Energy Agency, December 1995, p 92-97. Carpenter, Stephen, Personal communication, Enermodal Engineering Limited, 2000. Nikiforov, Vladimir, Personal communication, 2000.

TEA DRYING SHELTER PHOTO CREDIT: CONSERVAL ENGINEERING