HIGH-TEMPERATURE GRAIN DRYING PROCESS ANALYSIS

Abstract

Often, the harvested grain has too much moisture and is contaminated with impurities and weeds. If the grain is not cleaned and particularly dried in time, it can start to dry out and spoil. It is therefore very important to stabilize the biological activity of the grain mass as soon as possible and to prepare it for storage. High-temperature drying technologies are widely used to reduce the moisture content of beaten grain to a storage-safe moisture content. They are intensive, reliable, but energy-intensive technologies for drying grain of different moisture contents. Therefore, much attention is paid to optimizing the heat-mass exchange processes and their management during drying. Intensive research is being carried out to find ways to reduce energy consumption and increase drying speed without compromising the overall quality and nutritional value of the cereals.

This paper presents a process analysis of the drying of wheat grain with initial moisture content ranging from 14,7 ± 1,1% to 17,2 ± 1,3% in a batch dryer of 95 tonne capacity and 60 tonne/hour maximum capacity. It was found that the average evaporation of water from the grain during one drying cycle with a dryer vented at 80 °C was 2494,0 ± 827 kg. A comparative analysis of drying processes for wheat grains with different initial moisture contents: <15%; 15.1-15.5%; 15.6-16%; 16.1-16.5%; >16.5% was also carried out to determine changes in drying time and drying agent properties