Experimental Studies on the Application of Biomass Gasifier for Drying Tapioca in Remote Areas

Drying has a significant impact in the preservation of agricultural products. The dried foods have long shelf life because the moisture content is so low and the growth spoilage organisms are reduced. Although solar drying is a popular method, many rural places do not have a suitable climate for it. So it is important to develop a dryer that works with other technologies. This articles presents the design and fabrication of biomass based dryer which can be used to dry agricultural yield in rural areas. The biomass used in the gasifier is cheap and locally available. The dryer is designed to dry Tapioca and to test the effectiveness of the dryer at regular time interval during the whole drying process. The drying was carried between the temperature limits of 60°-70°C at constant mass flow of producer gas. The final moisture content of the Tapioca was recorded as 5% to 12%. The biomass based dryer reduces the drying time by 50% when compared with open sun drying. From experimentation it is observed that the biomass based dryer is more efficient than the traditional open sun drying.