Exploiting geothermal energy to dry crops needs a properly designed geothermal crop dryer that is sized to meet the drying requirements of the crops to be dried. This study designed and fabricated a geothermal maize dryer that was tested to determine the drying time required to drying maize grains to 13% moisture content at Menengai Geothermal Project site within Nakuru County, Kenya. The main components of the geothermal dryer comprised of a dryer cabinet, heat exchanger, and fan unit. Once the air used for maize drying was heated by the heat exchanger, the sized fan unit blew hot air across the maize grains. Geothermal water from a discharging well within the project site supplied the heat to the sized heat exchanger. The designed geothermal maize dryer... |