1Research Engineer, AICRP on Post-Harvest Engineering and Technology, Department of Agricultural Processing and Food Engineering, Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology, Bhubaneswar-751003, India
2Professor, AICRP on Post-Harvest Engineering and Technology, Department of Agricultural Processing and Food Engineering, Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology, Bhubaneswar-751003, India
3Associate Professor, AICRP on Post-Harvest Engineering and Technology, Department of Agricultural Processing and Food Engineering, Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology, Bhubaneswar-751003, India
4Professor, AICRP on Post-Harvest Engineering and Technology, Department of Agricultural Processing and Food Engineering, Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology, Bhubaneswar-751003, India
5Assistant Research Engineer, AICRP on Post-Harvest Engineering and Technology, Department of Agricultural Processing and Food Engineering, Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology, Bhubaneswar-751003, India
6Assistant Biochemist, AICRP on Post-Harvest Engineering and Technology, Department of Agricultural Processing and Food Engineering, Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology, Bhubaneswar-751003, India
*Corresponding author email address: nr_s2002@yahoo.co.in
Online Published on 05 December, 2022.
A mobile two-way air flow flat-bed paddy dryer of 3-tonne capacity was developed and evaluated. With the provision of a two-way air flow arrangement for reversal of air direction, drying was uniform along the grain bed depth of 500 mm without the need to mix the grain during drying. The moisture content differential among different layers at 200 mm spacing was 3.1% and 0.80% for one-way upward and two-way reversible air flow mode, respectively. Specific energy consumption was 4.86 MJ.kg−1 and 4.34 MJ.kg−1, whereas the drying efficiency was 49.4% and 55.3% for conventional one-directional and bi-directional reversible air flow mode, respectively. Head rice yield was 4.4% more for paddy dried in two-way reversible air flow mode as compared to conventional one-direction upward air flow drying. The cost of drying was less in two-way (reversible) air flow mode (₹ 9.80 per kg water) as compared to one-direction air flow mode (₹ 11.06 per kg water).
Flat-bed dryer, Paddy dryer performance, Milling quality, Two-way reversible air flow
