Experimental and simulation investigations on self-heat recuperative fluidized bed dryer for biomass drying with superheated steam

•A self-heat recuperative drying process was proposed for biomass drying.•The energy consumption is 1/20 that of a conventional heat recovery dryer.•A lab-scale dryer was built for the proposed self-heat recuperation technology.•Fluidization and drying performance and heat exchange were confirmed in the dryer.

An exergy recuperative module was developed and applied to biomass drying. The proposed drying process has an energy consumption 1/20 that of a conventional heat recovery drying system. Experimental work was conducted to confirm the details of the self-heat recuperation technology concept. A high drying rate and a stable heat exchange were found through the experimental drying results. Furthermore, the heat pairing was confirmed in the drying system for the first time.