Energy in Agriculture: Dryeration Performance Evaluation

When grain is dried using continuous flow or portable batch dryers it must be cooled before it is placed in storage. The cooling process removes the sensible heat that was used to bring the grain temperature up to the drying air temperature, and hopefully reduces the grain temperature to a point where mold growth is no longer a problem. Unfortunately, rapid cooling of grain results in increased grain damage in terms of stress cracks, and is an energy-inefficient process in that the heat stored in the grain is not used for any useful purpose