Drying and Urease Inactivation Models of Soybean Using Two-dimensional Spouted Bed Technique

Abstract

The most important factors for examining the quality of soybeans in the animal feed industry are moisture and urease inactivation. Mathematical models for soybean drying and urease inactivation using two-dimensional spouted bed are developed and validated with experimental data. The influences of initial moisture content, inlet air temperature, air recycle on the drying rate, urease inactivation, and energy consumption are also studied. The results revealed that the increase in initial moisture content slightly affected the drying rate and urease inactivation while the inlet air temperature caused a significant effect. To obtain a high drying rate and save energy consumption, the recycle air ratio should be kept in a range of 80–90%.

Keywords:

• Anti-nutrition
• Dehydration
• Grain
• Mathematical simulation

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors express their sincere thanks to the Thailand Research Fund for financial support.