The amount of moisture in a product is given on the basis of the weight of water present in the product and is usually

expressed in percent.

Wet basis : The moisture content is expressed as

Percent M.C.=(Weight of water in sample)/(Weight of sample)×100

Dry basis : The moisture content is expressed as

Percent M.C.=(Weight of water in sample)/(Weight of dry matter in sample)×100

Note: Value of d.b. moisture content is always higher than w.b.

There are several methods for determination for moisture content of agricultural products. Choice of the methods
depends on many factors:

• Form in which water is present in the product

• Relative amount of water present

• Rapidity of determination

• Accuracy required

• Nature of the product

Cost of equipment used

Moisture content determination methods may be broadly classified as:

1) Direct or primary

2) Indirect or secondary

•The accuracy of moisture content determination by direct methods is high, hence these methods are used by
research workers.

•The moisture content values obtained by direct methods are used to calibrate indirect type moisture
measuring devices.

•The direct methods of moisture determination are time consuming therefore, such methods are not very much
useful for determination of moisture in field, mandi or warehouses.

•Indirect methods are faster and mostly employ physical properties of grains that can be correlated to moisture
content.

•Air Oven method

In this method the temperature of the oven is set at 130˚C and the samples are kept in oven for 1-2 hours.
Afterwards, the samples are taken out and placed in a desiccator to cool down. The drop in the weight of grain is
measured based on its initial weight.

oTwo stage method:

Used for grains with high initial moisture. Firstly grains are kept in oven at 130˚C for 12-14 hrs until the moistute
content is reduced to 12-13 %. Then the remaining moisture content is determined by regular method

Fractional Distillation Method

•Moisture from the sample is evaporated, collected and condensed in a graduated cylinder.

•The millilitre of moisture collected shows the percentage moisture content. The determined moisture content
is on wet basis.

•In this method the temperature of mineral oil in flask should reach to 200ºC within 26 minutes. The time
required for moisture determination is about 30 minutes.

•If the temperature of the mineral oil reaches to desired temperature within time, the moisture content
determination is found to be fairly accurate, when samples of grains are the tune of 1 to 1.5% is possible.

Infrared method

In this method, grain moisture content is directly measured by evaporation of the

water from a sample of grain with an infrared heating lamp. The instrument consists
of a balance, a pan counter balanced by a fixed weight and a variable length of
weighing chain. A scale calibrated in percentage moisture content is incorporated in
the stem of the instrument. The sample of grains may be unground, but when ground
sample is used, the time needed to evaporate the water is reduced

Karl Fischer Titration method

The method is based on the reaction of water with iodine (I₂) and sulfur dioxide (SO₂) in the presence of an
alcohol (usually methanol) and a base.

The overall reaction is:

H2O+I2+SO2+3RN+CH3OH → 2RNHI+RNH⋅SO4CH3

Where:

•RN = organic base (commonly imidazole or pyridine)

•Water reacts stoichiometrically with iodine.

Thus, the amount of iodine consumed is directly proportional to the amount of water present.

Indirect Methods

•Electrical Resistance method:

The electrical conductivity or resistance of a product depends upon its moisture content. The universal
moisture meter measures the electrical resistance of the grain at a given compaction. It gives fairly accurate
readings of moisture content on wet basis.

•Dielectric method:

These devices measures the dielectric constant of the grains. The grains are filled in chamber. The sides of the
chamber is formed by the plates of condenser between which high frequency current is passed to measure the
capacitance of the sample. The capacitance varies as per the moisture present in the sample, degree of
compaction and the grain temperature .

Optical methods

•Infrared spectroscopy : Infrared(IR) spectroscopy is one of the most common methods for remote sensing of
moisture content in soils and for moisture measurement in a variety of biological samples, including food. The
measurement principle is based on the capacity of molecules and atoms to be excited by light absorption at
different wavelengths. IR electromagnetic radiation can be used to quantify moisture content based on the
reflection and absorption of this radiation by water molecules especially prominent at around 3300cm−1.

•Hyperspectral Imaging: Data in hyperspectral imaging is presented in the spatial direction, which is useful for
extracting information with minimum loss. Reflectance is the most common mode for hyperspectral imaging and
is usually carried out in the Vis – NIR (400–1000nm) or NIR (1000–1700nm) range. Advantage of HIS is its ability
to carry out non-destructive measurements of irregular shaped objects during the “on-line” drying process.

Other methods

•Using EM waves: This method determines the moisture content by measuring the propagation delays of the
electromagnetic waves in a material using a single frequency or various frequencies to simultaneously measure
one or two electrical parameters

•Hydrogen NMR: Moisture content is determined based on the effect of electromagnetic radiation on the
angular momentum or spin of atomic nuclei (hydrogen proton being the most commonly used) with odd
numbers of protons and neutrons.

•Hygrometry: Equilibrium RH of surrounding atmosphere is determine using sensors. It is correlated with the aw
of substance.

•Important factors affecting the rate of drying are

1. Initial moisture content of the raw material

2. Composition of raw material

3. Initial load of the food kept in dryer

4. Size, shape and arrangement of stacking of the raw material

5. Temperature, relative humidity and velocity of air used for drying

6. Rate of heat transfer on the surface of the food

7. Pre-treatment of the raw material prior to drying (peeling, blanching, sulphuring etc.)

NATURAL AIR DRYERS

•Commonly done for on-farm drying of small volume of grains

•Usually performed in grain storage bin

•Full bin drying or Layer drying system is followed

•Supplemental heat can be used if required

•Ambient RH should not exceed 70 % and grain m.c. should be less than 20 %

Air Distribution systems

•Perforated floor

•Central horizontal duct

•Main duct and laterals

•Vertical slotted duct

•Propeller or centrifugal type blowers are used for aeration

HEATED AIR DRYERS

Flat Bed Type Batch Dryer

•This is a static, deep bed, batch dryer. This type of batch dryer is very simple in design and is most popular for
on-farm drying in many countries.

Construction

•The size of the dryer depends on the area of the supporting perforated screen on which the grain is placed.

•The holding capacity of these dryers ranges from 0.25 to 1 tonne/batch only.

•The horse power of the motor for the blower ranges from ¼ to 1.

•For convenience an oil burner can be used but for economy a husk fired furnace should be used for the supply
of heat.

Operation:

The grain is placed on the supporting screen and the heated air is forced through the deep bed of grain. After
drying of grains to the desired moisture level, they are discharged manually. The temperature of the heated air
should be limited to 45℃. The drying rate varies from 20 to 40 m3/min per 1000 kg of raw paddy depending on
the initial moisture content.

•Advantages:
1) Fairly reasonable price

2) Intermittent drying can also be used

3) Operation is very simple

4) It can be used for seed drying and for storage purpose also after drying

5) It can be manufactured locally using various types of materials like steel sheet, wood piece etc.

Disadvantages:

1) Rate of drying is slow

2) Uneven drying which results in higher percentage of brokens in grains

3) Holding capacity is small compared to flow dryers.

Recirculatory Batch Dryer (PHTC type)

➢ This is a continuous flow non mixing type of grain dryer.

Construction

• The dryer consists of two concentric circular cylinders made of perforated (2 mm dia) mild steel sheet of 20
gauge.

• The two cylinders are set 15 to 20cm apart. These two cylinders are supported on four channel sections. The
whole frame can be supported by a suitable foundation or may be bolted to a frame made of channel section.

• A bucket elevator of suitable capacity is used to feed and recirculate the grain into the dryer.

•A centrifugal blower blows the hot air into the inner cylinder which acts as a plenum.

•The hot air from the plenum passes through the grain moving downward by gravity and comes out of the outer
perforated cylinder.

•A torch burner is employed to supply the necessary heat with kerosene oil as fuel.

•The designs of PHTC dryer for ½ , 1 and 2 tonnes holding capacity are available.

•The PHTC dryer of 2 tonnes holding capacity developed at PHTC, IIT, Kharagpur, India is shown in fig.

Operation

• The grain is fed to the top of the inside cylinder. While descending through the annular space from the feed end
to the discharge end by gravity, the grain comes in contact with a cross flow of hot air.

• The exhaust air comes out through the perforations of the outer cylinder and the grain is discharged through
the outlet of the hopper.

• The feed rate of grain is controlled by closing or opening the gate provided with the outer pipe of the discharge
hopper.
• The grain is recirculated till it is dried to the desired moisture level.

Advantages:

1. Price is reasonable

2. Simplest design amongst all flow type dryers

3. Easy to operate

4. It can be used on the farm and rice mill as well

5. Operating cost is low with husk fired furnace.

Disadvantages:

1. Drying is not so uniform as compared to mixing type

2. Perforations of the cylinders may be clogged with the parboiled paddy after using it for a long time.

Louisiana State University Dryer (LSU dryer)

➢ This is a continuous flow-mixing type of grain dryer

Construction

It consists of

1) a rectangular drying chamber fitted with air ports and the holding bin

2) an air blower with duct

3) grain discharging mechanism with a hopper bottom

4) an air heating system.

1) Rectangular bin: Usually the following top square sections of the bin are used for the design of LSU dryer.

i) 1.2m x 1.2m, ii) 1.5m x 1.5m, iii) 1.8m x 1.8m and iv) 2.1m x 2.1m

➢ The rectangular bin can be divided into two sections, namely top holding bin and bottom drying chamber.

2) Air distribution system:

• Layers of inverted V-shaped channels (called inverted V ports) are installed in the drying chamber.

• Heated air is introduced at many points through the descending grain bulk through these channels.

• One end of each air channel has an opening and the other end is sealed. Alternate layers are air inlet and air
outlet channels.

• All these ports of same size are arranged in equal spacing between them. The number of ports containing a
dryer varies widely depending on the size of the dryer.
3) Grain discharging mechanism:

• Three or more ribbed rollers are provided at the bottom of the drying chamber which can be rotated at
different low speeds for different discharge rates of grains.

• The grain is discharged through a hopper fixed at the bottom of the drying chamber. Causing some mixing of
grain and air the discharge system at the base of the dryer also regulates the rate of fall of the grain.

4) Air heating system:

• The air is heated by burning gaseous fuels such as natural gas, butane gas, etc, or liquid fuels such as kerosene,
furnace oil, fuel oil etc, or solid fuels like coal, husk, etc.

• Heat can be supplied directly by the use of gas burner or oil burner or husk fired furnace and indirectly by the
use of heat exchangers.

• Indirect heating is always less efficient than direct firing system. However, oil fired burner or gas burners
should be immediately replaced by husk fired furnace for economy of grain drying.

•In general, the capacity of the dryer varies from 2 to 12 tonnes of grain, but sometimes dryers of higher
capacities are also installed.

•Recommended air flow rate is 60-70 m3/min/tonne of parboiled paddy and optimum air temperatures are 60 ℃
and 85℃ for raw and parboiled paddy respectively.

•Advantages:

1. Uniformly dried product can be obtained if the dryer is designed properly

2. The dryer can be used for different types of grains.

•Disadvantages:

1. High capital investment

2. Cost of drying is very high if oil is used as fuel.

Baffle Dryer

➢ This is a continuous flow mixing type of grain dryer.

Construction

• The baffle dryer consists of: 1) grain receiving bin, 2) drying chamber fitted with baffles, 3) plenum fitted with
hot air inlet, 4) grain discharge control device and 5)hopper bottom.

• A number of baffles are fitted with the drying chamber to divert the flow and effect certain degree of mixing of
grain.

• The two baffle plates with the outer and inner sides are set 20cm apart for the passage of the grain in the
drying chamber. The dryer is made of mild steel sheet.
Operation:

• Grain is fed at the top of the receiving bin and allowed to move downward in a zigzag path through the drying
chamber where it encounters a cross flow of hot air.

• On account of zigzag movement, a certain degree of mixing of grain takes place.

• The particularly dried grain discharged from the hopper bottom is recirculated by a bucket elevator until it is
dried to the desired moisture level.

• Some of the dryers are fitted with a large overhead bin at the top which acts as an overhead tempering bin.

Advantages:

1. Uniformly dried product is obtained

Disadvantages:

1. Ratio of the volume of plenum to the total volume of the dryer is relatively high.

2. Grains on the baffle plates move slowly than that of other sections.

Rotary Dryer

➢ This is continuous dryer as it produces the final dried product continuously.

• Horizontal rotary dryers of various designs have been developed by different countries for the drying of
parboiled paddy.

• Some of them are fitted with external steam jacket and internal steam tubes as well.

• As parboiled paddy can stand high temperature without significant increase of cracks in grains, these dryers
can be employed for rapid drying of parboiled paddy using temperatures as high as 100 to 110℃.

• In India, the Jadavpur University, Calcutta introduced a rotary dryer of 1 tonne/hr capacity for the drying of
parboiled paddy.

Construction

• It consists of a cylindrical shell 9.15 m long and 1.22 m in diameter, with 48 pairs of 5 cm and 3.75 cm size steam
pipes in two concentric rows inside the shell in combination with common steam inlet and condensate outlet
fittings.

• The shell is equipped with six longitudinal flights of 9.15m long and 15.24 cm wide for lifting and forward
movement of the parboiled paddy towards the discharge end while it is being dried.

• The dryer is equipped with an air blower and a small steam tube heat exchanger for supplying heated air at the
entrance of the feed end breeching box.

• The cylindrical shell of the dryer is rotated at 2 to 6 rpm by a motor through speed reduction gear, pulley and
belt drive system.
Operation

• The soaked and steamed paddy is fed to the dryer by the screw feeder.

• Heated air at about 80 ℃ is blown (from the feed end) through the dryer in the same direction as paddy moves
and exhausted through the exhaust pipe. Heated air acts here mainly as a carrier of moisture from the dryer.

• While traveling from the feed end to the discharge end of the dryer the parboiled paddy comes in contact with
the steam heated pipes for a very short time in each rotation and is gradually dried to about 16% moisture
content in a single pass.

• Therefore, drying is accomplished mainly by the conduction of heat from the steam pipe to the grain.

• The traveling time of the grain in the dryer is adjusted to 30 to 45 min by adjusting inclination and rpm of the
dryer.

• The hot paddy discharged from the dryer is then aerated by passing it through a cup and cone type cooler.

ØAdvantages:

1. Fast rate of drying

2. Uniform drying of all grains

3. Milling quality of parboiled paddy is high if it is dried in two passes under optimum drying conditions.

ØDisadvantages:

1. Complicated design

2. Needs careful attention

3. Higher capital investment

4. Higher power requirement

5. Operating cost may be high due to higher consumption of electricity and steam.

6. The dryer being horizontal larger floor space is required.

7. Generally only 30 per cent of the dryer volume is utilized.

8. It cannot be used for all types of freshly harvested grains.

PERFORMANCE MEASURES

•Thermal efficiency

It is defined as the latent heat of evaporation credited to the heat energy of the fuel charged.

•Heat Utilization Factor (H.U.F.)

HUF is the ratio of temperature decrease due to cooling of air during drying to the temperature increase due
to heating of air.

HUF=(Heat utilized)/(Heat supplied)=(t_1-t_2)/(t_1-t_0 )

•Coefficient of Performance (C.O.P)

COP=(t_2-t_0)/(t_1-t_0 )

t0 = d.b.t. of ambient air

t1 = d.b.t. of drying air

t2 = d.b.t. of exhaust air

HUF = 1 – COP

•Effective heat efficiency (E.H.E.)

It considers the sensible heat of drying air as being effective heat for drying

EHE=(t_1-t_2)/(t_1-t_w1 )

tw1 = w.b.t. of drying air