An Experimental Study to Evaluate the Calorific Values of Bagasse after Solar Cabinet Drying

Abstract

In this research work experiments are performed to calculate the calorific value of bagasse fuel after drying in a solar cabinet dryer. Experiments are performed on a fixed mass (1312 grams) of freshly crushed bagasse taken from a traditional jaggery making plant. The high calorific value (HCV) and low calorific value (LCV) of bagasse are calculated by using mathematical formulae based on the percentage of major contents like moisture, ash and brix. It was observed that both HCV and LCV of bagasse are much influenced by the content of moisture in it. After solar cabinet drying of bagasse it was found that the average values of moisture content decrease from 53.28 % to 19.76% as result of which average values of HCV and LCV are increases from 8446.68 kJ/kg to 15017.31 kJ/kg and 6530.45 kJ/kg to 13489.195 kJ/kg respectively.