Design and Performance Analysis of Portable Vertical Burner Biomass Pellet for Green Tea Drying Process

This study aimed to design a portable vertical biomass pellet burner as an alternativesolution to reduce energy costs in tea production, specifically for drying green tea using a ball tea dryer machine. The design combines a burner chamber unit with a multilayer heat exchanger to improve performance, and development was based on the drying air requirements of the process. The study used a Randomized Block Design (RBD) with two variables—feeding rate (5, 7, and 9 kg/h) and drying airflow (895.23, 1028.55, and 1103.47 CFM)—each tested at three levels.The performance was measured by the rate of temperature rise, drying air heating efficiency, and energy cost efficiency. The results showed that the burner design could meet the required airflow rate of up to 1150 CFM and reach temperatures of up to 120?C. To achieve the desired drying conditions, the optimal biomass pellet feeding rate was 7 kg/h, which costs approximately $0.09 per kilogram of dried tea—cheaper than using Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG), which costs approximately $0.13/kg. The findings also revealed that both the airflow rate and feeding rate significantly affect the temperature increase rate and heating efficiency. Overall, this portable vertical biomass pellet burner can reduce green tea drying costs at ball tea drying stations by 30.28% compared with LPG usage.