Determination of the Current Situation of the Vegetable-Fruit Drying Plant using Geothermal Energy in K？r？ehir Province and of ？ts Development Possibilities

The plant is the first and vegetable-fruit drying plant using geothermal energy in Karakurt area with the cooperation of the K？r？ehir Municipality and the Special Provincial Administration. With a total covered area of 200 m2, about 39 tons of fresh fruits and vegetables with 13 types in total, including 11 types of fruit and 2 types of vegetables, have been dried in the plant per year as of 2018. In the plant, the thermal energy required to dry the products is obtained from the Karakurt1 (K1) well, which has a depth of 147 meters and a flow rate of 12 lt/sec and a temperature of 52 °C. The products are kept in a cold-storage depot at +4/6 °C until reaching a certain ripeness level. Fruits reaching the desired degree in the cold-storage depot are subjected to some pre-treatment, such as sorting, washing, classification and seed extraction. After pre-treatment, fruits are sliced according to their shape and crust conditions. The dried fruits are subjected to packaging process after a certain rest period subsequent to their initial temperatures are cooled down, then they are ready for sale inside and outside of the province. Today, when the demand for healthy foods in the world increases day by day, it was determined that geothermal energy can be used in producing electricity, health tourism and greenhouse cultivation as well as it can be used easily in vegetable-fruit drying and that K？r？ehir province can become an important product drying center with its geothermal resources in the future