DIFFUSION COEFFICIENTS FOR PREDICTING ROUGH RICE RE-WETTING BEHAVIOR

ABSTRACT

Thin-layer re-wetting experiments were conducted with medium grain rough rice in the temperature range of 17.8 to 45^°C and for relative humidities between 56 and 89.3%, with initial moisture contents in the range of 10.26 to 12.71% dry-basis to determine the diffusion coefficient of rough rice. Recent efforts to characterize the re-wetting characteristics of rough rice are summarized. New equation for temperature dependent liquid diffusion coefficients for medium grain rough rice are presented. The diffusion coefficient in re-wetting was lower than the drying. The results presented here, over typically five day re-wetting, will be useful in studying the longer term moisture transfer process occurring during ventilated storage.