Numerical simulation of optimal inlet air temperature of a forced convective fish cabinet rotary dryer

Abstract

Computational fluid dynamics was applied in the prediction of the effect of inlet temperature on the drying time of fish in a cabinet rotary dryer. On completion of the simulation, the temperature distribution of the air (fluid domain) within the drier at different inlet air temperatures and time intervals was obtained. Inlet air temperatures ranging from 35oC to 55oC was simulated for a time interval of 10 minutes to 120 minutes so as to examine the influence of inlet temperature on the drying process of fish. Based on this temperature range, it was observed that the ideal drying time for the fish which satisfies the condition for efficient fish drying for all five inlet air temperatures of the fish is 70 minutes. Furthermore, it can be observed that it takes about 120 minutes for the inlet air temperature of 50 degrees Celsius to attain a cabinet drying temperature of 316K (43°C) while it takes only 70 minutes for the inlet air temperature of 55 degrees Celsius to attain the same temperature under the same condition.

Numerical simulation of forced convective fish drying performance of different cabinet geometry

“…The model could predict the effects of change with a certain level of confidence over a range of climatic conditions. (Akari et al, 2022) adopted a numerical approach to determine the best inlet air temperature for forced convective fish cabinet rotary dryer. They considered the air inlet temperature of 35 o C to 55 o C and time of 0min to 120min.…”