Effect of air temperature and flow rate on energy consumption and drying rate of three paddy varieties in fluidized bed dryer

With the development of modern drying paddy in addition to speed up the drying process, and in particular the amount of waste can be reduced to the minimum possible energy consumption. In this study was investigate the effect of input air temperature, input air flow rate and variety also their interaction on energy consumption and drying rate in the fluidized bed dryer. The parameters of input air temperature at 4 levels of 45, 50, 55 and 60 °C, the air flow rate at 3 levels of 0/12, 0/14 and 0/16 m3/s and variety of paddy at 3 levels Tarom, Fajr and Shirudi was considered and tests was done in three replication in form of a 3×3×4 the 3-factor factorial design. The results indicated that In all three varieties tested, by increasing the intake air temperature as well as reduced energy consumption, drying rate also increased significantly. At 45 and 50 ° C, increasing air flow grain drying had no significant effect on the rate But at 55 and 60 ° C by increasing the flow rate of drying significantly increased. The results showed that by increasing air flow, increased energy consumption.