Assessment of Heating efficiency of Boiler machine and Dimethyl ether burner for growing crops in greenhouse

The experiment was conducted to determine the heating efficiency of boiler machine and Dimethyl ether (DME) burner in three greenhouses. The present study assessed the changing pattern of inside ambient environmental temperature, humidity and CO2 concentration by using the two types of heating systems. Three identical greenhouses (width 12 m, length 20 m, height 4 m) were used to conduct the experiment. In greenhouse-1 (GH-1) and greenhouse-2 (GH-2), heating system was operated by DME burner and boiler machine respectively and no heating system was provided to greenhouse-3 (GH-3) which was left as control. In the current study, DME gas was used as a fuel for DME burner and kerosene oil for boiler machine. Carbon dioxide, temperature and humidity was recorded using Lutron MCH-383SD electrochemical sensors. The sensors were set at three different heights of greenhouses. Data were checked at 10-min intervals and recorded data were averaged for further analysis and interpretation. The both systems were operated in 30 minutes after every one hour interval within a fixed rate from 10:30 to 17.30 in a day. Fuel cost was also estimated for cost benefit analysis of the two systems. The finding of the study showed that heat generated from the both system was almost same. Average 15 days data on temperature during the experimental period showed that temperature was increased up to 10.7% and 12.4% treated with DME burner and boiler machine, respectively compared to control condition. However, the fuel cost for operating boiler machine was more than 20% compared to DME burner. Even though the current study found that DME burner was not only provide heating facility in greenhouse but also provide sufficient CO2 without any high concentration of toxic gases. Moreover, this study creates a scope for further experiment using DME gas burner in green houses to measure growth performance of different crops.