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Abstract
An infrared (IR) radiation heating and vibrating apparatus was used to study a simultaneous parboiling and drying process. Physicochemical properties such as milling yield, color, and pasting properties of parboiled paddy were evaluated. Radiation intensity levels of 46.7 kW/m2, variable exposure time, and rice samples at fixed initial moisture contents (IMC) of 30 and 32% wet basis (wb) were used. It was discovered that the radiation intensity of 46.7 kW/m2 and 32% wb moisture content yielded a quality level similar to that of conventional steam-parboiled rice. The head rice yield (HRY) of IR paddy slightly decreased with increased exposure time. The HRY of IR heating was more than 60% compared to HRY values of 67.68 to 69.34% for conventional steam-parboiled rice. The b-values of 23 to 25 for IR samples showed lighter yellowness than the 29.7 b-value of conventional steam-parboiled rice. The pasting properties of all IR samples showed lower viscosity compared to the raw-milled rice samples but higher than conventional steam-parboiled rice. Initial moisture content of paddy affected the degree of starch gelatinization (SG) by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Under IR heating for 18 min of exposure time, the 32% wb IMC sample showed SG at 80.15% compared to SG at 59.02% with the 30% wb IMC sample. Hence, while employing simultaneous parboiling and drying with IR heating for an exposure time of 18 min, the sample retained more parboiled flavor as a result of a higher degree of starch gelatinization. The sample showed lower HRY, but yellowness was within the acceptable range. Energy requirement for producing 1 ton of parboiled paddy by the IR heating process is lower than the conventional steam-parboiled process but statistically nonsignificant (P > 0.05). However, the process time was reduced to one third of the conventional process, leading to improved quality. In addition, initial investment cost was minimal because a steam generator was not required.