Rennie, T.J. and Mercer, D.G. and Tubeileh, A. (2013) Drying characteristics of forage sorghum stalks. Canadian Biosystems Engineering , 55. pp. 11-17.
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Abstract
Forage sorghum has been identified as a potential source of biomass for heating by direct combustion. An important aspect of the production system is crop drying prior to storage or processing, such as pelletizing. In order to properly evaluate the effects of maceration or other similar treatments on the field drying of sorghum, a baseline of the drying characteristics of sorghum needs to be established. This was accomplished by drying samples of sorghum stalks in an Armfield UOP8 laboratory-scale tray dryer at an air temperature of 50°C and air velocity of 0.5 m/s. Stalks were cut into either 200 mm or 50 mm lengths. For some of the 200 mm lengths, the ends were sealed in paraffin wax to duplicate infinite cylinders so that the drying characteristics of the waxy skin could be determined separately from the cut ends. The data was fit to several standard exponential type models, including a two-term Newton model, and a separation of variables model based on Fick’s law. The length of the stalk and the sealing of the ends significantly affected the drying rate. Statistical indicators demonstrated that standard exponential models adequately capture the drying curves and are on par with the separation of variables model. The two-term Newton model and the separation of variables model provided a distinction between the axial and radial moisture migration. Using the separation of variables model, the effective diffusivity of sorghum stalks was determined to be 4.17 x 10-8 and 8.81 x 10-6 m2 /hr in the radial and axial directions, respectively
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Additional Information: | Funding for this study has been provided through the OMAFRA/University of Guelph Research Program. The authors are grateful to AERC Inc. for the supply of the sorghum seeds |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | Drying characteristics, sorghum, biomass crops, effective diffusivity,modelling. |
| Author Affiliation: | School of Environmental Sciences, University of Guelph - kempt Ville Campus, kempt Ville, ON Canada |
| Subjects: | Postharvest Management Statistics and Experimentation Crop Improvement |
| Divisions: | Sorghum |
| Depositing User: | Mr Daneti Raju |
| Date Deposited: | 26 Jan 2014 11:14 |
| Last Modified: | 26 Jan 2014 11:14 |
| URI: | http://eprints.icrisat.ac.in/id/eprint/12368 |
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