Minimum Specific Airflow Rate Requirements for Natural Air Drying of Rough Rice in Korea

벼 상온통풍건조의 최소풍량비에 관한 연구

The purposes of this study were to develop a simulation model and to determine minimum specific airflow rate requirements for natural air drying of rough rice in Korea. A simulation model was developed considering energy and mass balances within grain bed, drying and rewetting rates, and hysterisis effect between sorption and desorption isotherms. As the results of validation test, the moisture contents predicted by the model agreed very well with the actual data. The criteria for determining minimum specific airflow rate requirements was that the top loom layer in the bin be dried to a moisture content below 16 percent wet basis with less than 0.5% drymatter decomposition. The minimum specific airflow rate requirements in 13 locations of Korea were presented based on the worst one among the past 7 to 13-year weather data. These requirements were also presented for all the combinations of three harvest dates and four harvest moisture contents. Specific airflow rate requirements seemed to be half by each 2 percent reduction in moisture content from 24 percent. As harvest date was delayed by 10 days from October 1, these requirements were reduced by about 20 to 40 percent.