Graduate Thesis Or Dissertation
 

Modeling hop kilning with respect to energy consumption and drying kinetics

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https://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/concern/graduate_thesis_or_dissertations/2v23w3065

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  • Currently, little work has been performed studying energy consumption in hop kilning. This thesis explores drying with an alternative drying schedule that extends the initially elevated drying temperature currently used by growers and examines its impact on drying time and energy use. Extending the time of the initially elevated drying temperature showed significant reductions in drying time but raised energy consumption. These results were compared with baseline data collected from four hop farms in 2021 and five hop farms in 2022, which quantified current drying statistics for hop drying. The number of experimental trials that could be conducted was limited by the lack of physically based drying models for hops, requiring all experiments to be conducted in full-sized kilns. Currently, only exponential and empirically fit models exist, making the theoretical exploration of different drying techniques impossible. This thesis developed thin layer drying models for three hop varieties to overcome this shortcoming based on a lumped reaction engineering approach. This thesis also introduces a novel specific area approach to modeling the complex geometry of hops, significantly reducing model error. One thin layer model was expanded into a deep bed model to simulate drying under six different drying techniques at various temperatures and air velocities to identify opportunities in reducing energy use. These simulations showed that faster drying methods decreased thermal efficiency, and the highest efficiencies can be obtained by reducing air velocity in the later stages of drying. Future work should continue to decrease error in modeling the drying of complex geometries.
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  • Part of this work was funded by CESMII under award #DE-EE0007613.
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