Economic Appraisal Of Industrial Solar Drying (Part I)

Major goals of industrialization include but not limited to provision of employment, establishing a platform for overall national development and improving the monetary income of whoever is involved which invariably improves the standard of living. A better pre-visibility study must encompass a well analysed economic appraisal of the plan. Computer programme was generated to analyse the economic aspect of industrial solar drying. The appraisal was carried out with the software using the Life Cycle Savings (LCS) technique. Three locations in Nigeria (i.e. Ibadan, Kano and Port Harcourt) were selected and their respective economic appraisal simulated. Sample simulations reveal that at a realistic initial moisture content of 30% (% wet basis) of the agricultural produce, economic analysis of over 20 years reveal that recommended solar collector area of 85.46m2, 80.71m2 and 75.96m2 supplied about 67%, 88% and 55.8% of the annual energy needed for Ibadan, Kano and Port-harcourt respectively which are the specific sizes at which life cycle solar savings are optimal