Title: Exergy analysis of coal fired tea drying furnace

Authors: Abhijit Sinha; Rajat Gupta; Krishna Murari Pandey; Sanjoy Kumar Dey

Addresses: Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Silchar, Assam 788010, India ' National Institute of Technology, Srinagar, Jammu & Kashmir, 190006, India ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Silchar, Assam 788010, India ' Office of the Inspector of Factories, Silchar, Government of Assam, India

Abstract: Thermodynamic analysis of coal fired furnace attached to a vibro fluid bed dryer (VFBD) for hot air generation in the drying stage of tea processing installed in the Rosekandy tea estate factory, Cachar, Assam, India is studied with the application of the principles of energy and exergy analysis. The study explores that the process of obtaining hot air used in tea drying process is highly irreversible as envisaged by 82.41% of exergy destruction and most of the irreversibilities are located in the combustion side of the furnace. The exergetic efficiency of the furnace was found to be only 6.69% indicating that there is a great scope for improvement of the exergy performance of the drying furnace by taking appropriate measures. About 44.94% of the energy input is lost to the surroundings with heat transfer as revealed by energy analysis, which has got a lower thermodynamic value as explicit from exergy analysis.

Keywords: tea drying furnaces; energy analysis; exergy analysis; coal exergy; exergy loss; exergy destruction; energy efficiency; exergy efficiency; coal fired furnaces; thermodynamics; vibro fluid bed dryers; VFBD; hot air generation; tea processing; India; heat transfer; Assam.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEX.2015.069318

International Journal of Exergy, 2015 Vol.17 No.1, pp.54 - 73

Received: 05 Feb 2014
Accepted: 08 May 2014
Published online: 11 May 2015 *

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