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Effect of Loading on Wheat Germ Drying in a Batch Fluidized Bed for Industrial Production

A high loading production in the manufacturing process of wheat germ (WG) drying is important for reducing the production costs. From a cost perspective, the drying performance become more effective in a batch process when the loading increases. The objective of this investigation was to evaluate the drying performance of WG with different loadings, from 2 to 9 kg, at 120 °C in a fluidized bed dryer. The moisture content, according to the American Association of Cereal Chemists (AACC) method, and the water activity using a thermal hygrometer were measured. The absolute humidity, diffusivity of moisture, and thermal efficiency were analyzed using a mathematical model. An analysis of the dehydration flux demonstrated a linear relationship between dehydration time and WG loading using a fluidized bed dryer. The kinetics of WG drying were observed with a simple exponential model used to match the experimental observation, indicating that the drying rate constant decreases with an increase in WG loading. A linear relationship was obtained between the WG loading and heating time (heating time = −0.212 + 0.577 × WG loading). On this basis, a process optimization was developed for industrial operation, and for predicting the drying performance of WG for industrial-scale production.