Study of the solar drying of grapes by three different

processes
A. Fadhel
a
*, S. Kooli
a
, A. Farhat
a
, A. Bellghith
b
a
National institute of Scientific and Technical Research, BP 95 Hammam-lifs. Tunisia
b
b Faculty of the Sciences of Tunis, Academic Campus, 1060 the Belvede`re Tunis. Tunisia
e-mail: fad_ham@yahoo.fr, hazamdi321@yahoo.fr
Received 27 April 2005; accepted 5 May 2005
Abstract
The objective of this work is to analyse the drying of the Sultanine grape variety by three different solar
processes. Three drying kinetics have been established respectively in a natural convection solar drier, under a
tunnel greenhouse and in open sun. These tests show that the solar tunnel greenhouse drying is satisfactory and
competitive to a natural convection solar drying process.
Keywords: Grape drying; Natural convection solar drier; Solar tunnel greenhouse drying; Open sun drying
1. Introduction
Grapes are one of the most popular and
palatable fruits in the world. The preservation
of grapes by drying is a major industry in many
parts of the world where grapes are grown.
Drying the grape, either by open sun drying,
shade drying or mechanical drying, produces
raisins. Solar crop drying has been demon-
strated to be cost effective and could be an
effective alternative to traditional and mechan-
ical drying systems, especially in locations with
good sunshine during the harvest season [1].
Solar grape drying practices are several
and largely traditional. In the traditional
(open sun) drying method, the grape bunches
are spread over either the ground or on a
platform in a thin layer directly exposed to
the sun. This method is cheapest and is suc-
cessfully employed in grapes producing coun-
tries. Practically no capital outlay for
equipment is required, although considerable
labour may be involved, which is seldom
costly. There is a risk of deterioration due to
dust and insect infection. Moreover, in open
air drying, while collecting the prepared rai-
sins, one usually collects, along with the
Presented at the Conference on Desalination and the Environment, Santa Margherita, Italy, 2226 May 2005.
European Desalination Society.
0011-9164/05/$ See front matter 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved
*Corresponding author.
Desalination 185 (2005) 535541
raisins, small stones, leaves, dust etc. which
are hard to remove [2].
Another improved solar tunnel greenhouse
drying method was newly explored in Tunisia
[3]. This method is also cheap because green-
houses are untapped during the hot season.
The grape bunches are spread over trays
arranged in two levels or more. In this case,
the grapes are protected with the transparent
sheet so that the weather risk is reduced. The
quality of the raisins is also better in compar-
ison to that when dried in open sun drying.
An alternative to the traditional techni-
ques is the artificial drying process. Various
types of solar dryer are used for grapes drying
[4]. Natural convection solar dryer, consisting
of flat plate solar air heater coupled to a
drying chamber, is attractive to grape
growers, but a large number of small farmers
engaged in growing grapes have not been able
to use this because of the large initial invest-
ment and additional running cost.
The analysis of the aspects of drying con-
ditions permits to better understand this
process and to appropriate the action to
undertake for further progress. The main
objective of this paper is to investigate the
three mentioned solar grape drying processes
and to recommend the best of it.
2. Processes of drying and experimental
procedures
The seedless Sultanine grape variety, was
chosen because of its big local production
during summer. The clusters of grapes are
soaked in an alkali solution (1% of sodium
hydroxide) heated to 90

C. The period of
soaking is about two to three seconds; the
immersion is made two to three times succes-
sively. This operation of scalding creates
some fissures on the skin of the grapes.
These fissures enable the water to cross the
initially impermeable membrane. Then the
grapes are cleaned with distilled water at
ambient temperature [5,6]. The grape bunches
are spread over a grid support in a single
layer and then placed respectively in open
sun, in a natural convection solar drier and
under a farmer tunnel greenhouse (Fig. 1).
The grapes are weighted continuously, and
thus one can determine the variation of
water content versus times. The meteorologi-
cal parameters as well as the mass and the
product temperature are measured during the
drying operation. Drying experiments have
been conducted outdoor, under greenhouse
and in a solar drier at changed intervals of
times, from the end of August to beginning
September 2000 and 2001. The climates
(a) (b) (c)
Fig. 1. Grape drying processes: (a) open sun drying (b) natural convection solar drier and (c) solar tunnel
greenhouse drying.
536 A. Fadhel et al. / Desalination 185 (2005) 535541
during these three periods are similar and
therefore the experimental results can be
compared on the same scale of time. Drying
of grapes was started with an initial moisture
content varied between 5 and 6,2 (wet basis).
3. Experimental results and interpretation
The drying kinetics of grapes with drying
time is shown in Fig. 2. We note that the
drying of grapes in the natural convection
solar drier is the fastest. The grapes get
dried to the commercial norm of moisture
content, 16% (dry basis) [7], with 211 h
(about 9 days). For the two other processes,
the required drying time is too large and the
commercial norms are not reached in the
experiments. To compare these three pro-
cesses we used a moisture content reference
X
ref
= 1 corresponding to a water loss of
about 80%. The grapes in the solar drier get
dried to the moisture content reference with
77 h (about 4 days). The grapes in the green-
house get dried with 119 h (about 5 days).
The grapes in open sun get dried with more
than 250 h (more than 11 days).
Fig. 2 shows also that during a first phase
the drying process is rapid enough, especially
in the solar drier and under greenhouse. As
the drying progresses, its speed decreases. The
grapes absorb humidity during night provok-
ing fluctuations of the water content between
the day and the night. In the solar drier, these
oscillations dump with drying time. The inter-
ruption of drying during night increases the
drying time.
Fig. 3 shows the variation curves of the
product temperature with time for green-
house drying, open sun drying and the solar
drier. We note a sinusoidal variation of the
product temperature with time. The product
temperature in open sun drying and in the
solar drier varied from 20

C to 45

C. The
diurnal variation amplitude under greenhouse
is more significant. The maximum product
temperature reached during the drying days
under greenhouse is about 60

C.
Fig. 4 shows the variation curves of the
product temperature (T
p
) for the solar drier,
the drying chamber air temperature (T
i
) and
the external air temperature (T
a
) with time.
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
0 50 100 150 200
Time in hour
W
a
t
e
r

c
o
n
t
e
n
t
,

X

(
k
g
.
k
g

1
)
In the open air
Under greenhouse
In the drier
Fig. 2. Variation of water content with drying time: (
&
) open sun drying, () natural convection solar drier and
(
&
) solar tunnel greenhouse draying.
A. Fadhel et al. / Desalination 185 (2005) 535541 537
We note that the product temperature and
the drying chamber air temperature curves
were identical. During the night the product
temperatures and the drying chamber air fit
with the outside air temperature. The maxi-
mum product temperature reached, at solar
noon, were about 50

C.
Fig. 5 shows the variation curves of the
product temperature (T
p
) for open sun drying
and the external air temperature (T
a
) with
time. We note that during the night the pro-
duct temperature fits with the external air
temperature. During the day, the product
temperature was larger than the external air
temperature. The maximum product tempera-
ture reached, at solar noon, were about 50

C.
Heat is generated by absorption of solar
energy by the grapes. The increased pro-
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140
Time in hour
P
r
o
d
u
c
t

t
e
m
p
e
r
a
t
u
r
e
,

T
p
(

C
)
In the drier
In the open air
Under greenhouse
Fig. 3. Evolution of the product temperature with drying time: (
&
) solar tunnel greenhouse drying, (
&
) open
sun drying and () natural convection solar drier.
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
0 50 100 150 200 250
Time in hour
T
e
m
p
e
r
a
t
u
r
e
,

T
(

C
)
Tp (C)
Ta (C)
Ti (C)
Fig. 4. Natural convection solar drier temperatures: (T
p
) Product temperature, (T
i
) Drying chamber air
temperature and (T
a
) External air temperature.
538 A. Fadhel et al. / Desalination 185 (2005) 535541
duct temperature has the effect to evaporate
the water contained in the product. The role
of the outside air is just to refresh the
product.
Fig. 6 shows the variation curves of the
product temperature (T
p
) for solar tunnel
greenhouse drying, the inside air temperature
(T
ai
) and the external air temperature (T
a
)
with time. We note that during the night the
product temperature falls down below the
inside air temperature of about 2

C. During
the day, the product temperature exceeds
rapidly the inside air temperature and
reached a maximum of about 60

C, at solar
noon. Like the open sun drying, the role of
the inside air here is to refresh the product.
Fig. 7 shows the variation curves of the air
relative humidity, inside and outside the
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
0 50 100 150 200 250
Time in hour
T
e
m
p
e
r
a
t
u
r
e
,

T
(

C
)
Tp (C)
Ta (C)
Fig. 5. Open sun drying temperatures: (T
p
) Product temperature and (T
a
) External air temperature.
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140
Time in hour
T
e
m
p
e
r
a
t
u
r
e
,

T
(

C
)
Tp
Tai
Ta
Fig. 6. Solar tunnel greenhouse drying temperatures: (T
p
) Product temperature, (T
ai
) inside air temperature and
(T
a
) External air temperature.
A. Fadhel et al. / Desalination 185 (2005) 535541 539
greenhouse with time. Fig. 8 shows the evolu-
tion of the solar radiation, inside and outside
the greenhouse according to time. During the
night, the relative humidity was raised. Dur-
ing the day, when the solar radiation becomes
intense, the interior air relative humidity
decreases and become very weak at solar
noon. It is the most favourable period of the
day for drying.
4. Conclusion
Solar tunnel greenhouse drying was found
to be satisfactory and competitive to natural
convection solar drying process. In effect the
drying times in the farmer greenhouse and in
the natural convection solar drier are near,
respectively five days and four days. The
solar greenhouse drying is advantageous in
regard to solar drier. Indeed greenhouse
0
20
40
60
80
100
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140
Time in hour
R
e
l
a
t
i
v
e

h
u
m
i
d
i
t
y
,

H
R
(
%
)
RH I
RH E
Fig. 7. Evolution of the relative humidity with time: (RH I) inside greenhouse and (RH E) outside greenhouse.
0
200
400
600
800
1000
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140
Time in hour
S
o
l
a
r

r
a
d
i
a
t
i
o
n

(
W
.
m

2
)
Gi (W.m
2
)
Ge (W.m
2
)
Fig. 8. Evolution of solar radiation with time: (G
i
) inside greenhouse and (G
e
) outside.
540 A. Fadhel et al. / Desalination 185 (2005) 535541
drying presents a big drying capacity and
dont require a large initial investment or
additional running cost.
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