Recent advancements of PCM based indirect type solar drying systems: A state of art

Abstract

Food storage is a widely known practice performed since ancient times at the domestic and industrial levels, and the vital process of food storage is food drying. The dried food has a longer shelf life than fresh food. To obtain the dried product with good taste and quality as the original food crop, this must be dried in a controlled environment. Solar food drying is the process through which the better quality of dried food crop can be obtained with low investment and minimal deterioration chances. Among the categories of solar food dryers, an indirect type solar dryer is most advantageous. It provides better quality of dried food crop in a shorter duration, and it can be embedded with the phase change materials (PCM) to achieve maximum efficiency during utilisation. PCM material helps to make the food dryer works during off sunshine hours. This work focuses on the advancement of PCM-based indirect type solar dryers during recent years. Paraffin wax emerged as a widely used PCM material for drying applications. The PCM-based indirect solar dryer developed by Atalay and Cankurtaran showed the highest thermal efficiency and CO2mitigation among the various discussed drying systems. © 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.