Natural Air/Low Temperature Rice Drying: Feasibility of Application in the North-West of Italy by Means of Simulation

RICARDO BARTOSIK; REMIGIO BERRUTO; PAOLA BUSATO; PIETRO PICCAROLO

Novara, Italia

Conferencia; 4th International Temperate Rice Conference; 2007

In Italy most of the rice is dried with medium temperature continuous flow drying systems. These drying systems are complex, expensive and have the potential of damaging the grain quality if not operated properly (fissuring and loss of the head rice). By the energetic point of view, this process uses 21.000 t/y of oil with emissions of about 58.800 tons of CO2. Natural air/low temperature in-bin drying (NA/LT) could be an alternative to continuous flow drying. In this research, simulation was used to study the potential of using NA/LT in-bin drying of rice in the North region of Italy using local weather conditions. The study focused on drying of rough rice, harvested from Sep. 10 to Oct. 3, with four initial moisture contents (MCs) from 25 to 16% with two different grain depths. Four drying strategies were simulated: Fan running continuously with natural air; Fan running continuously with constant heating of the air of 3°C; Fan running with equilibrium moisture content windows; Fan running with equilibrium moisture content windows and smart supplemental heat. All the NA/LT strategies were able to dry the grain at 6 m depth while at 4 m grain depth the CNA and EMC strategies failed. The best strategy was chosen on the basis of the total drying time and total energy required (for both the fan and burner).