Moisture content, strength and extractability of rice bran pellets

Abstract

Rice bran pellets become dry and hard during storage. An equation H − H 0 = K(M 0 − M) is proposed relating radial breaking strength (H) of pellets to moisture content (M), where H 0 is the initial strength, M 0 is the initial moisture content and K is a constant. As the pellets become hard, there is a decrease of approximately 2% in the amount of oil extracted during the first 20 min of extraction. However, the strength has no significant effect on total oil extracted which is less by only 0·2% after an extraction period of 140 min.