Relationship between thermal driving force and moisture removal characteristics during corn drying in an LPG fired single cylinder rotary dryer

I.G.B. Susana, R. Sutanto

Abstract


Drying is an essential post-harvest process to reduce the moisture content of shelled corn to a safe storage level while maintaining product quality. This study investigated the thermal and mass transfer characteristics of shelled corn drying in an LPG-fired single-cylinder rotary dryer operating at a constant air velocity of 7.9 m/s. The drying performance was evaluated based on temperature distribution, thermal driving force, moisture removal, drying rate, moisture ratio, and the relationship between thermal driving force and drying rate. Temperature measurements included inlet air, outlet air, ambient air, and material temperatures. The results showed that the inlet air temperature remained relatively stable at 70.5–72.5°C, while the material temperature gradually increased from 61.4 to 66.7°C during drying, indicating stable heat transfer conditions. Moisture removal and drying rate continuously decreased with drying time due to the reduction of free moisture and the increasing resistance to internal moisture migration. Regression analysis demonstrated a positive relationship between thermal driving force and drying rate. The temperature difference between the material and outlet air produced a stronger correlation with drying rate than the temperature difference between inlet air and material. These findings indicate that temperature deference two is a more representative thermal driving force parameter for describing heat and mass transfer during convective drying of shelled corn. The study provides useful information for evaluating and optimizing the thermal performance of rotary drying systems.


Keywords


Shelled corn; Rotary dryer; Thermal driving force; Heat-mass transfer; Drying rate

Full Text:

PDF

References


Arpaci, E., Atayilmaz, S.O., Gemici, Z., Exploring mathematical modeling and CFD in convective drying of fruits and vegetables: A review, Food and Bioprocess Technology, 18, 3195-3222, 2025.

Asrate, D.A., Ali, A.N., Review on the recent trends of food dryer technologies and optimization methods of drying parameters, Applied Food Research, 5(1), 100927, 2025.

Baidhe, E., Clementson, C.L., Hellevang, K., Zhulu, L., Comprehensive analysis of drying kinetics, heat and mass transfer, and thermodynamic properties in high-temperature drying of high-moisture corn,

Journal of Food Process Engineering, 48, e70159, 2025.

Bergman, T.L., Lavine, A.S., Incropera, F.P., DeWitt, D.P., Fundamentals of Heat and Mass Transfer, 8th ed., John Wiley & Sons, New York, 2017.

Bhattacharjee, S., Mohanty, P., Sahu, J.K., Sahu, J.N., A critical review on drying of food materials: Recent progress and key challenges, International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer, 158, 107863, 2024.

Brooker, D.B., Bakker-Arkema, F.W. Hall, C.W., Drying and Storage of Grain and Oilseeds, 4th ed., Van Nostrad, 1992.

Celik, E., Parlak, N., Meral, Z.K., Cay, Y., Experimental investigation of convective drying behavior of in-shell hazelnuts: moisture diffusivity, transport phenomena, and pressure drop, Heat Mass Transfer, 62, 99, 2026.

Cengel, Y.A., Ghajar, A.J., Heat and mass transfer: Fundamentals and Applications, 6th ed., McGraw-Hill, New York, 2020.

Chen, S., Qin, Z., Wang, T., Zhang, J., Zhang, R., Zou, Y., Shi, J., Modeling and simulation of mass transfer in food processing: recent advances in governing equations, workflow, and applications, Foods, 15(12),2084, 2026.

Defraeye, T., Advanced computational modelling for drying processes - A review, Applied Energy, 131, 323–344, 2014.

Doymaz, I., Convective air drying characteristics of thin layer carrots, Journal of Food Engineering, 61(3), 359-364, 2004.

Ge, M., Chen, G., Liu, W, Liu, C., Study of heat and mass transfer during drying process of maize grain pile based on computed tomography, Biosystems Engineering, 248, 82-96, 2024.

He, J., Song, W., Li, J., Ding, T., Guan, J., Wu, J., Wang, J., Study on a moisture ratio curve model for refractance window drying based on a d-optimal mixture design, Journal of Food Quality, 1, 8604374, 2024.

Keshavarziyan, F., Mirzaei, H., Firouz, M.S., Mahonak, A.S., Khanali, M., Shamsabadi, H.A.T., Optimization and analysis of heat and mass transfer parameters during hot air frying of chicken fillet, Applied Food Research, 5(1), 100818, 2025.

Kilic, M., Sahin, M., Hassan, A., Ullah, A., Preservation of fruits through drying—A comprehensive review of experiments and modeling approaches, Journal of Food Process Engineering, 47(3), e14568, 2024.

Midilli, A., Kucuk, H., Yapar, Z., A new model for single-layer drying, Drying Technology, 20(7), 1503-1513, 2002.

Mihret, Y.K., Hailemesikel, S.T., Alemu, A.G., Delele, M.A., Modeling the drying kinetics, performance evaluation, and economic analysis of rice drying using a rice husk-fueled mixed-flow dryer, Energy Conversion and Management: X, 24, 100774, 2024.

Montgomery, D.C., Peck, E.A., Vining, G.G., Introduction to Linear Regression Analysis, 6th ed., John Wiley & Sons, 2021.

Mujumdar, A.S., Handbook of Industrial Drying, 4th ed., CRC Press, Taylor & Francis Group, New York, 2014.

Nowacka, M., Matys, A., Witrowa-Rajchert, D., Innovative technologies for improving the sustainability of the food drying industry, Current Food Science and Technology Reports, 2, 231-239, 2024.

Poos, T., Varju, E., Review for convection based evaporation of open liquid surface and equations of evaporation rate, International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer, 157, 107755, 2024.

Ramachandran, R.P., Nadimi, M., Cenkowski, S., Paliwal, J., Advancement and innovations in drying of biopharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals, and functional foods, Food Engineering Reviews, 16, 540–566, 2024.

Singh, R.P., Heldman, D.R., Introduction to Food Engineering, 5th ed., Academic Press, 2014.

Susana, I G.B., Alit, I.B., Okariawan, I D.K., Rice husk energy rotary dryer experiment for improved solar drying thermal performance on cherry coffee, Case Studies in Thermal Engineering, 41, 102616, 2023.

Yan, Y., Ding, T., Wang, J., Chen, X., Xu, J., Research progress regarding heat and mass transfer characteristics of agricultural products under different drying methods, and associated applications: A review, Foods, 15(14), 2530, 2026.




DOI: https://doi.org/10.29303/dtm.v16i2.1350

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Copyright (c) 2026 Open access

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.