Convective Drying of Rapeseed Hybrids’ Seeds

The aim of this study was to investigate the water release from seeds of three rape hybrids, (‘Artus’, ‘Baldur’ and ‘Titan’), during the convection drying of the seeds at three different drying temperature (40, 60 and 80 °C). The drying was conducted in laboratory scale drier which can simulate the conditions of large drier. The air velocity in the drier was maintained at 1.0 m/s. Activation energy needed for starting the process of water release during the convective drying of oil seed rape seeds was also studied. According to the obtained values, the mathematical models (equations and curves) of kinematic drying were determined. By comparing the exponential equations and the constants of water release from seeds it was observed that drying of hybrid Artus was the slowest and the one of hybrid Titan the fastest. Results showed that there was a significant difference between all investigated hybrids in water release rate and that within the same drying conditions, hybrids showed different behaviour. Moreover, air temperature increase caused significant increase in water release from the seeds. The highest activation energy needed for starting the process of water release from the seeds had the hybrid Artus and the lowest one hybrid Titan. Due to this, it can be concluded that the activation energy was reversely proportional to the water release rate from the seeds