Simulation of Coupled Heat and Mass Transfer in Granular Porous Media: Application to the Drying of Wheat

Abstract

A mathematical model was developed to simulate the deep-bed convective drying of Algerian wheat and barley using the characteristics of the selected local varieties. The nonequilibrium model, composed of a system of partial differential equations (PDEs), was solved using temporal and spatial discretization with some simplifying assumptions. The simulated results were compared with experimental data obtained during drying of wheat in deep beds (1-, 5-, and 10-cm depths) in a laboratory dryer under the experimental conditions of 60°C temperature, 10% RH, 0.7 m/s air velocity, and initial grain moisture content of 25.0% (db). The simulation results obtained by the mathematical model were in good agreement with those obtained by experiments carried out on the Algerian wheat.