Opportunities for the development of heat pump drying systems in South Africa

The main objective of this study is to analyse the opportunities for the development of heat pump drying systems in South Africa. Compared with South African traditional industrial and agricultural drying methods such as: direct/indirect sunlight, wood burning, fossil fuel burning, electrical heaters and diesel engine heating; heat pump dryers are much more advanced. They provide a high energy efficiency with controllable temperature, air flow, air humidity and large energy saving potential. In the last decade the market of heat pump systems for water heating and space cooling/heating has been developed well in South Africa, but the development of heat pump for industrial and agricultural drying is very slow. Heat pump drying systems are well developed in Europe, US, Canada, New Zealand, Singapore, Australia, China and many other countries. Due to the fast increasing prices of fossil and electricity, the shortage of fossil sources and electricity in South Africa, and the emission of CO₂; green energy, energy saving and energy efficiency are imperative. Heat pump drying system is one of the most energy saving and economical methods in drying applications if the operation time is more than a minimum period per year. Therefore, the development of heat pump drying systems in South Africa is an efficient way to solve energy problems in drying applications.