Abstract
The study was carried out for the purpose of determining the drying kinetics as well as moisture sorption isotherm of hybrid-81 corn. Corn at about 31% moisture content (wb) was dried in a forced convective hot air cabinet dryer at different drying conditions, such as variable air dry bulb temperature (40°C, 50°C and 60°C) and loading density (3.56 kg/m2, 7.12 kg/m2, and 10.68 kg/m2) as well as in shining sun at different layers (3.56 kg/m2, 7.12 kg/m2, and 10.68 kg/m2). The water sorption isotherm of the dried corn was developed using vacuum desiccators, which contained saturated salt solutions in the range of 11-93% RHs. The mono-layer moisture content calculated by the Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) model (6.76 g/100 g solid) was lesser than that calculated by the Guggenheim–Anderson–De Boer (GAB) model (10.53 g/100 g solid). The energy constants were 10.45 and 4.64 as per BET and GAB equation, respectively. Both models gave suitable fits for corn. The activation energy (Ea) for diffusion of water was found to be 11.09 kcal/gm-mole for corn. Furthermore, it was noticed that, with the increase of corn layer, the drying rate decreased in case of both sun and mechanical drying. However, higher loading density resulted in efficient drying, at least up to 10.7 kg/m2. It was shown that the drying time to obtain stability was the lowest for moisture content (12.08 %) corresponding to aw of 0.65 in case of BET or GAB monolayer moisture content. This finding could be helpful in predicting the storage life of corn.J. Bangladesh Agril. Univ. 15(2): 309-317, December 2017
Highlights
Maize has been being cultivated since the ancient time as it is the most productive crop species
In this study sorption isotherm of dried corn was established to determine how the corn will behave in a confined environment
It is seen that equilibrium moisture content (EMC) value increases with increase in relative humidity
Summary
Maize has been being cultivated since the ancient time as it is the most productive crop species. The major production regions (Kim and Dale, 2004) are North America (42%), Asia (26%), Europe (12%) and South America (9%). It constitutes a staple food in many countries all over the world. Its grain contains 11.2 % protein, 66.2 % carbohydrate, 3.6 % fat, 1.5 % minerals and 2.7 % fibre (Gopalan et al, 1981). It contains 90 mg carotene, 1.18 mg niacin, 0.8 mg thiamine and 0.1 mg riboflavin per 100 g grains
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