Low temperature peanut drying using liquid desiccant system climatic conditions

Field-dried peanuts having 25% average moisture content have been dried by using a liquid desiccant drying system. This system consists of climate simulation subsystem, closed loop air drying subsystem, and regeneration subsystem. The closed loop drying subsystem used in this investigation provides low temperature drying with a little increase in drying air temperature. Regeneration temperature, liquid desiccant concentration, and air flowrate in the drying subsystem have been kept unchanged during the experiments, but air of different humidity have been used to regenerate the liquid desiccant. Experimental measurements of the system performance have been carried out utilizing a new cost effective desiccant mixture (CELD) which is composed of equal portions by weight of lithium chloride and calcium chloride. The drying process has been performed using different climatic conditions in the regeneration process. Experimental results demonstrate that drying peanuts by the use of a liquid desiccant system is promising.