Abstract
This study analyzed the drying efficiency of a prototype low temperature closed-cycle grain drying system. The main principle of this drying system was the heat pump system working as a dehumidifier. The main component of this drying equipment included a compressor, a condenser, twin evaporators, and a fan. Two drying studies (denoted as trial 1 and trial 2) were conducted to assess the overall drying performance of this low temperature drying system. To calculate the drying efficiency, the total energy consumption was divided by the amount of water removal for each trial; the drying efficiency was reported in the form of Btu/lb of water removal. We also tested corn seed germination to determine if this drying process had an effect on seed germination performance. The drying efficiency results for trial 1 and 2 were 1036 Btu/lb water removal and 869 Btu/lb water removal, respectively; compared to other on-farm drying methods this drying system had fairly high drying efficiency. The germination test results showed that this drying system had no adverse effect on germination performance.
Highlights
For corn production in Iowa, on-farm drying was the major way for post harvest corn drying
The system average drying efficiency was calculated as 0.275 kWh/lb of water removal (953 between power consumption (Btu)/lb of water removal) of water removal, with the standard deviation of 0.025 kWh/lb of water removal (68.9 Btu/lb of water removal)
The trial 1 and trial 2 was conducted under a similar temperature condition which was 13 to 25 degree Celsius, the main reason caused the efficiency difference was before we started the trial 1 the whole drying system had not been operated for a while, and it took time to get the drying system work in the best condition and start to remove water from the corn
Summary
For corn production in Iowa, on-farm drying was the major way for post harvest corn drying. High temperature grain drying was much faster, it will result in reduce of the grain quality and germination performance. Seyedin et al (1984) reported that the corn seed germination performance could be significantly reduced by high temperature drying and by analyzing the shoot and root dry matter the seedling vigor was significantly reduced. The maximum grain drying temperature was reported by Hall (1980), for corn used as seed the maximum safe temperature was 43 °C while for commercial corn the maximum safe drying temperature was 54 °C. The highest 82 °C safe drying temperature was the corn used as animal feed. This indicates that low temperature grain drying was important for seed or commercial used corn
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