Greendry: low temperature for drying grains and oilseeds

The natural air/low temperature (NA/LT) in-bin drying technology is not adopted in Europe. In the last years, an in-bin drying prototype was developed by the National Institute of Agricultural Technology (INTA) in order to investigate the applications of this technology in Argentina. The core of the drying system is a model based fan and burner controller. The system was adapted by DISAFA to be used in Italian conditions and installed in two plant of capacity of 70 and 100 t in NW of Italy to dry corn. The goals of this research were: 1) test the reliability of automatic smart drying controller for low-temperature drying, 2) test the performance of a prototype in-bin drying system for drying corn to 14% final MC, 3) evaluate the energy consumption and 4) evaluate grain quality after drying. The results showed that the in-bin drying system was able to dry the grain in about 28 days from 21.5% to 13,7% MC. The individual kernel MC gradient was reduced during drying. The energy consumption was very low compared to traditional mixed flow driers, just about 4.95 L t-1 of dried grain, equal to 55% energy saving. Grain quality was very good with very low stress crack index compared to traditional driers. Another important aspect is the low flow rate of the air, that imply practically no dust emissions. These results confirmed the potential of NA/LT in-bin drying systems for drying corn, rice and other special quality grains in NW of Italy.