Conventional drying methods can be improved by utilizing geothermal energy and the addition of Zeolite-A as an absorbent from the synthesis of Kaolin, which has abundant resources in Indonesia. The use of geothermal energy for fossil energy substitution results in the development of more sustainable and safer environmentally, while the use of Kaolin as absorbent will increase economic value and reduce the export of raw materials in Indonesia. This research was conducted to study the effect of adding Zeolite-A to the heat pipe heat exchanger (HPHE) system that utilizes geothermal energy to the performance of tea withering. As a source of geothermal fluid, a water heater with a capacity of 9000 Watts and hot water flowed with a pump were used. The HPHE used was constructed of 42 pcs of heat pipes and 181 pcs of the fin. The heat pipe used had a length of 700 mm with an outer diameter of 10 mm, the fluid worked in the heat pipe using water with a filling ratio of 50%.The fin was made of aluminum with a thickness of 0.105 mm with a size of 76 x 345 mm. The results showed that the effectiveness of HPHE varied from 64.825% to 78.363%. The Henderson and Pabis model was the best model to represent the behavior of tea leaves using Zeolite-A, and the Page model for the withering of tea leaves without Zeolite-A. With the addition of Zeolite-A, the speed of tea leaves withering increased by about 18%. In addition to being environmentally friendly, the use of geothermal energy can be an alternative energy substitution for drying tea that uses firewood which is harmful to health because it becomes the source of anthraquinone (AQ) as a cause of cancer in humans.
The volume of Indonesian tea exports to the European Union (EU) decreased by 43% in 2014 because of the EU setting a maximum residue limit of anthraquinone (AQ) for tea as 0.02 mg/kg. The content of AQ in tea leaves increases when there is incomplete combustion in the combustion of firewood for the energy source of withering and drying of tea leaves. This study aims to develop and test a new concept for the direct use of low-temperature geothermal energy with a heat pipe heat exchanger (HPHE) for the withering of tea leaves as a solution for energy sources free from AQ. The geothermal fluid simulators use water, which is heated by heater and flowed by a pump. The HPHE used consists of 42 heat pipes and 181 fins. The heat pipe used has a length of 700 mm with an outer diameter of 10 mm. Each fin is made of aluminum with a thickness of 0.105 mm and a size of 76 × 345 mm2. The results show that the effectiveness of the HPHE varies from 66% to 79.59%. For 100 g of fresh tea leaves, the heating energy produced ranges from 15.21 W to 45.07 W, meaning it can wither tea leaves from 80% (w.b.) to 54% (w.b.) in a variety of 11 h 56 min to only 49.6 min. The Page mathematical model is the best model to represent the behavior of the tea leaves with this HPHE system.
The unpredictable weather in Indonesia results in a less effective conventional coffee beans drying process, which usually uses solar energy as a heat source. This experiment aimed to examine the performance of the coffee beans drying using low-temperature geothermal energy (LTGE) with solar energy as the energy source. Heat pipe heat exchanger, which consists of 42 straight heat pipes with staggered configuration, was used to extract the LTGE. The heat pipes have 700 mm length, 10 mm outside diameter with a filling ratio of 50%, and added by 181 pieces of aluminum with a dimension size of 76 mm × 345 mm × 0.105 mm as fins. LTGE was simulated by using water that is heated by three heaters and flowed by a pump. Meanwhile, to simulate the drying process with conventional methods, a system of solar air collectors made of polyurethane sheets with a thickness of 20 mm and dimensions of length × width × height = 160 cm × 76 cm × 10 cm, respectively, was used in this study. Zinc galvalume sheet with 0.3 mm thickness was installed and coated by the black doff color throughout the inner of the container wall. The result showed that the drying process with LTGE and solar energy is faster than with solar energy or geothermal energy only. The drying coffee beans using the hybrid system can speed up the drying coffee beans time by about 23% faster than the solar energy only.
A fresh fish has a short limited fresh time without treatment. To maintain quality and prevent spoilage, several treatments are carried out especially using a cooling method. In the fish storage industry, most energy consumed by cooling equipment. With the rising of energy prices, the frozen fish industries are looking for possibilities to reduce production costs by saving energy. Energy-saving assessment can be seen from the specific energy consumption (SFC) which is a comparison of the amount energy needed to produce a product (kWh/ton of product). This article will be discussed about data collection and analysis to get the value of SFC for process and storage in the fish freezing and storage services industry. The measurement result shows that the value of SFC for cold storage are 4.2 kWh/ton. The SFC used by the air blast freezer (ABF) with 5 tons capacity are 91 Wh/kg. The consumption of electrical energy in ABF is strongly influenced by matched between the capacity specifications of ABF and the number of fish to be cooled. If the 5 tons ABF is only filled less than 2 tons of fish, the SFC will increase more than 50% up to 145 Wh/kg.
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