Applied insight: studying reducing the carbon footprint of the drying process and its environmental impact and financial return

Ayman Ibrahim; Alia Amer; Islam Elsebaee; Amr Sabahe; Mariam A Amer

doi:10.3389/fbioe.2024.1355133

Applied insight: studying reducing the carbon footprint of the drying process and its environmental impact and financial return

Front Bioeng Biotechnol. 2024 Mar 14:12:1355133. doi: 10.3389/fbioe.2024.1355133. eCollection 2024.

Authors

Ayman Ibrahim¹, Alia Amer², Islam Elsebaee¹, Amr Sabahe¹, Mariam A Amer¹

Affiliations

¹ Bioengineering Department, Agricultural Engineering Research Institute (AEnRI), Agricultural Research Center (ARC), Giza, Egypt.
² Medicinal and Aromatic Plants Research Department, Horticulture Research Institute, Agricultural Research Center (ARC), Giza, Egypt.

Abstract

Harnessing solar energy is one of the most important practical insights highlighted to mitigate the severe climate change (CC) phenomenon. Therefore, this study aims to focus on the use of hybrid solar dryers (HSDs) within an environmentally friendly framework, which is one of the promising applications of solar thermal technology to replace traditional thermal technology that contributes to increasing the severity of the CC phenomenon. The HSD, based on a traditional electrical energy source (HS_TEE) and electrical energy from photovoltaic panels (HS_PVSE), was evaluated compared to a traditional electrical (TE) dryer for drying some medicinal and aromatic plants (MAPs). This is done by evaluating some of the drying outputs, energy consumed, carbon footprint, and financial return at 30, 40, and 50°C. The best quality of dried MAP samples in terms of essential oil (EO, %) and microbial load was achieved at 40°C. The HS_TEE dryer has reduced energy consumption compared to the TE dryer by a percentage ranging from 37% to 54%. The highest CO₂ mitigated ratio using the HS_TEE dryer was recorded in thyme, marjoram, and lemongrass samples, with values ranging from 45% to 54% at 30, 40, and 50°C. The highest financial return obtained from energy consumption reduction and carbon credit footprint was achieved at 50°C, with values ranging from 5,313.69 to 6,763.03 EGP/year (EGP ≈ 0.0352 USD) when coal was used as a fuel source for the generation of electricity. Moreover, the HS_PVSE dryer achieved a 100% reduction in traditional energy consumption and then reduced CO₂ emissions by 100%, which led to a 100% financial return from both energy reduction and carbon credit. The highest financial returns were observed at 50°C, with values ranging from 13,872.56 to 15,007.02, 12,927.28 to 13,984.43, and 11,981.99 to 12,961.85 EGP/year (EGP ≈ 0.0352 USD) for coal, oil, and natural gas, respectively. The HS dryers show potential for environmental conservation contribution; furthermore, earning money from energy savings and carbon credit could help improve the living standards and maximize benefits for stakeholders.

Keywords: carbon footprint; drying; energy consumption; greenhouse gas emissions; hybrid solar dryer; solar energy.

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare that financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This paper is based upon work supported by the Science, Technology, & Innovation Funding Authority (STDF) under Call 10/Young Researchers Grant (STDF-YRG)/STDF-Youth, entitled “Towards Innovative Processing and PIONEER in Sustainable Medicinal and Aromatic Plants Industry” (Project ID 43259).