Sorption drying of soybean seeds with silica gel in a fluidized bed dryer.

摘要

Soybean seeds were contacted with silica gel in a fluidized bed, where mass transfer is driven by moisture concentration gradient. It has the advantage of well-mixing the solid adsorbent (silica gel) with the material being dried (soybean seeds) in fluidization state, and thus the dried seeds quality could be improved since they are in a uniform environment of low humidity. The drying kinetics was compared under different mass ratios and fluidization conditions. The drying rate was improved with the gas velocity and mass ratio of silica gel. A scheme of sorption drying in a hybrid process of fluidized/fixed bed is proposed in the viewpoint of energy efficiency and product quality.