An environmental and economic evaluation of solar photovoltaic thermal dryer

The photovoltaic thermal (PVT)-based solar dryer is advantageous in terms of energy-saving ability, efficiency, self-sufficient design, and ability to work without any additional electrical energy requirement. However, there a requirement for comprehensive analysis the energy, exergy, environ-economic parameters developing an efficient sustainable PVT dryer. In this study, PVT-based indirect mode with forced convection has been fabricated investigated environmental conditions North-East India (Silchar latitude 24.83°). Experiments have performed compare drying characteristics tomatoes quality under open sun conditions. A new mathematical model proposed predict both modes drying. average efficiency 34.98%, higher than some published works dryers conducted similar experimental calculated values effectiveness, collector factor, coefficient performance, heat utilization factor are 1.12–1.58, 0.011–0.029, 0.71, 0.29, respectively. Furthermore, CO2 emission, mitigation carbon credit earned evaluated 10, 20, 30 years system life.