Moisture Desorption Isotherms of Medium-Grain Rough Rice: M.A. Basunia, T. Abe

Journal of Stored Products Research 37 (2001) 205219
Moisture desorption isotherms of medium-grain rough rice

M.A. Basunia*, T. Abe
Department of Biomechanical Systems, Ehime University, Matsuyama 790-8566, Japan
Accepted 20 May 2000
Abstract
Moisture desorption isotherms (EMC/ERH) of medium-grain rough rice (Japonica variety) were
determined using a constant environment chamber for various combinations of air temperature (11.8
51.08C) and relative humidity (37.189.7%). The initial moisture contents were in the range of 24.741.6%
dry basis. A thin-layer technique was used to achieve uniform drying. Each test was continued until the
moisture content change in 24 h was less than 0.1% dry basis. The final moisture content was considered as
the dynamic equilibrium moisture content. Four three-parameter EMC/ERH equations, the modified
Henderson, modified ChungPfost, modified Oswin and modified Halsey equations, were compared for
their ability to fit the experimental EMC/ERH data. The residual sum of squares (RSS) and standard error
of estimate (SEE) were adopted as the criteria to evaluate the fitting performance of the models. The
modified ChungPfost equation was identified as the most appropriate equation for representing the EMC/
ERH desorption isotherms of rough rice. Coefficients for equilibrium moisture content as a function of
equilibrium relative humidity and temperature are given. The EMC/ERH data obtained in this study
agreed well with previously published data. However the average isotherm, combining desorption and
adsorption data, of ASAE does not predict the desorption EMC of rough rice accurately. # 2001 Elsevier
Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Desorption; Rice; Equilibrium moisture content (EMC); Equilibrium relative humidity (ERH); Modified
ChungPfost equation
1. Introduction
The relationship between equilibrium moisture content (EMC) and equilibrium relative
humidity (ERH) of grain is important in the field of drying and storage. Either desorption or
adsorption isotherms may be used. The desorption isotherm determines the lowest attainable
*Corresponding author. Tel./fax: + 81-089-946-9827.

E-mail address: tabe@agr.ehime-u.ac.jp (M.A. Basunia).
0022-474X/01/$ - see front matter # 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 0 2 2 - 4 7 4 X ( 0 0 ) 0 0 0 2 2 - 9
206 M.A. Basunia, T. Abe / Journal of Stored Products Research 37 (2001) 205219
Nomenclature
a1 ; a2 ; a3 coefficients in Eqs. (1) and (2)

b1 ; b2 ; b3 coefficients in Eqs. (3) and (4)
c1 ; c2 ; c3 coefficients in Eqs. (5) and (6)
d1 ; d2 ; d3 coefficients in Eqs. (7) and (8)
df degree of freedom
m number of data points
M equilibrium moisture content, percentage dry basis
Ms predicted M value
Mi initial moisture content, percentage dry basis
aw water activity, decimal
RSS residual sum of squares
SEE standard error of estimate
T temperature, 8C
moisture content of grain at a particular drying temperature and relative humidity. A sound
knowledge of the relationship between the equilibrium moisture content and the equilibrium
relative humidity is of primary importance (Sun and Woods, 1997a,b) in order to fully describe
the drying process, the effect of water activity on safe storage, and the intrinsic drying kinetics.
The latter are normally expressed as thin-layer drying equations (Sun and Woods, 1994a,b).
Van den Berg and Burin (1981) stated that more than 200 equations have been developed
theoretically, semi-theoretically or empirically to model the relationship between EMC or ERH
and temperature of different biological materials. After studying 23 different EMC/ERH models,
Chirife and Iglesias (1978) found that each model had some success simulating the EMC data for
a particular food for a given range of relative humidity and temperature. After comparing the
performance of four EMC/ERH models, Chen and Morey (1989) concluded that no EMC/ERH
model can be claimed as the universal model for describing sorption data of cereal grains and
seeds. Sun and Woods (1993) stated that none of the EMC/ERH equations has the ability to
represent accurately the EMC/ERH relations for various types of biological material over a broad
range of temperatures and relative humidities. There is a need, therefore, to select the most
appropriate EMC/ERH models and equations for a specific crop (Chen and Morey, 1989; Sun
and Woods, 1994c; Sun and Byrne, 1998).
Many researchers (Karon and Adams, 1949; Breese, 1955; Bakharev, 1960; Juliano, 1964;
Henderson, 1970; Putranon et al., 1979; Zuritz et al., 1979; Agrawal and Singh, 1984; Kameoka
et al., 1986; Banaszek and Siebenmorgen, 1990) in the past have conducted equilibrium isotherm
studies on varieties of rough rice, although the range of temperature used was limited (10408C).
Most of the earlier researchers determined the EMC/ERH using non-aerated, closed-loop
conditions. Measurement of EMC/ERH data by static methods is quite time-consuming. Under
these conditions, the normal time required for a rough rice sample to reach equilibrium with the
air ranges from several days to months. Limited work has been done to determine the desorption
EMCs under aerated, non-static conditions with rough rice over a wide range of temperatures and
M.A. Basunia, T. Abe / Journal of Stored Products Research 37 (2001) 205219 207
relative humidities. The EMC data reported here are of medium grain rough rice determined
under aerated, desorbing conditions over a wide range of temperatures and relative humidities.
This study and the fitted model should assist simulation of moisture transfer during ventilated
storage and high-temperature drying.
The objectives of the present study were:
(1) to provide further information on the desorption equilibrium moisture content for rough rice
in two temperature ranges, based on a thin-layer technique, and
(2) to compare the ability of existing EMC/ERH models to fit the experimental desorption EMC/
ERH data.
2. Mathematical equations to predict desorption isotherms and method of fitting
A study by Chen (1988) on a number of equations found that the modified Henderson equation
(MHEE) (Thompson et al., 1968), modified ChungPfost equation (MCPE) (Pfost et al., 1976),
modified Oswin equation (MOSE) (Oswin, 1946) and modified Halsey equation (MHAE) (Iglesias
and Chirife, 1976) have been commonly used to fit the EMC/ERH data of grains and seeds.
Chen and Morey (1989) used these four three-parameter EMC/ERH equations, i.e. MHEE,
MCPE, MOSE and MHAE to compare their ability to fit the experimental EMC/ERH data
of 18 crops including rough rice. They found that MHEE and MCPE are good models for
starchy grains including rough rice and fibrous materials. These four three-parameter equations
have been recommended by the ASAE standard D245.5 (ASAE, 1996). The Guggenheim
AndersondeBoer (GAB) equation was also included, but this does not incorporate a temperature
effect on EMC.
Pfost et al. (1976) compared the fit of five EMC/ERH models to the published maize EMC data
using the standard error of estimate (SEE) as a criterion. They used three four-parameter
equations, i.e. the Henderson (Day and Nelson, 1965), ChungPfost (Chen and Claton, 1971) and
StrohmanYoerger (Strohman and Yoerger, 1967) equations, and two three-parameter equations,
i.e. the modified Henderson and modified ChungPfost equations, to describe the EMC data.
They found that the residuals of the four-parameter equations were not significantly lower than
those of the three-parameter equations. Also, it is easier to fit and use three-parameter equations
without relying on tables or charts. The two three-parameter equations, the modified Chung
Pfost and modified Henderson equations, were also fitted to the EMC data of other grains,
including rough rice, in summarizing and reporting equilibrium moisture data for grains. The
results from Pfost et al. (1976) were adopted in ASAE standard D245.5 (ASAE, 1996).
Zuritz et al. (1979) used three four-parameter equations (Henderson equation, ChungPfost
equation and an empirically modified Henderson equation) to compare their ability to fit the
observed rough rice EMC data based on the root mean square error and analysis of variance.
There was no significant difference in the performance of the three equations, and either one could
be used to simulate the EMC data of rough rice.
Most recently, Sun (1999) used three three-parameter equations, i.e. MHEE, MCPE, MOSE
and one four-parameter equation, i.e. the StrohmanYoerger equation (STYE) to compare their
ability to fit the published EMC data of rice of different authors. The residual sum of square
(RSS), standard error of estimate (SEE) and mean relative deviation (MRD) were used as criteria
to select the best equation while fitting 763 published EMC data points. All four equations
produced similar SEEs. Pfost et al. (1976) had shown earlier that differences of the magnitude
found were not statistically significant.
This suggests that the four three-parameter equations, i.e. the modified Henderson, modified
ChungPfost, modified Oswin and modified Halsey equations, provide equally good models for
rough rice. Each of the four equations can be solved explicitly for relative humidity as a function
of temperature and moisture content, or for moisture content as a function of temperature and
relative humidity. The following equations were therefore chosen for the present study:
1. Modified Henderson equation (MHEE) (Thompson et al., 1968):

1 aw expa1 T a2 M a3 ; 1

ln1 aw 1=a3
M : 2
a1 T a2
2. Modified ChungPfost equation (MCPE) (Pfost et al., 1976):

b1
aw exp expb3 M ; 3
T b2
ln b1 1
M ln T b2 lnaw : 4
b3 b3
3. Modified Oswin equation (MOSE) (Oswin, 1946):

1
aw ; 5
1 c1 c2 T=Mc3

1 aw 1=c3
M c1 c2 T : 6
aw
4. Modified Halsey equation (MHAE) (Iglesias and Chirife, 1976):

aw exp exp d1 d2 T M d3 ; 7
M exp d1 d2 T ln aw 1=d3 : 8
In Eqs. (1)(8), aw is the water activity, M is the equilibrium moisture content (dry basis) as a
percentage, T is the temperature in 8C, and a1 2a3 , b1 2b3 , c1 2c3 and d1 2d3 are equation
coefficients.
A non-linear multiple regression analysis (SPSS, 1993) was used to fit the models to the
experimental EMC/ERH data for rough rice. The package was based on minimizing the residual
sum of squares (RSS) between the model and data. The model giving the smallest SEE value was
taken to give the best fit. A similar approach was used by Sun (1999).
Residual sum of squares (RSS) is defined as follows:

Xm
RSS M Ms 2 ; 9
i1
where Ms is the simulated value of M and m is the number of data points.

The standard error of estimate (SEE) is defined as
vffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
uP
um 2
u M Ms
ti1
SEE ; 10
df
where df is the number of degrees of freedom.
3. Materials and methods for the determination of EMC
Thin-layer drying curves for a medium-grain Japonica variety of rough rice were collected at
different drying conditions. Freshly harvested medium-grain rough rice was obtained at
approximately 28% moisture content (d.b.). The exact moisture content of each sample was
measured before each single-layer drying experiment. The rough rice samples were sealed into
double-layer polyethylene bags and stored at 58C for about 2 weeks. The required amounts of
rough rice were removed from storage one day prior to the drying test and kept overnight in
double-layer plastic bags at room temperature. This step brought the sample into thermal
equilibrium with room temperature and prevented any condensation on the rough rice when it was
placed in the test chamber. The samples were dried at temperatures ranging from 11.8 to 518C.
The thin-layer drying apparatus is shown schematically in Fig. 1. It is described more fully
elsewhere (Basunia and Abe, 1998). A self-contained air conditioning unit (Sanplatec, STC-1) was
used to obtain air at a desired temperature (T) and relative humidity. The rated accuracy of the
unit was 0.58C and 3% r.h. Temperatures and relative humidities were checked using dry
and wet-bulb temperatures measured using copper constantan thermocouples with an accuracy of
0.48C. Dry-bulb temperatures of the drying chamber were recorded at four points, two located
directly above the drying basket and the other two below. The dry-bulb temperature was taken as
the mean value of the readings from the thermocouples. The wet-bulb temperature of the drying
air was measured by a thermocouple located near the drying basket. Data were collected
continuously at 15 min intervals throughout the drying period using a personal computer system.
The relative humidity and water activity of the drying air at different drying conditions were
calculated from the observed dry and wet-bulb temperatures of the drying air. The conditioning
unit was run 34 h before every test to attain the desired drying condition. The air circulation rate
was 2.08 0.002 m/s for different drying conditions.
An electronic balance, placed inside the constant temperature and humidity chamber, was used
to determine changes in mass of samples during drying (Fig. 1). The capacity and sensitivity of the
balance were 320 and 0.01 g, respectively. A sample of approximately 75 g was evenly spread on a
wire mesh basket (22 22 cm) to form a single layer. The basket was supported by a light-weight
Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of the drying apparatus and instrumentation.
steel frame placed over the electronic balance (Fig. 1). The data were recorded at 1 min intervals
for the first 30 min of drying and then at 15 min intervals until the 24 h change of moisture content
was less than 0.1% dry basis (weight change was less than 0.05 g). Typically, such an experiment
would last for 46 days. The final moisture was treated as the dynamic equilibrium moisture
content (EMC). The initial and final moisture contents of the grain for each test were determined
using the JSAM (1984) standard by drying the rough rice sample for 24 h in an oven at 135oC. The
samples were weighed to 0.01 g, five replicates were used and the average value was taken.
4. Results and discussion
4.1. Moisture content versus drying time
Table 1 lists the range of drying conditions for the experiment. About seven months were
required to complete this experimental plan. Each test consisted of more than 300 points. The
weight data of each test collected as a function of drying time were processed and presented as
moisture content versus drying time. The typical drying curves at a temperature of 19.78C are
presented in Fig. 2. Fig. 2 indicates that to obtain a complete drying curve and EMC point, a
considerable drying period is required. Sun and Woods (1994a) also reported that a considerable
drying time is needed to obtain a complete drying curve for barley. Complete moisture content
data from this study were reported by Basunia and Abe (1998).
4.2. Equilibrium moisture content
The observed final moisture content of each test was taken to be the dynamic EMC. The EMC
data are presented in Table 1. Sun and Woods (1994a) also considered the final moisture content
Table 1
The experimental conditions and equilibrium moisture contents
Drying conditions Initial moisture content Equilibrium moisture content
% dry basis % dry basis
Temperature (8C) Relative humidity (%)
11.8 81.3 27.89 21.30
13.4 69.9 28.68 18.75
15.4 76.0 28.25 20.15
16.5 82.3 28.33 21.33
18.0 82.0 28.44 21.13
19.7 59.8 28.17 15.76
19.7 68.7 27.75 17.64
19.7 77.0 28.03 19.49
19.7 88.0 28.30 22.69
24.6 40.2 27.78 12.35
24.6 51.5 27.53 13.51
24.6 67.4 27.88 16.97
24.6 77.0 27.57 18.93
24.6 87.0 27.67 21.82
29.7 41.0 28.06 11.90
29.7 51.0 28.48 13.26
29.7 58.5 28.11 14.31
29.7 77.5 28.26 18.88
29.7 89.0 27.90 22.22
37.8 37.1 28.26 10.06
37.8 43.0 28.60 10.86
37.8 51.0 27.90 12.33
37.8 59.5 28.34 13.67
37.8 69.5 28.26 15.58
37.8 77.5 27.91 17.58
37.8 89.7 28.21 22.06
44.4 56.5 28.06 12.88
44.4 64.7 28.11 14.71
46.9 45.7 28.21 11.22
51.0 39.7 28.14 9.08
51.0 48.3 27.98 10.82
51.0 54.4 27.75 11.46
as the dynamic EMC in drying barley. Table 2 lists the best fitted coefficients of the four isotherm
equations, Eqs. (2), (4), (6) and (8) as M f aw ; T. The two error parameters RSS and SEE, and
coefficient of regression, R2 , which determine the performance of each equation are also listed in
Table 2. It can be seen from Table 2 that the error parameters for equilibrium moisture content
obtained with the modified Henderson equation and modified ChungPfost equation were very
similar. Either one could be used satisfactorily to model the EMC/ERH data. The error
parameters of EMC obtained with the modified Oswin equation and modified Halsey equation
appear to differ widely from that of the modified ChungPfost equation, but this difference was
not statistically significant. For the range of air temperatures and relative humidities studied, from
11.8 to 518C and between 37.1 and 89.7%, the modified ChungPfost equation gives the smallest
Fig. 2. Drying curves for thin-layer drying at 19.78C (aw=water activity).
Table 2
The best fitted coefficients for the four isotherms equations, Eqs. (2), (4), (6) and (8), and the error parameters for the
experimental data set defined in Table 1
Models Eq. no. Equation parameters RSSa SEEb R2
a1,b1,c1,d1 a2,b2,c2,d2 a3,b3,c3,d3
5
MHEE (2) 3.799 10 48.156 2.136 4.506 0.375 0.992
M f aw ; T MCPE (4) 31.652 19.498 5.274 2.736 0.292 0.995
MOSE (6) 15.965 0.09425 3.858 6.658 0.456 0.988
MHAE (8) 2.693 0.00759 3.277 10.802 0.581 0.981
a
RSS, residual sum-of-squares (M percent dry basis).
b
SEE, standard error of estimate; R2 , Coefficient of regression; See text for model abbreviations.
error parameter values followed by the modified Henderson equation (Table 2). On the basis of
the results in Table 2 it is concluded that the modified ChungPfost equation is the most
appropriate equation for simulation of desorption EMC/ERH of rough rice.
Recently, Sun (1999) reported that the four-parameter StrohmanYoerger equation (STYE)
was preferable to the three-parameter modified Henderson, the modified ChungPfost and the
modified Oswin equations in fitting the published EMC data of rice. However, it has already been
mentioned above that SEE values of the four-parameter equation and three-parameter equations
used by Sun (1999) are very close to each other. The increased level of complexity of the four-
parameter model does not appear justified by the marginal increase in fit compared to the three-
parameter ChungPfost equation.
The equilibrium moisture content predicted by the modified ChungPfost equation, Eq. (4),
with coefficients b1 ; b2 ; and b3 from Table 2 are compared with observed EMC values in Fig. 3.
Fig. 3. Comparison between the desorption isotherms at 19.7, 29.7, 37.8 and 518C, predicted by the fitted modified
ChungPfost equation and the experimental data.
Fig. 4. Approach of drying curves to similar equilibrium values under the same drying conditions (19.78C and 88%
r.h.) with different initial moisture contents of the samples.
There was a very good agreement between the experimental and the simulated EMC values. The
desorption isotherms obtained in this investigation have a sigmoid shape (Fig. 3).
4.3. Experimental verification with varying moisture content
In order to verify the independence of EMC of the initial moisture contents of the samples,
additional experiments were conducted with an artificially moistened and slightly dried sample.
The artificially moistened and dried samples were kept separately in double-layer polyethylene
bags for about two months in the refrigerator at 58C. Three samples with initial moisture contents
Mi =24.7% d.b. Mi =32.1% d.b. and Mi =41.6% d.b. were used. The drying oven was adjusted
to give the same values as one of the earlier tests with Mi =28.3% d.b., and air at 19.78C and
88% r.h. Thus, a series of drying curves was obtained for different Mi but otherwise constant
conditions (Fig. 4). The curves in Fig. 4 show that the measured EMCs are repeatable with
varying initial moisture contents of rough rice samples since the four drying curves approach
similar equilibrium values. Similar phenomena were also reported in drying barley (Sun and
Woods, 1994a). These indicate that the EMC equations are quite good for prediction of EMC
with varying initial moisture content of the rough rice. It is not necessary to relate EMC equations
to initial moisture content of rough rice to obtain a good fit with the experimental data.
4.4. Comparison of equilibrium moisture contents reported by different authors
The equation aw f M; T is most useful for storage modeling and the equation M f aw ; T
for drying (Sun and Woods, 1994a). Chen and Morey (1989) and Sun (1999) fitted a three-
parameter modified ChungPfost equation, Eq. (3), to the published desorption EMC data of
rough rice of Putranon et al. (1979), Zuritz et al. (1979) and Kameoka et al. (1986). Therefore,
Eq. (4) as M f aw ; T was also fitted here to the published EMC data of Putranon et al. (1979),
Zuritz et al. (1979) and Kameoka et al. (1986). The fitted parameters are shown in Table 3. For
comparison, the parameters from Pfost et al. (1976) who used the data of Kososki (1977) are also
presented in Table 3.
The modified ChungPfost model was fitted to several data sets to test the accuracy of these
data sets. The comparison of these fitted isotherms at 10, 20, 30 and 458C, respectively, are shown
in Figs. 58. In a similar way, Chen and Morey (1989) and Sun and Woods (1994a) also made a
comparison among the observed EMC maize and barley data, respectively. Figs. 58 show that
the shapes of the curves from the present study are similar to the others, and in general the
dynamic EMC agreed well with the existing static EMC data. All the figures show that the curves
from Pfost et al. (1976) using Kososkis data depart from the other curves. All the isotherm curves
in Figs 58 are based on desorption EMC data except the Pfost et al. (1976) isotherms using
Kososkis combined adsorption and desorption EMC data. It has been already stated that the
results from the Pfost et al. (1976) are adopted as ASAE standard D245.5 (ASAE, 1996). Since
adsorption EMC is lower than desorption EMC, the combined or average curves given by ASAE
lie below the other curves. Sun (1999) confirmed the existence of hysteresis for rice and also
pointed out that the average curves predicted by the fitted equation lie between the adsorption and
Table 3
Comparison of the parameters of the modified ChungPfost equations fitted to the data of rough rice by different
authors
Model Eq. no. Data/author Equation parameters SEEa
b1 b2 b3
(4) This work 31.652 19.498 5.274 0.292
M f aw ; T (4) Zuritz et al. (1979)b 31.435 22.095 5.369 0.461
(4) Kososki (1977)c 29.394 35.703 4.602 0.960
(4) Kameoka et al. (1986)b 32.461 31.146 5.409 0.334
(4) Putranon et al. (1979)b 33.960 47.562 5.412 0.541
a
Standard error of estimates (M percent dry basis).
b
Model parameters fitted here in this study.
c
Model parameters fitted by Pfost et al. (1976).
Fig. 5. Comparison of isotherms at 108C predicted by the modified ChungPfost equation fitted by different authors:
(a) fitted by Pfost et al. (1976); (b) fitted here in this study.
desorption curves since the average data set combines both the adsorption and desorption data
sets. This confirms that the average curves of ASAE do not predict the desorption EMC of rough
rice accurately.
Figs. 58 also show that our curves lie slightly above the other curves, particularly at low
temperatures. With increasing temperature, the differences among the simulated isotherms
decrease. One possible reason is that at lower temperatures the drying time used in our study was
insufficient to attain full equilibrium with the drying air. In order to achieve greater accuracy in
the prediction of long-term storage at lower temperatures, it may be appropriate to use the
isotherm equation fitted here to the data of Zuritz et al. (1979) or the equation fitted to the data of
Putranon et al. (1979). However, no change of the sample weight was observed over 24 h after
5 days drying in air tests at low temperature (11.88C). In the tests at high temperatures (>378C),
when the tests were stopped, a slight change of the sample weight was still observed, although
such changes were less than 0.05 g (0.1% d.b.) in 24 h. A similar phenomenon was also reported
by Sun and Woods (1994a) in drying barley.
It should be noted here that the EMC/ERH data of different authors were obtained by one of
two oven drying methods. The EMC data of the present study and of Kameoka et al. (1986) were
determined by following the JSAM standard (24 h at 1358C). The others (Kososki, 1977;
Putranon et al., 1979; Zuritz et al., 1979) were determined by following ASAE standard (120 h at
1008C). Differences in results from these standard methods and small differences in technique are
probably sufficient to explain the slight discrepancies in the isotherms from different authors. For
instance, a 0.2% variation of moisture content is found when using two ovens (Warner and
Browne, 1963). An error of 0.20.3% moisture content was caused by using different oven shelves
(Matthews, 1962). A similar unavoidable variation was observed in our study. After investigating
the EMC/ERH data for cereal grains, oil seeds and other food materials from 22 sources, Brooker
et al. (1974) concluded that variations of the values reported for any grain at the same
temperature and relative humidity are common. The variations in EMC values among the
researchers may be due to sample characteristics such as volume changes during moisture
sorptions, chemical reactivity, particle shape and size, surface area, surface properties, physical
structure, or prior history of grain (Jayas et al., 1991).
Equilibrium moisture content may be considered as (1) static EMC, and (2) dynamic EMC. The
concept of dynamic EMC was introduced by McEwen et al. (1954). Dynamic EMC is obtained by
best fitting the thin-layer drying equation to the experimental data. On the other hand, the static
equilibrium moisture content is obtained after a prolonged exposure of the grain sample to a
constant atmosphere. McEwen et al. (1954) further stated that dynamic and static equilibrium
moisture contents should be used for drying and storage design, respectively. The required
equilibrium time is much longer for the static as compared with the dynamic method, and slightly
higher EMCs have been measured with the dynamic method (Alam, 1972). In this study a
dynamic method was used to let the sample reach equilibrium with the drying air, whereas the
published data of different authors compared here were obtained from static methods. The
dynamic EMC observed in this study seems to be little higher than that of the existing static EMC
(Figs. 58).
5. Conclusions
The desorption isotherm obtained in this investigation presented a sigmoid shape, as expected
from previous studies. Desorption equilibrium moisture content data have been collected for a
range of temperatures and relative humidities commonly used in drying and storage of rough rice.
The EMC data were generally in good agreement with the modified Henderson equation and the
modified ChungPfost equation. The modified ChungPfost equation was found to be the most
appropriate equation for representing the rough rice desorption EMC/ERH isotherms. The
modified Oswin and modified Halsey equations are less appropriate. The EMC equations are
quite good at predicting the EMC with varying initial moisture content of rough rice.
Dynamic equilibrium moisture content observed in this study agreed well with the Zuritz et al.
(1979), Putranon et al. (1979) and Kameoka et al. (1986) static isotherm equations particularly at
high temperature. However, it was somewhat higher at low temperature, as the dynamic EMC
values would be expected to be higher than those of the static EMC values. Results based on the
modified ChungPfost equation fitted to the data of Zuritz et al. (1979) and to the data of
Putranon et al. (1979) represent the equilibrium isotherms for rough rice well. These two fitted
equations were in good agreement. The equation presented in the ASAE Standard, D245.5
(ASAE, 1996) based on Pfost et al. (1976) gives considerably lower predictions than all other data,
as would be expected for an average curve that contains both adsorption and desorption EMC
data.
Acknowledgements
M. A. Basunia is grateful to the Japanese Government Agency JSPS (Japan Society for the
Promotion of Science) for a postdoctoral fellowship to carry out this study.
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Moisture Desorption Isotherms of Medium-Grain Rough Rice: M.A. Basunia, T. Abe

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Journal of Stored Products Research 37 (2001) 205219

Moisture desorption isotherms of medium-grain rough rice

*Corresponding author. Tel./fax: + 81-089-946-9827.

a1 ; a2 ; a3 coefficients in Eqs. (1) and (2)

2. Mathematical equations to predict desorption isotherms and method of fitting

1. Modified Henderson equation (MHEE) (Thompson et al., 1968):

2. Modified ChungPfost equation (MCPE) (Pfost et al., 1976):

3. Modified Oswin equation (MOSE) (Oswin, 1946):

4. Modified Halsey equation (MHAE) (Iglesias and Chirife, 1976):

Residual sum of squares (RSS) is defined as follows:

where Ms is the simulated value of M and m is the number of data points.

where df is the number of degrees of freedom.

3. Materials and methods for the determination of EMC

Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of the drying apparatus and instrumentation.

4. Results and discussion

4.1. Moisture content versus drying time

4.2. Equilibrium moisture content

Fig. 2. Drying curves for thin-layer drying at 19.78C (aw=water activity).

4.3. Experimental verification with varying moisture content

4.4. Comparison of equilibrium moisture contents reported by different authors

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