Techno-Economic Analysis for the Costs of Drying Chickpeas: An Example Showing the Trade-Off Between Capital and Operating Costs for Different Inlet Air Temperatures

This study investigates the implementation of new drying schedules for chickpeas, a significant pulse, incorporating a techno-economic analysis. The research also explores the reduction in anti-nutritional factors, such as trypsin inhibitors, through fluidized-bed drying with an air recycling system. The processing cost per unit mass of chickpeas is predicted to decrease with an increasing recycling ratio, from over AUD 1.32/kg of chickpeas with no recycling down to AUD 0.0885/kg of chickpeas at a ratio of 99%. With no air recycling, the lowest inlet air temperature (40 °C) gives the lowest cost, but near the optimum recycling ratio, the highest inlet air temperature (80 °C) is best. This pattern is followed when considering equivalent carbon dioxide emissions, with the lowest emissions (over 0.259 kg CO2 (kg chickpeas)−1) corresponding to high recycling ratios and high inlet air temperatures. The use of air recycling should cause no significant challenges when implementing a drying schedule for trypsin inhibitor reduction in chickpeas.