Abstract
The drying of Okara was carried out in a vibro-fluidized bed dryer. Okara is an isolated cake in the expression process of the production of soybean milk. Okara had bulky and irregular shapes and tended to agglomerate, but it circulated and mixed well in the bed under the appropriate vibrational conditions at the air velocities used. And the bed was able to be dried at uniform moisture content under suitable air velocities and vibrational intensities. The uniformity of moisture content in the bed increased as the air velocity and vibrational intensity incaeased, and as the size of the material decrased. Since the air flowed out selectively through rough void portions in the bed when the bed was not vibrated, the drying time took longer than that estimated from the inlet air conditions of the bed. When the bed was vibrated, the channelling holes were broken down, and so the drying time was nearly equal to the theoretical value.
