Effect of air flow rate on the drying of nutmegs

Abstract

Two series of experiments were carried out to determine the effect of varying the air flow rate on the rate of drying of nutmegs in a shallow bed. The first series was carried out at ambient temperature of ? 27°C and the second at an elevated temperature of ? 37°C. The results from the first series showed that passing air through the bed could reduce the drying time from the normal period of ? 6 weeks to slightly more than half that time. The effect of varying the air flow rate was small. The results from the second series showed that if the air was heated to ?37°C the drying time to attain safe storage moisture content could be further reduced to ? 150h. The effect of air flow rate was more pronounced in the latter case.