Modeling of moisture diffusivity, activation energy and specific energy consumption of high moisture corn in a fixed and fluidized bed convective dryer

Thin layer drying characteristics of high moisture corn under fixed, semi fluidized and fluidized bed conditions with high initial moisture content (66.82% wb) in a laboratory fluidized bed convective dryer was studied at air temperatures of 50, 65, 80 and 95°C. In order to find a suitable drying curve, seven thin layer-drying models were fitted to the experimental data of moisture ratio. Among the applied mathematical models, Midilli et al. model was the best for drying behavior prediction in corn thin layer drying. This model presented high values for correlation coefficient (R2). Fick´s second law was used to compute moisture diffusivity with some simplifications. Computed values of moisture diffusivity varied at the boundary of 4.87 × 10–11 – 2.90 × 10–10 m2 s–1 and 1.02 × 10–10 – 1.29 × 10–9 m2 s–1 during the first and second drying falling-rate, respectively. Values of effective moisture diffusivity for corn were also increased as input air temperature was increased. Value of activation energy varied from a minimum of 18.57 to a maximum of 50.74 kJ mol–1 from 50 to 95°C with drying conditions of fixed to fluidized bed. Specific energy consumption (SEC) for thin-drying of high moisture corn was found to be in the range of 0.33 × 106 – 1.52 × 106 kJ kg–1 from 50 to 95°C with drying condition of fluidized and fixed bed, respectively. Increase in air temperature in each air velocity caused decrease in SEC value. These corn properties would be necessary to design the best dryer system and to determine the best point of drying process.