Feasibility analysis of dryer with rice husk energy for drying jackfruit Dodol in Lombok

Sun drying is popularly used in Lombok to dry food items including jackfruit Dodol because it is easy and cheap. This type of drying has a weakness, which is very weather dependent. When it is cloudy or rainy, the drying process will stop, which will affect the income level of the jackfruit Dodol business. To overcome this, it is done through the application of a dryer with rice husk energy. Rice husks can be an alternative energy in drying process because they are easy to obtain and cheap. To make rice husks as drying energy, it can be done through an energy conversion process using a heat exchanger that is placed in a furnace. Tests were carried out in the drying process to produce a dry product of 5 kg of jackfruit Dodol. The drying temperature is obtained from the result of the energy conversion process between burning rice husks in a furnace with environmental air flowing in the heat exchanger pipe. The resulting hot air flows into the drying chamber. This makes the product more hygienic and drying process can be all the time. The implication of the application of the rice husk energy dryer is to increase the jackfruit Dodol business income. This dryer provides a return on investment (ROI) rate of 304.48% with the break-even point (BEP) occurring at 0.2778 years or 3.3336 months. This means k <n (0.2778 years <7 years), so it can be stated that the investment in rice husk energy dryer for drying jackfruit Dodol is feasible.