Journal of Power and Energy Engineering, 2015, 3, 55-70
Published Online August 2015 in SciRes. http://www.scirp.org/journal/jpee
http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/jpee.2015.38006
How to cite this paper: Adeaga, O.A., Dare, A.A., Odunfa, K.M. and Ohunakin, O.S. (2015) Modeling of Solar Drying Eco-
nomics Using Life Cycle Savings (L.C.S) Method. Journal of Power and Energy Engineering, 3, 55-70.
http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/jpee.2015.38006
Modeling of Solar Drying Economics Using
Life Cycle Savings (L.C.S) Method
Oyetunde Adeoye Adeaga
1*
, Ademola Adebukola Dare
2
, Kamilu Moradeyo Odunfa
2
,
Olayinka Soledayo Ohunakin
3
1
Department of Mechanical Engineering, The Polytechnic, Ibadan, Adeseun Ogundoyin Campus, Eruwa, Nigeria
2
Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria
3
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Covenant University, Otta, Nigeria
Email:
*
engr.adeaga@gmail.com
Received 23 February 2015; accepted 8 August 2015; published 11 August 2015
Copyright © 2015 by authors and Scientific Research Publishing Inc.
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution International License (CC BY).
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Abstract
Major goals of industrialization include but are not limited to provision of employment, establish-
ing a platform for overall national development and improving the capital income of whoever is
involved, which invariably improve the overall standard of living. A better pre-visibility study
must encompass a well analyzed economic appraisal of the plan. The law of mass conservation
was applied to develop computer software with a view to analyzing the major preliminary eco-
nomic indexes of industrial solar drying in both developed and rapidly developing economy. The
present work used the life cycle cost method to investigate the solar process economics. In the
paper three major geographical locations in Nigeria (i.e. Ibadan, Kano and Port Harcourt) were
selected and their respective economic appraisal was investigated. Sample simulations revealed
that, at a realistic initial moisture content of 30 (% wet basis) of the agricultural produce, eco-
nomic analysis of over 20 years shows that recommended solar collector area of 85.46 m
2
, 80.71
m
2
and 75.96 m
2
supplied about 67%, 88% and 55.8% of the annual energy needed for Ibadan,
Kano and Port-Harcourt respectively.
Keywords
Industrialization, Platform, Pre-Visibility, Software, Economic
1. Introduction
The Sun is the largest source of energy in the solar system and it has the potential to supply all the energy
*
Corresponding author.