Modeling drying of seed maize using super absorbent hydrogel under hermetic conditions

Abstract

The objective of this study was to establish the feasibility of applying the Page, Two term exponential, Newton, Logarithmic and Henderson and Pabis mathematical drying models for predicting the drying kinetics of seed maize using super absorbent hydrogel under hermetic conditions. To achieve this, the study was conducted using hydrogel to seed maize ratios by weight of 0:1, 1:5, 1:10 and 1:15 at four different drying temperature levels of 25oC, 30oC, 35oC and 40oC at different initial seed maize moisture contents of 16%, 28% and 53% (dry basis). The moisture data obtained were fitted into the five drying models using non-linear regression analysis (MS Excel 2003TM) based on the minimization of sum of squares by adjusting the model constants. The coefficient of determination (R2), root mean square error (RMSE) and chi-square (X2) were criteria for selecting the best model. High values of coefficient of determination (R2 > 0.95) were obtained for all the five drying models while the corresponding values of X2 and RMSE were in the range of (0.0016-0.0141) and (0.0400-0.3045) respectively. As a result Logarithmic model was the best fitted model with R2 (0.9749-0.9876) and the weakest values of X2 (0.0016-0.0036) and RMSE (0.04-0.128).