Archive - Abstract
Vol.55 No.1 (March, 2024)
- Technical Papers (Japanese)
Mobile Grain Dryer Performance with Emphasis on Corn Drying
- Genta KANAI， Yoshiya SHINOTO， Kazuhiro TAKEKURA and Yoshimichi YAMASHITA
- In recent years， whereas domestic grain dryers for corn have begun to be marketed， some foreign-made mobile dryers， which can achieve mass drying through high-temperature， high-speed drying， are also being used. After conducting drying tests of corn， paddy rice， and wheat with a foreign-made mobile circulating dryer to provide a reference for Japanese farmers who wish to introduce foreign-made dryers for general-purpose use， we obtained the following findings based on several drying temperature measurements taken at 1 or 2 points.
For corn， at drying temperatures higher than 75–80 °C， the energy consumption of a burner for removing 1 kg water tended to be lower， at 3.5 and 4.7 MJ/kg， than the 5.5–6.0 MJ/kg found from a trial of a domestic circulating dryer when no blow-through occurred. Quality met the criteria for US Grade No. 3.
For rice， the drying temperature was higher than 65–70 °C. The energy consumption of the burner for removing 1 kg water was 4.2 and 4.5 MJ/kg， which were both higher than 4.08 MJ/kg at the drying temperature of 70 °C described in an earlier report. The grain cracking ratios were 19.4% and 57.3%. As explained in the earlier report， the high cracking ratio caused by high-speed drying with high temperature can only be justified for rice intended for use as feed.
For wheat， the energy consumption of a burner for removing 1 kg water was 5.8 MJ/kg at a drying temperature of 79 °C. Because blow-through occurred from insufficient charging of grain， the energy consumption is regarded as even lower when a sufficient quantity is charged. The falling number value， which is an indication of starch quality， was 377. No starch degradation was found.
Keywords: high temperature drying， mobile dryer， corn， rice， wheat
