A particulate medium thermal Processor was designed and fabricated to dry, roast, disinfest and de-germinate cereal grains. The components are: a particulate heater, medium and grain mixer, separation unit and aeration unit. Comparative tests showed that particulate medium heating was 5 times faster and 87% more efficient than convective heating. Although the drying efficiency was 95% higher in the convection system, the overall use of input energy was 28% higher in the Processor. / Drying of corn was investigated at 500kg/h. High moisture removal was achieved at initial moisture contents of 19% and 24% using salt at initial medium temperature of 250ºC. The highest moisture removal achieved was 6.17% (w.b.) with a corn flow rate of 500 kg/h, initial moisture content of 19%, initial medium temperature of 250°C, and a 60 s contact time. / Soybean was roasted in the Processor at 500 kg/h. Initial medium temperatures of 175, 200 and 250°C resulted in grain temperatures of 104, 107 and 127°C, respectively, for a contact time of 60 s. An average of 4.11% (w.b.) moisture reduction was achieved from commercially dried soybean at 6.8% initial moisture content. / A preliminary study showed grain temperatures over 67°C was sufficient to achieve 100% insect mortality of Sitophilus granarius for a 30 s exposure. These temperature and contact time data were used for evaluating the possibility of thermal disinfestation using the Processor. Tests on wheat processed at 1000 kg/h showed that grain temperatures rose to between 69.8°C and 72.9°C for exposure times of 60s. These results were achieved at thermal efficiencies of 43% and 49% respectively. Estimated cost of disinfestation using the machine was CAN$ 0.385/t. / Seed quality wheat was processed to determine parameters leading to total thermal de-germination. Tests were conducted at 40, 60, 80 and 100°C. Total de-germination of the wheat seed was found to occur at temperatures over 80°C for an exposure time of 60 s.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.35433 |
| Date | January 1997 |
| Creators | Sotocinal, Samson A. |
| Contributors | Raghavan, Vijaya G. S. (advisor) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Doctor of Philosophy (Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001615050, proquestno: NQ50300, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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