Drying of High Moisture Content Paddy in a Pilot Scale Triangular Spouted Bed Dryer

From the successful drying of paddy in a lab-scale triangular spouted bed (TSB), a pilot scale unit with a capacity of 500kg/batch was constructed and used to dry paddy of high moisture contents. The drying tests showed that air temperatures of up to 160°C in the first stage, followed by a lower temperature of 80–100°C in the second stage, can be used to dry paddy from more than 25% down to around 15% (w.b.) without significantly changing grain quality in terms of head rice recovery. Moisture distribution in the pilot-scale TSB was observed to be satisfactorily uniform.