Drying of Rush-Bundles by Parallel Hot Air Flow

Abstract

Rushes are usually bundled and immersed in muddy water after harvest, and are stood on the bottom plate of a hot air dryer. Under these conditions, there are two kinds of spaces for hot air passing through. One is the space among the bundles, the other is the inner space among the rushes inside the bundles. It seems that the hot air flow passing through the former space which is called side air flow, cannot play a dominant role in the drying. However, the effects of the side air flow in drying process has not been investigated. We have, therefore, investigated the effects of the side air flow. It is concluded that, 1) Water diffusion coefficients are directly proportional to both the diameter of rush-bundle and the temperature of hot air, 2) Rushes immersed in muddy water have a higher water diffusion coefficients.