Tinjauan Efisiensi Panas pada PengeringanPadi dengan Menggunakan Pengering Fluidisasi Berbahan Bakar Sekam

Currently, paddy drying with fluidized bed dryer has been widely applied. However, to achieve high efficiency and shorten drying time the drying was operated at high temperatures with external heating. As a result, the process reduced the paddy quality. This research used husk as fuel for heating in the fluidized bed dryer. Husk was burned in a burner integrated with the dryer. Husk combustion heated up air for drying that was kept ranging 60 - 70oC by regulating the oxygen supply. The result showed that about 1.4 kg of husk was required for drying 2.0 kg/batch of paddy up to moisture 14% (wet basis). In this process, the drying time was about 60 minutes and the thermal efficiency 80.0%. The thermal efficiency increased with the increase of paddy capacity but the drying time was longer. Moreover, rice quality after drying process can be also retained. It was proved by comparing the data with SNI 6128: 2008