Investigation of Sorption Isotherm Curves for Corn Seed (Three Way Cross 647and Single Cross 704)

Isotherm curves are useful for the designing of dryer as well as controling of the seed moisture content during storage and drying process. To study the curves, this research was performed on the basis of two factorial experiments including three factors: (1) hybrid at two levels (Three Way Cross 647 and Single Cross 704) (2) temperature at 6 levels (from 5 to 55°C) and (3) Relative Humidity (RH) at 5 levels (from 10 to 90 percent) for the analysis of the adsorption and desorption phenomena. For maintaining RH at the above mentioned ranges, glycerol solutions with different concentrations were used. The results showed that the relationship between solutions concentration and their RH was non-linear and somewhat related to temperature. Also, statistical analysis displayed that for 3 factors of tepmerature , RH and hybrid, the effects on Equilibrium Moisture Content (EMC) in both adsorption and desorption phenomena were significant at α=1%. Comparisons of means showed that hybrid 704 had higher EMC values than did hybrid 647 under the same conditions, in other words, hybrid 704 produced lower aw than did hybrid 647 at the same moisture content. Fitting experimental values on non-linear models (Henderson, Chung-Pfost and Oswin) showed Oswin as the best model for adsorption and desorption curves for hybrid 704 and also for adsorption curve for hybrid 647 , but the best model for desorption curve for hybrid 647 was Chung-Pfost.