A Comprehensive Review on Greenhouse Drying Technology
Abhinav Dubey *
Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi (110012), India.
Atish Sagar
Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi (110012), India.
Pankaj Malkani
Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi (110012), India.
Mukesh Kumar Choudhary
Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi (110012), India.
Sawant Sanket Ramnath
Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi (110012), India.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Drying is one of the most important unit operations for food preservation and storage. It is a energy intensive process and with the increase in the price and demand of electricity, renewable energy (solar) is proving its worth. Greenhouse dryers are low cost, easily constructible and can be utilised for invariably majority of agricultural commodities. The above attributes accounts for its high popularity in the Indian sub continents and Africa. An attempt has been made to generate a comprehensive review on the application, advances in construction, modelling, simulation and economics of the solar greenhouse dryers.
Keywords: Green house drying, renewable energy, agricultural drying.