The effects of drying methods and storage conditions on pea seed (Pisum sativum L.) quality and the relationship between high temperature drying and maize seed (Zea mays L.) stress cracks : this thesis presented in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Applied Science (Agricultural Engineering) in the Institute of Technology and Engineering, Massey University, New Zealand

High temperature and high relative humidity adversely affect the quality of seeds, and are features of tropical climate. Seed drying and storage are being used increasingly in developing countries to improve seed storage and quality. This study was undertaken to evaluate a range of seed drying methods and storage conditions with the view to selecting an appropriate method(s) for use in tropical countries. Pea (Pisum sativum L.) seeds at three initial seed moisture content (m.c.) of 23.8, 18.0 and 14.5% were dried to 10% seed m.c. before storage. The performances of four different drying methods: artificial dryer (Kiwi Mini) set at 30°C or 45°C, natural sun drying, and in-bin natural ventilation drying were evaluated. Natural sun drying, and in-bin natural ventilation drying were conducted from March to May, 1997, when mean temperature and relative humidity during sunny days were 17°C and 60% respectively. The dried seeds were stored under two conditions: open storage at 20.5°0 and 55% relative humidity (r.h.), and closed storage at 25°C and 90% r.h. for 20, 40, and 60 days. Time and energy consumed for drying by the different methods were determined to compare the drying efficiency when combined with quality of the seed. Deterioration of the seed due to storage conditions and drying methods used was determined by assessing their effects on seed germination, abnormal seedlings, dead seed, hollow heart percentages, and conductivity. Seed samples dried by the Kiwi Mini dryer set at 45°C took 7 hours and those set at 30°C took 17 hours. It took 54 hours with natural in-bin ventilation drying, while sun drying took 37 hours. However, energy consumed when drying seeds at 30°C was 17 kWh, which was more than twice that at 45°C. Seed germination was not significantly different between drying methods, but averaged only 75% because of sprouting damage of the crop prior to harvest. Germinations after open and closed storage for 20 days did not differ, although some differences appeared after 40 days of storage. However, open and closed storage for 60 days significantly reduced seed germination to 54 and 33% respectively. Because seeds are heat-sensitive, drying air temperature and drying rate are particularly important to avoid internal seed breakage, cracking and splitting, fungal growth, and loss of germination and vigour. Selected studies have shown that seed can be dried at high temperature for a short time, followed by tempering to re-distribute moisture and temperature inside the seed, thus reducing the percentage of cracking. Thus, a second experiment was conducted with maize (Zea mays L) to study the impact on seed viability of high temperature drying followed by tempering. Maize at 28.5% initial seed m.c. was dried at 60°C for short periods of 5, 10, 15, 20, or 25 minutes, followed by tempering for 45 minutes at either 30°C or 21°C. This cycle was repeated until maize seeds were dried to 13.0% m.c.. The percentage of cracked seeds, germination immediately after drying, and after an accelerated ageing test, did not differ between 30°C and 21°C tempering. Drying exposure times of up to 10 minutes per cycle at 60°C caused vertical cracks in up to 50% of seeds, but seed germination remained over 90% and seed vigour was also maintained. The percentage of seeds with stress cracks due to high temperature drying (5 - 25 minute cycles) at 60°C followed by tempering had polynomial relationships with seed germination and vigour. Seeds dried at the same temperature without tempering had their germination reduced from 99 to 20%

Assessment of Efficiency of Drying Grain Materials Using Microwave Heating

We present results of experimental work on studying the drying of a dense layer of grain using microwave heating. We investigated a series of techniques to supply heat to grain to assess energy efficiency of a microwave field. We studied the following ways of drying: a microwave method, a pulsating microwave method, a microwave-convective cyclic method with blow of a layer with heated air flow and air without preheating, simultaneous microwave-convective drying method.Studying the kinetics of drying in a microwave field showed that we can divide the process into heating periods (zero drying rate), constant (first drying rate) and falling (second drying rate). These periods are characteristic for drying of colloidal capillary-porous bodies at other methods of heat supply. We obtained empirical relationships for the drying rate and the average temperature of grain in the first period based on the generalization of experimental data on the study on drying of grain of buckwheat, barley, oats, and wheat. We presented kinetic dependences in a dimensionless form. They summarize data on the studied grains. The aim of comprehensive studies of various methods of heat supply during drying was determination of the optimal method and rational operational parameters, which ensure high intensity of the process and the required quality of the finished product with minimal energy consumption.All studies took place under identical conditions and for the same grain (oats) to ensure the accuracy of the comparison. We determined that the most preferable method is a simultaneous microwave-convective energy supply without air preheating, which minimizes specific energy consumption. Experimental studies on drying using a microwave field made possible to select the required process parameters: power, heating rate, mass, and form of loading. We plan to develop a technology for drying of grain using microwave energy based on the study dat

Modeling the Drying Kinetics of Green Bell Pepper in a Heat Pump Assisted Fluidized Bed Dryer

In this research, green bell pepper was dried in a pilot plant fluidized bed dryer equipped with a heat pump humidifier using three temperatures of 40, 50 and 60C and two airflow velocities of 2 and 3m/s in constant air moisture. Three modeling methods including nonlinear regression technique, Fuzzy Logic and Artificial Neural Networks were applied to investigate drying kinetics for the sample. Among the mathematical models, Midilli model with R=0.9998 and root mean square error (RMSE)=0.00451 showed the best fit with experimental data. Feed-Forward-Back-Propagation network with Levenberg-Marquardt training algorithm, hyperbolic tangent sigmoid transfer function, training cycle of 1,000 epoch and 2-5-1 topology, deserving R=0.99828 and mean square error (MSE)=5.5E-05, was determined as the best neural model. Overall, Neural Networks method was much more precise than two other methods in prediction of drying kinetics and control of drying parameters for green bell pepper. Practical Applications: This article deals with different modeling approaches and their effectiveness and accuracy for predicting changes in the moisture ratio of green bell pepper enduring fluidized bed drying, which is one of the most concerning issues in food factories involved in drying fruits and vegetables. This research indicates that although efficiency of mathematical modeling, Fuzzy Logic controls and Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) were all acceptable, the modern prediction methods of Fuzzy Logic and especially ANNs were more productive and precise. Besides, this report compares our findings with previous ones carried out with the view of predicting moisture quotients of other food crops during miscellaneous drying procedures. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc

Real-time monitoring of apples (Malus domestica var. Gala) during hot-air drying using NIR spectroscopy

Among commercial fruits, apple shows a growing trend to its worldwide consumption, where dried apple plays a major part in food industry as raw material to produce snacks, integral breakfast foods, chips, etc., which have become popular in the diet of modern consumers in parallel with the human consumption of organic products. Despite apple tissue exhibits extensive and non-homogeneous discoloration during drying, it is nowadays often dried by conventional methods which, however, are usually uncontrolled and then prone to product quality deterioration. However, because no all conventional drying treatments are allowed by the European Organic Regulation (i.e. EC No. 834/2007 and EC No. 889/2008), drying of organic apples should be carefully optimized to obtain comparable results to conventional methods. Therefore, the main objective of the proposed study was to investigate the feasibility of near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy as smart drying technology to proactively and non-destructively detect and monitor quality change in organic apple wedges during hot-air drying

EFFECTS OF DRYING AND ENSILING METHODS ON CYANIDES CONTENTS AND CHEMICAL COMPONENTS OF CASSAVA ROOTS AND STEMS

The objectives of this experiment was to compare the drying and ensiling methods to reduce cyanides contents in cassava, as well as related nutrient components. This experiment used roots and stems of cas-sava, fermented juice of epiphytic lactic acid bacteria (FJLB) and molasses. A completely randomized design was used in this experiment for 8 treatments. The treatments were 30 o C incubator, 50 o C incubator, 70 o C oven drying, freeze drying, 2 d incubator 30 o C ensiling, 2 d incubator 50 o C ensiling, 2 w incubator 30 o C ensiling and 2 w incubator 50 o C ensiling. The contents of HCN, acetone cyanohydrin, linamarin, proximate components and in vitro dry matter digestibility were determined in each treatment. The result of this experi-ment showed that the contents of HCN and linamarin in ensiled cassava roots were lower (p<0.01) than in dried cassava roots. There were no significantly different on residual HCN among treatments in cassava stems. The content of linamarin was higher in freeze drying than that in heat drying methods (p<0.05). There was an opposite pattern of acetone cyanohydrins and linamarin content of roots and stems. The content of dry matter (DM) in 30 o C ensiling was lower than in 50 o C ensiling (p<0.05). The content of ash increased in cassava roots silage (p<0.01), meanwhile the decreasing of ether extract content was occured in cassava stem silage (p<0.01). Ensiling method was more effective to reduce cyanide than the drying method, and cassava silage showed a proper qualification as feed. Keywords: Drying, Ensiling, Cyanides, Cassav

Current state-of-the-art in drying low-rank coals

Preparing Alaska's coal for marketing -- Drying low-rank coals -- Effect of lignite source -- Acknowledgement -- References.Research on drying of low-rank coals, such as lignites and subbituminous coals, has been conducted for nearly half a century. Although partial drying of Dakota lignite is practiced for freeze-proofing by mixing partially dried coal with run-of-mine coal, full scale drying of low rank coals has never been practiced commercially in this country. The reasons are: ( 1 ) drying of low rank coals by conventional methods results in severe degradation of coal particles; (2) dried coals are thus dusty and difficult to handle; (3) reabsorption of moisture in storage and transit defeats the drying process. In addition the dry coal particles will react with ambient oxygen, and heat up enough to ignite. It appears that large-scale development of Alaskan coals may have to await solutions to these problems. Our Mineral Industry Research Laboratory at the University of Alaska is making a comprehensive literature search seeking solutions to these problems and identifying areas of research that should be undertaken

A Numerical Implementation of the Soret Effect in Drying Processes

Drying of porous media is strictly governed by heat and mass transfer. However, contrary to the definition that drying is simultaneous transport mechanisms of heat and mass, most past and current models either account for temperature or concentration gradient effects on drying. Even though the complexity of computations of these processes varies with area of application, in most cases, the Dufour and Soret effects are neglected. This leads to deviations and uncertainties on the assumptions and interpretations of these and other relevant effects on drying. This paper covers the theoretical methods to derive the coupled transfer effects. In addition, this work proposes and formulates relevant heat and mass transfer equations, as well as the governing equations for drying processes with Dufour and Soret effects. The application of a numerical approach to solve the equations allows for studying of the influence of these effects on the design and operation of dryers. It is shown that the Soret effect can be highly relevant on drying operations with dynamic heating operation. While for drying processes where the steady state drying process predominates, the effect is deemed negligible

DEVELOPMENT OF A NOVEL ENERGY EFFICIENT ADSORPTION DRYER WITH ZEOLITE FOR HEAT SENSITIVE PRODUCTS

Drying is a basic operation in wood, food, pharmaceutical and chemical industry. The operation is important to enhance the preservation properties of agriculture crops and pharmaceutical products, to reduce the costs for transportation, to increase consumer convenience of food products, and to obtain desired water content in raw material feed for next unit process in industry. Currently several drying methods are used, ranging from traditional to modern processing: e.g. direct sun drying, convective drying, microwave and infra-red drying, freeze and vacuum drying. However, the current drying technology is often not efficient in terms of energy consumption (energy efficiency of 20-60%) and has a high environmental impact due to combustion of fossil fuel or wood as energy source. This work discusses on the development of adsorption drying with zeolite to improve the energy efficiency as well as product quality. In this process, air as drying medium is dehumidified by zeolite. As a result humidity of air can be reduced up to 0.1 ppm. So, for heat sensitive products, the drying process can be performed in low or medium temperature with high driving force. The study has been conducted in three steps: designing the dryer, performing laboratory scale equipment (tray, spray, and fluidised bed dryers with zeolite), and evaluating the dryer performance based on energy efficiency and product quality. Results showed that the energy efficiency of drying process can reach 70-80% in which is 15-20% higher than that of conventional dryer. Index Term— adsorption, drying, energy efficiency, zeolite, heat sensitiv

The Loss of Some Strength Characteristics of Coated Magazine Paper as a Result of Exposure to Elevated Temperatures

Introduction The purpose of this work is to investigate the effect that varying degrees of temperature have on the strength properties of coated magazine stock. Paper of this type encounters high temperature conditions primarily in the ink drying operations following the printing of the web. The strength with which the paper meets the cutting, folding and binding methods which follow the drying operation are of paramount importance to the printer. Throughout the work, attempts were made to assimilate conditions encountered in present day commercial practice

Assessment of Efficiency of Drying Grain Materials Using Microwave Heating

We present results of experimental work on studying the drying of a dense layer of grain using microwave heating. We investigated a series of techniques to supply heat to grain to assess energy efficiency of a microwave field. We studied the following ways of drying: a microwave method, a pulsating microwave method, a microwave-convective cyclic method with blow of a layer with heated air flow and air without preheating, simultaneous microwave-convective drying method.Studying the kinetics of drying in a microwave field showed that we can divide the process into heating periods (zero drying rate), constant (first drying rate) and falling (second drying rate). These periods are characteristic for drying of colloidal capillary-porous bodies at other methods of heat supply. We obtained empirical relationships for the drying rate and the average temperature of grain in the first period based on the generalization of experimental data on the study on drying of grain of buckwheat, barley, oats, and wheat. We presented kinetic dependences in a dimensionless form. They summarize data on the studied grains. The aim of comprehensive studies of various methods of heat supply during drying was determination of the optimal method and rational operational parameters, which ensure high intensity of the process and the required quality of the finished product with minimal energy consumption.All studies took place under identical conditions and for the same grain (oats) to ensure the accuracy of the comparison. We determined that the most preferable method is a simultaneous microwave-convective energy supply without air preheating, which minimizes specific energy consumption. Experimental studies on drying using a microwave field made possible to select the required process parameters: power, heating rate, mass, and form of loading. We plan to develop a technology for drying of grain using microwave energy based on the study dat