Chathurika Maduwanthi

This data presents the spouting behavior, drying kinetics and heat and mass transfer characteristics of parboiled paddy types of 'Samba' and 'Nadu'. Minimum spouting velocity was determined for two paddy types in three different bed heights of 14cm, 18 cm and 23 cm. Drying kinetics, moisture diffusivity and heat transfer coefficient were analyzed in drying experiments. The parameters were drying temperature and air velocity. 45C, 55 C and 65C were the three different temperatures. 6.2ms-1, 6.7ms-1 and 7.2ms-1 were velocities for the samba paddy and 6.2ms-1, 6.8ms-1 & 7.3ms-1 velocities for nadu paddy for analyze air flow rate effect. The highest moisture diffusivities for Samba and Nadu at 65 oC were 2.444 × 10-13 m2/s and 2.427 × 10-12 m2/s respectively and effective moisture diffusivities were increased with drying air temperature. Activation energy was calculated based on Arrhenius type equation and 36.006 kJ/mol and 37.485 kJ/mol were activation energy for Samba and Nadu respectively. Heat transfer coefficient for both paddy types increased with airflow rate and decreased with drying temperature.