Basic Study on Microwave Drying of Rough Rice

Abstract

As one of the basic study for applying dielectric heating method to the drying of grains, microwave drying test for rough rice was performed. The method is different from the conventional method and indicates unique characteristics in grain heating. Equations for drying and heating were introduced using diffusion theory and heat balance respectively. Then, the obtained equations were transformed into simultaneous differential equations with the orthogonal collocation method which is one of the method of the weighted residuals, and were calculated numerically with Runge-Kutta-Gill method to compare with experimental data. Moreover, the germination rate and the fatty acid content of rough rice were determined to investigate the effect of microwave drying on the quality of grains.