Dual-reactor rice husk gasifier for 6-ton capacity recirculating-type paddy dryer

Abstract

Drying of paddy in a recirculating type dryer is quite expensive nowadays. This is because of the continued increase in the prices of fossil fuel, particularly diesel. At present, a liter of diesel costs about P38.80. With a fuel consumption of 6 liters per hour of diesel using a typical recirculating type dryer, about P2,300 per day is spent on fuel for 10 hours operation. Rice husk, which is a by-product of milling of rice, is a potential biomass material that can be used to replace diesel fuel that is commonly used in a recirculating type grain dryer. Gasifying rice husk on a top-lit updraft (T-LUD) mode was proven to produce quality flame that approaches the quality of that of diesel. Using gasifier, combustible gases can be piped-in through a remote burner for direct use by the dryers. Since, T-LUD type rice husk gasifier normally operates on a batch mode, a dual-reactor rice husk gasifier was designed and developed so that the reactor can be alternately ran thereby continuous drying operation can be achieved.