Experimental Investigation of Shelled Corn Drying in Rotary Dryer With Experimental Design Software

Drying of solids is one of the oldest and most common types of operations used in a variety of industries including agriculture, chemical, food, and so on. The heat transfer mechanism in the dryer is often convection or conduction and a small amount of it is from radiation. In this research the drying of shelled corn in rotary dryer is evaluated, and the effect of inlet air temperature in range of 40-70 C and rotational velocity in range of 5-15 rpm to responses including drying time (hr) and product outlet temperature (C) is investigated using Experimental design of a central composite of response surface methodology. The initial and final moisture of shelled corn were 73% and 15% wet basis, respectively. The results showed that the drying time decreased with increasing the air temperature but increased with an increase in rotational velocity. The optimum conditions showed the air inlet temperature of 65/61 C and the rotational velocity of 6.46 rpm was the best conditions for shelled corn drying in a rotary dryer.