Solar Drying System for Jute Fibre: Technical and Economical Aspects - Tapa blanda

Jute is one of the most important crops in Bangladesh and its quality, to a great extent, depends on the system used for drying the fibre. In this study, a solar drying system for jute fibre is developed in order to improve the quality of raw-jute and jute products. A thorough review of existing literature is presented in order to exhibit the current state-of-art of fibre drying. The solar energy availability is reviewed also in the context of Bangladesh. The theoretical and experimental investigations of different solar air collectors used as solar air heaters are carried out. The thermo-physical properties of jute fibre are defined and air heater ducts, drying chamber and fan and ducting systems are designed which cover the technical aspects of the study. A cost benefit analysis of the developed system is carried out to examine its economic feasibility from where it is found to be a feasible proposition.Necessary discussion and conclusions are laid down. Finally recommendations are put forward for future and further work.

The author did B.Sc.in Mech Eng from BUET in 1982. He obtained M.Eng.Sc.from University of Melbourne in 1987 and Ph.D.from UTM in 1999. Starting career in 1982 as a lecturer he became a professor in Mechanical Engineering in 2000 at RUET. Now he is a senior faculty member of ITB. His area of interest is Thermodynamics. He has about 70 publications.