Este exemplar corresponde a redac;:iio final da D i s s e r t a õ de Mestrado defendida por JEFFERSON BITTENCOURT e aprovada pela Comissao Julgadora em 14 de dezembro de 2001. Campi K b t : ~ :Jill.J--'...,.,'"' QUEIROZ a Banca IX
RESUMOEste trabalho foi desenvolvido como objetivo de aprofundar os estudos de urn secador para a prodw;iio de frutas desidratadas, mediante a caracteriza9iio do equipamento, arnilise energetica do processo e avaliayiio economica do processamento da banana orgilnica e convencional. Com relaviio a secagem, observou-se que o equipamento apresenta algumas deficiencias quanto a uniformidade na cfunara de secagem, tanto em termos da distribuiyiio de temperatura como da distribuiyao da corrente de ar. Mesmo assim, proporciona a obtenviio de urn produto de qualidade, atingindo padrOes requeridos para a comercializaviio no mercado europeu. As figuras de merito avaliadas estiio de acordo com avaliavoes de equipamentos similares descritos na literatura, apresentando uma eficiencia energetica de 29,13 %, o ciclo total de secagem foi de 51,3 horas, sendo 38,3 horas de secagem e 13 horas de repouso, e urn consumo especifico de calor de 7.988,70 kJ/kg de agua evaporada. A banana orgilnica apresentou melhores indicadores economicos de avaliaviio do que a banana convencional, porem, esta situayiio reflete tambem os ganhos com a comercializayiio no mercado de exportaviio. Ambos os processos apresentaram-se viaveis economicamente.xi
SUMMARY THERMODINAMICAL AND ECONOMICAL EVALUATION OF A TRAY CABINET DRYERThe objective of this work was to evaluate a dryer equipment for dehydrated fruits production, by means of the characterization of the equipment, energy analysis and economic evaluation of the process for both organic and conventional bananas. With regard to drying process, the equipment had some deficiencies related to the uniformity inside the drying chamber, i.e., the distributions of temperature and air flux were not uniform. However, the equipment obtained good products whose quality reached the standard level required for the commercialization in the European marketing. In the thermodynamic evaluation, merit figures were used. Three indexes which were found in the literature, proposed for similar equipment were adopted. The energy efficiency was 29.13%. The total duration of one drying cycle was 51.3 hours, being 38.3 hours for drying and 13 hours for resting. The specific consumption of energy, considering the evaporated water, was 7,988. 70 kJ/kg. Both drying processes, organic and conventionaL showed to be economically viable. But the former showed much better economic indicators of evaluation than the latter.