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Solar drying has been identified as a promising alternative to sun drying for drying of fruit and vegetables in developing countries because of its minimal operational cost in terms of fuel. It is also a convenient alternative for the rural sector and other areas with scarce or irregular electricity supply. Studies conducted on solar drying have proved that it is a good alternative to sun drying for the production of high-quality dried products. This paper is focused on the thermal and the economical study of a direct solar dryer. The thermal study was performed using numerical simulation while the economic evaluation was done by computing life cycle cost (LCC) and life cycle benefit (LCB) of the solar dryer. Different techniques of heat supply such as: heat exchanger, porous medium and phase change material (PCM) were tested and studied throughout this paper. The performed economic analysis proves the feasibility of our …