Drying of Wheat Based on the Non-Equilibrium Thermodynamics: A Numerical Study

Abstract

A new mathematical model to describe simultaneous heat and mass (liquid and vapor) transfer and shrinkage during drying of capillary-porous bodies with particular reference to prolate spheroid solid is presented. As an application, the methodology was used to predict drying of soft red winter wheat (Arthur). The mathematical model was based on the nonequilibrium thermodynamics considering variable transport coefficients and convective boundary conditions at the surface of the solid. All the partial differential equations presented in the model have been written in prolate spheroidal coordinates and solved numerically by a finite-volume method using implicit fully formulation. Results of the drying and heating kinetics and moisture content and temperature distributions in a wheat kernel during drying process are presented and analyzed. The methodology allows verification of the heat, liquid, and vapor fluxes, taking into account the thermal and hydrical gradients inside the grain.