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The continuous price increase of fuel in the world market urged BPRE to look for alternative sources of energy like rice hull and corn cobs in drying grains.
Recently, BPRE installed a prototype biomass furnace designed by Dr. Manolito C. Bulaong of the Postharvest Engineering Department (PHED) in Brgy. Buenavista, Maddela, Quirino. The furnace is part of the Maize Aflatoxin Control System (MACS) project under the leadership of Engr. Raymund Joseph Macaranas of PHED and Isis DC. Davalos of the Training and Extension Department (TED) in collaboration with Mr. Tony Barrientos.
The MACS biomass furnace was retrofitted to an eight-ton capacity LSU-type recirculating dryer. It replaced the original diesel burner which has a fuel consumption of 20 liters per hour at 85°C drying air temperature. The furnace, equipped with a temperature controller and automatic fuel feeding, is designed for both rice hull and corn cobs as fuel. It uses 2.5" diameter boiler tubes as heat exchanger producing a clean, smoke-free hot air.
Mr. Barrientos owns a 5,000 square meter sundrying pavement. However, because of the inclement weather, the grains cannot be sundried and sometimes rewetted. During the testing period, the furnace was used twice a day because of continuous rain in the area. The furnace average ricehull consumption ranged from 10 to 11 bags per hour which is equivalent to 110 to 121 kilograms per hour and with a drying temperature of 65 to 85°C.
According to Dr. Bulaong, the drying time ranged from 6 to 8 hours per batch at initial moisture content ranging from 24 to 31 percent. The average diesel savings using MACS biomass furnace ranged from P4,320 to P5,760 per batch or P8,640 to P11,520 per day at two batches per day. The projected net savings when a furnace operator is hired at P200/day is P8,440 to P11,120 per day or P506,400 to P667,200 per cropping season at 60 days operation.
Indeed, this MACS biomass furnace is showing great potential in easing the financial burden of stakeholders in mechanically drying their grains.
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