Investigation of simultaneous heat and mass transfer within the maize kernels during drying

The main goal of this study is to give a mathematical model with numerical solution to follow the heat and moisture distributions inside a cross sectional area of an individual maize kernel as a function of drying time with respect to the effects of the coupled heat and mass transfer processes. The applied drying models are similar to the modified Luikovʹs equations, which were first published by Husain et al., 1973. Simultaneous heat and mass diffusion in biological materials. J. Agric. Eng. Res. 18, 343¯354. This mathematical model can be used for investigating maize hybrids with different drying characteristics during drying. The data (heat physical constants and variables) for the different maize hybrids (for the slow and the fast drying individual maize hybrids) derive from experiments which have been in progress since the 1980s. The mathematical model with the boundary and initial conditions can reveal for example the difference between the fast and the slow drying hybrids. The temperature and moisture distributions inside the individual maize kernels produced by the model show more realistic picture than the results published before.