Mathematical modeling of fluidized bed drying kinetics of unhulled rice in a swirling fluidized bed dryer with bed ratio 1.25

Drying of unhulled rice was investigated at an air temperature set of 45 °C and for 60 minutes. Different masses of unhulled rice (150 gr, 200 gr, 250 gr, and 300 gr) were dried using a swirling fluidized bed dryer. The experiment drying data of unhulled rice were applied for six drying models, namely Lewis, Page, Henderson and Pabis, Logarithmic, Midilli et al., and Linear-plus-exponential. The model performance was evaluated by comparing the Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) and the coefficient of determination (R2) of the experimental and predicted moisture ratios using non-linear regression analysis. The linear-plus-exponential model is the most suitable/appropriate model to describe the drying kinetics of unhulled rice with 0.012930738 of RSME and 0.998794312 of R2. The lowest and highest values of RMSE and R2 respectively from a particular model are the best models in predicting unhulled rice drying behavior.