Appropriate Thin Layer Drying Model for Paddy Drying with Pneumatic Dryer

Abstract

This research aims to evaluate an appropriate empirical thin layer mathematical model for the moisture ratio of paddy prediction in drying process with a pneumatic dryer. A 20 kg of paddy with initial moisture content 26%w.b. was used as a sample in this experiment. The drying process were tested at drying air temperature 70^ºC and 80^ºC under condition of paddy feed rate 8.45 kg/min and drying air flow rate of 0.0631 m³/s (constant throughout the experiment). The result found that Midilli s’ model was most suitable for predicting the drying characteristics of paddy by a pneumatic dryer under drying air temperature conditions, 70^ºC and 80^ºC when compared to the other empirical models in this study. The highest R² of prediction from Midilli s’ model is 0.999 and 0.998 for drying at 70^ºC and 80^ºC, respectively and the lowest RMSE is 0.0083 and 0.0115 for drying at 70^ºC and 80^ºC, respectively.