Exergy is defined as the maximum amount of work that
can be produced by a system or a flow of matter or energy
to reach equilibrium with a reference environment. Energy
and exergy analyses of the drying process should be
performed to determine the energy interactions and thermodynamic
behavior of drying air throughout a drying
chamber. Exergy analysis allows for a more efficient energy
resource use because the analysis enables the determination
of the locations, types, and true magnitudes of the losses.
Therefore, exergy analyses can reveal where and by how
much designing more efficient thermal systems is possible
by reducing the sources of existing inefficiencies. Increased
efficiency can often contribute in an making these processes
environmentally friendly by directly reducing the
irreversibilities (where exergy is destroyed) that might
otherwise occur. Therefore, exergy is one of the most
powerful tools in providing optimum drying conditions.
In the past few decades, thermodynamic analysis, particularly
exergy analysis, has become an essential tool in the
system design, analysis, and optimization of a thermal
system (Chowdhury et al., 2011). The energy analysis
method is widely used in evaluating the performance of
the food drying system, but studies on exergy analysis
remain relatively limited.
Several studies were conducted on the exergy analyses of
food drying. Midili and Kucuk (2003) performed energysystem for red chili. Therefore, the main objective of this
study is to perform energy and exergy analyses of the solar
drying system for red chili