LAPSE:2023.3003
Published Article
LAPSE:2023.3003
Sustainable Solar Drying of Brewer’s Spent Grains: A Comparison with Conventional Electric Convective Drying
February 21, 2023
Abstract
Spent grains from microbreweries are mostly formed by malting barley (or malt) and are suitable for a further valorization process. Transforming spent grains from waste to raw materials, for instance, in the production of nontraditional flour, requires a previous drying process. A natural convection solar dryer (NCSD) was evaluated as an alternative to a conventional electric convective dryer (CECD) for the dehydration process of local microbrewers’ spent grains. Two types of brewer’s spent grains (BSG; Golden ale and Red ale) were dried with both systems, and sustainability indices, specific energy consumption (eC), and CO2 emissions were calculated and used to assess the environmental advantages and disadvantages of the NCSD. Then, suitable models (empirical, neural networks, and computational fluid dynamics) were used to simulate both types of drying processes under different conditions. The drying times were 30−85 min (depending on the drying temperature, 363.15 K and 333.15 K) and 345−430 min (depending on the starting daytime hour at which the drying process began) for the CECD and the NCSD, respectively. However, eC and CO2 emissions for the CECD were 1.68−1.88 · 10−3 (kW h)/kg and 294.80−410.73 kg/(kW h) for the different drying temperatures. Using the NCSD, both indicators were null, considering this aspect as an environmental benefit.
Spent grains from microbreweries are mostly formed by malting barley (or malt) and are suitable for a further valorization process. Transforming spent grains from waste to raw materials, for instance, in the production of nontraditional flour, requires a previous drying process. A natural convection solar dryer (NCSD) was evaluated as an alternative to a conventional electric convective dryer (CECD) for the dehydration process of local microbrewers’ spent grains. Two types of brewer’s spent grains (BSG; Golden ale and Red ale) were dried with both systems, and sustainability indices, specific energy consumption (eC), and CO2 emissions were calculated and used to assess the environmental advantages and disadvantages of the NCSD. Then, suitable models (empirical, neural networks, and computational fluid dynamics) were used to simulate both types of drying processes under different conditions. The drying times were 30−85 min (depending on the drying temperature, 363.15 K and 333.15 K) and 345−430 min (depending on the starting daytime hour at which the drying process began) for the CECD and the NCSD, respectively. However, eC and CO2 emissions for the CECD were 1.68−1.88 · 10−3 (kW h)/kg and 294.80−410.73 kg/(kW h) for the different drying temperatures. Using the NCSD, both indicators were null, considering this aspect as an environmental benefit.
Record ID
Keywords
artificial neural networks, brewer’s spent grains, Computational Fluid Dynamics, electric convective dryer, natural convection solar dryer, waste valorization
Subject
Suggested Citation
Capossio JP, Fabani MP, Reyes-Urrutia A, Torres-Sciancalepore R, Deng Y, Baeyens J, Rodriguez R, Mazza G. Sustainable Solar Drying of Brewer’s Spent Grains: A Comparison with Conventional Electric Convective Drying. (2023). LAPSE:2023.3003
Author Affiliations
Capossio JP: Instituto de Investigación y Desarrollo en Ingeniería de Procesos, Biotecnología y Energías Alternativas, PROBIEN (CONICET-UNCo), Neuquén 8300, Argentina
Fabani MP: Instituto de Biotecnología, Facultad de Ingeniería, Universidad Nacional de San Juan, San Juan 5400, Argentina
Reyes-Urrutia A: Instituto de Investigación y Desarrollo en Ingeniería de Procesos, Biotecnología y Energías Alternativas, PROBIEN (CONICET-UNCo), Neuquén 8300, Argentina
Torres-Sciancalepore R: Instituto de Investigación y Desarrollo en Ingeniería de Procesos, Biotecnología y Energías Alternativas, PROBIEN (CONICET-UNCo), Neuquén 8300, Argentina [ORCID]
Deng Y: Process and Environmental Technology Lab, Department of Chemical Engineering, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, 2860 Sint-Katelijne-Waver, Belgium [ORCID]
Baeyens J: Process and Environmental Technology Lab, Department of Chemical Engineering, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, 2860 Sint-Katelijne-Waver, Belgium; Beijing Advanced Innovation Centre for Soft Matter Science and Engineering, Beijing University of Chemical Te
Rodriguez R: Grupo Vinculado al PROBIEN (CONICET-UNCo), Instituto de Ingeniería Química, Facultad de Ingeniería, Universidad Nacional de San Juan, San Juan 5400, Argentina [ORCID]
Mazza G: Instituto de Investigación y Desarrollo en Ingeniería de Procesos, Biotecnología y Energías Alternativas, PROBIEN (CONICET-UNCo), Neuquén 8300, Argentina [ORCID]
Fabani MP: Instituto de Biotecnología, Facultad de Ingeniería, Universidad Nacional de San Juan, San Juan 5400, Argentina
Reyes-Urrutia A: Instituto de Investigación y Desarrollo en Ingeniería de Procesos, Biotecnología y Energías Alternativas, PROBIEN (CONICET-UNCo), Neuquén 8300, Argentina
Torres-Sciancalepore R: Instituto de Investigación y Desarrollo en Ingeniería de Procesos, Biotecnología y Energías Alternativas, PROBIEN (CONICET-UNCo), Neuquén 8300, Argentina [ORCID]
Deng Y: Process and Environmental Technology Lab, Department of Chemical Engineering, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, 2860 Sint-Katelijne-Waver, Belgium [ORCID]
Baeyens J: Process and Environmental Technology Lab, Department of Chemical Engineering, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, 2860 Sint-Katelijne-Waver, Belgium; Beijing Advanced Innovation Centre for Soft Matter Science and Engineering, Beijing University of Chemical Te
Rodriguez R: Grupo Vinculado al PROBIEN (CONICET-UNCo), Instituto de Ingeniería Química, Facultad de Ingeniería, Universidad Nacional de San Juan, San Juan 5400, Argentina [ORCID]
Mazza G: Instituto de Investigación y Desarrollo en Ingeniería de Procesos, Biotecnología y Energías Alternativas, PROBIEN (CONICET-UNCo), Neuquén 8300, Argentina [ORCID]
Journal Name
Processes
Volume
10
Issue
2
First Page
339
Year
2022
Publication Date
2022-02-10
ISSN
2227-9717
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PII: pr10020339, Publication Type: Journal Article
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LAPSE:2023.3003
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https://doi.org/10.3390/pr10020339
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