Ecology, Environment and Conservation Paper

PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF LOW-COST GRAIN DRYER

Abhishek Anand, Saurabh Sid, Mukesh Shrivastva, Dinesh Rajak, Aminul Islam and Monika Jain

Abstract

Paddy is India’s most significant agricultural crop, accounting for more than 40% of the nation’s overall production of food grains. The moisture content of 10.0 to 12.0 %, which is suitable for safe storage, must be achieved after the drying of paddy. Drying of materials having high moisture content is complicated process, involving simultaneous heat and mass transfer. In this study the performance of grain dryer was evaluated for paddy grains for two different paddy varieties, Rajshree weighed 372 kg and Rajendra Kasturi weighed 366 kg with Initial Moisture Content IMC of Rajshree 14.00 % w.b. (V1) and of Rajendra Kasturi 13.40 % w.b. (V2). Initial Moisture Content (all in w.b.) of variety V1 was 14.00 % and of variety V2 was 13.40 %. It was reduced to the Final Moisture Content (all in w.b.) of 10.10 % for variety V1 and 9.60 % for variety V2. It was found that 1000 grains weight of paddy grains was reduced due to loss of moisture. It is also observed that average length and average breadth of grains decreases with decrease in moisture content for both the varieties of paddy grains. It was found that the bulk density of paddy grains after drying was 578.9 kg/m 3 and 555.58 kg/m3 V1 and V2. Decrease in bulk density is natural phenomenon during drying which was also observed here. It was observed that percent moisture reduction was lower at initial stage of drying for variety V1, which became higher at later stage of drying. However, the percent moisture reduction was higher at initial stage of drying for variety V2, which became lower at later stage of drying. Paddy was dried up to 10.10 % and 9.60 % for variety V1 and V2 respectively during this time. The drying efficiency for both varieties V1 and V2 was found as 35.36 % and 36.85 % respectively. The heat utilization factor and coefficient of performance was found as 0.948 and 0.052 for variety V1 and 0.960 and 0.040 for V2. Grain dryer is capable of drying paddy grains within reasonable time. Temperature and moisture profiles during paddy drying are found well accepted for drying of paddy. The quality of dried paddy grains was reasonably good and acceptable. Considering the level of technology and the capacity, the dryer meets the requirements of paddy traders and farmers of Bihar.