Development and testing of a direct-fired rice hull furnace for grain drying

Professorial Chair Lecture

Tomas P. Espanola Professorial Chair Lecture

Place

Civil Engineering Conference Room, CEAT, UPLB

Date

7-16-2001

Abstract

This paper describes the development and testing of an improved rice hull furnace for use as heat source in mechanical grain drying systems. Several existing rice hull-fired furnaces used in grain drying were earlier tested to determine their burning and furnace efficiencies and the design characteristics that influenced their performance. Results of these tests served as basis and reference for the development of an improved model.

From among the existing furnace designs, the direct-fired furnace was selected for further development mainly because of its higher furnace efficiency compared with indirect-fired rice hull furnaces. In addition, direct-fired furnaces are simple in design, low in cost and can be easily fabricated at the local shops using locally available materials.

Tests done on the improved model showed that it can attain up to 98 percent burning efficiency which is comparable with existing furnace designs, and a furnace efficiency of 77 percent which is much higher than the 71 percent furnace efficiency, the highest attained by an existing furnace tested earlier. The improvement in the furnace efficiency may be attributed to better insulation that minimized heat loss, and the incorporation of a mechanism that controlled the fuel feeding rate and minimized large fluctuations in drying air temperature.

Location

UPLB Main Library Special Collections Section (USCS)

College

College of Engineering and Agro-Industrial Technology (CEAT)

Language

English

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