The search for new technologies and options of activities to improve agricultural production systems are goals continuously desired by companies. Thus, the objective of this study was to evaluate the performance of soybean grain drying, using a furnace dryer automatically fed with eucalyptus chips, the quality of the grains before and after drying, as well as contamination by polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Twenty-seven samples were collected before drying and 27 samples were collected after drying, totaling 54 samples of around 1.0 kg each, at 5-minute intervals. The following experimental evaluations were carried out: dryerperformance, calorific value and fuel consumption; grainsmoisture content, germination, electrical conductivity, apparent specific mass, thousand-grain weight, color, oil acidity index and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. The dryer showed an average efficiency of 75.61% for drying the grains. The average fuel consumption was 21.78 kg of chip per ton of dry grains. The specific energy consumption to remove 1.0 kg of water was 11,871.80 kJ. In general, drying did not compromise the final quality of soybeans. Soybeans showed the presence of two PAHs before drying and three more PAHs appeared after drying. Average concentrations were lower than the maximum values allowed by European Union Law No 835/2011. The drying conditions used for soybean grains influenced the low formation of PAHs.
The objective of this study was to evaluate the drying system using a dryer with furnace automatically fed with eucalyptus chips and another dryer manually fed with eucalyptus firewood, as well as assessing the quality of corn grains. Harvest was mechanically performed and the grains were transported by trucks to the storage unit for drying. Corn grain drying was conducted in mixed-flow dryers with a nominal capacity of 100 tons per hour. For air heating, two direct-fired furnaces were used, one automatically fed with eucalyptus chips and the other manually fed with firewood. Corn grains were evaluated for moisture content, apparent specific mass, thousand-grain weight, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), electrical conductivity and color. Drying corn grains with direct fire using firewood or chips as fuel causes contamination by PAHs. In general, the use of firewood or chips did not influence the quality of thousand-grain weight, apparent specific mass and color, while the use of chips increased electrical conductivity. It is essential that research advances in this subject, prioritizing the contamination of food, with proven carcinogenic activity, which should be treated as a high risk to public health.
The knowledge of hygroscopicity is essential for the storage of tamarind seeds, but there is a limitation of a judicious statistical parameter to define the best mathematical model to adjust the isotherms of plant products. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the desorption isotherms of tamarind seeds and test the Akaike information criterion (AIC) and Schwarz Bayesian information criterion (BIC) for choosing the best mathematical model. Seeds with an initial moisture content of 21.00 ± 0.10% dry basis (db) were dried at 45 °C until they reached moisture contents of 17.27 ± 0.10, 15.04 ± 0.16, 14.14 ± 0.06, 12.41 ± 0.17, and 10.52 ± 0.12% db. The water activity of the product was determined by the static-indirect method at temperatures of 10, 20, 30, and 40 °C. Mathematical models frequently used to predict the isotherms of plant products were adjusted to the experimental data. The Cavalcanti Mata model is recommended to estimate the desorption isotherms of tamarind seeds because it presents better adjustments. The AIC and BIC criteria contribute to the choice of the model to predict the desorption isotherms of tamarind seeds.
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