Modeling heat and mass transfer in grain drying processes under the influence of electromagnetic field

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Drying of grain materials by traditional convective methods typically involves significant energy consumption, primarily due to unproductive losses of thermal energy with the exhausted drying agent. Optimizing this process entails reducing the volume of drying agent used and compensating for reduced thermal energy through non-contact heat transfer methods such as microwave (MW) or infrared (IR) irradiation. However, mathematical modeling of these processes requires refinement as they differ from traditional convective heat drying processes. Grain drying is a complex thermophysical process, with heat and moisture transfer occurring within the capillary-porous material in a mutually dependent manner. To better understand these processes, it is necessary to establish mathematical models that account for the influence of the electromagnetic field. This article aims to theoretically investigate the drying process of plant raw materials under the influence of MW and IR electromagnetic fields based on analytical mathematical models. The conducted research indicates the potential of using electromagnetic fields to intensify the drying of plant raw materials, particularly through MW and IR irradiation, which allows for targeted heating of the moist zones of the material. The obtained analytical dependencies enable the calculation of temperature and moisture content fields in materials and determine the degree of influence of electromagnetic field parameters on heating and drying processes. These dependencies also help to more accurately identify heat and mass transfer model coefficients based on experiments. Such an analytical-empirical approach can be utilized to calculate rational processing regimes for grain raw materials under the influence of electromagnetic fields.