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Moisture Content Determination

This document discusses methods for determining the moisture content of grains. There are two main categories of methods: primary or direct methods that directly measure the moisture removed from a sample, such as oven drying or distillation; and secondary or indirect methods that rely on a property related to moisture content, like electrical resistance or capacitance, and must be calibrated against a primary method. Key factors that influence the appropriate moisture determination method include the form of water in the sample, the nature of the product, the relative moisture amount, and the desired accuracy and cost. The document reviews several common moisture determination techniques and provides equations for converting between wet and dry basis moisture content representations.

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Mel Capalungan
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191 views26 pages

Moisture Content Determination

This document discusses methods for determining the moisture content of grains. There are two main categories of methods: primary or direct methods that directly measure the moisture removed from a sample, such as oven drying or distillation; and secondary or indirect methods that rely on a property related to moisture content, like electrical resistance or capacitance, and must be calibrated against a primary method. Key factors that influence the appropriate moisture determination method include the form of water in the sample, the nature of the product, the relative moisture amount, and the desired accuracy and cost. The document reviews several common moisture determination techniques and provides equations for converting between wet and dry basis moisture content representations.

Uploaded by

Mel Capalungan
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Moisture Content Determination

Grain moisture content


 in wet basis is the ratio of the weight of
water that can be removed without
significant change in its chemical structure
to the initial weight of the grain (Jindal &
Siebenmorgen, 1987).
Moisture Classifications
 Free Moisture
 moisture that can be found at the surface of the product particularly
at the void spaces of the materials
• Bound Moisture
 moisture inside the tissue of the material which can be removed by
heating or reducing the vapor pressure within the material
• Chemically Bound Moisture
 difficult to remove and requires chemical reaction by high
temperatures or other means to remove it.
Factors that affect MC Determination
Method
 Form in which water is present
 Nature of the product analyzed ( whether easily
oxidized or decomposed)
 Relative amount of water present in the product
 Rapidity of determination
 Accuracy desired
 Cost of equipment required
Methods of determining Moisture
Content
Primary or Direct Method
Oven method
Distillation Method
Infrared

Secondary or Indirect Method


Resistance Type
Capacitance Type
Chemical
Hygrometric
Primary or Direct Method
 Method of grain moisture determination based on
actual extraction of water either by convection heating
(oven method) or distillation
 Commonly used by researchers
 Moisture is removed in the sample and the quantity is
measured by weighting or measuring.
 The steps are cumbersome and time consuming.
 Official methods and used to calibrate the
instruments used for the secondary method.
Oven Method
 Requires an analytical balance and a thermostatically
controlled electrical drying oven.
Distillation Method
 Determines MC by fractional distillation. The
sample is heated at a temperature higher than the
boiling point of water in 150 mL of oil. The
vaporized moisture is condensed and measured
in a graduated cylinder. The amount of moisture
collected is the percentage moisture content
expressed in wet basis.
Toluene Distillation
 The ground sample is distilled in toluene
at 232°C until all the water has been
removed from the sample about 1 hour.
Infrared Method
 Samples of known weight
is placed on top of a
platform scale of the
meter where it is heated
at a relatively high
infrared temperature.
The product will loose
moisture as it is heated
and gives the moisture
level after reaching its
equilibrium level.
Secondary or Indirect Methods

depend on the characteristic of the


material which is related to its MC but
must be calibrated against an official
primary method
A. Electrical Resistance Method
 Based on the principle that the electrical resistance and
conductivity of a material depends upon the moisture
content.
 It measures electrical resistance of the product at a given
compaction which varies with the temperature,
moisture, degree of compaction, and cleanliness of the
product.
 Readout device give the MC in wet basis.
B. Dielectric Method
 Determines MC due to its dielectric properties.
 The product is placed between two capacitor plates of
the meter and the measured capacitance which varies
with the moisture, degree of compaction and
temperature is measured.
C. Chemical Methods
 Water is removed from the sample by the
addition of chemicals that either decompose or
combine with the water.
 Calibration curves are established for the quantity
of gas produced or the decrease in the weight of
the sample due to chemical reaction which are
used to calculate the amount of water originally
in the sample.
D. Hygrometric Method
 The sample product is placed in a sealed container and
allowed to equilibrate with the air in the container which
has a known relative humidity and temperature.
 The RH of the air when it is in equilibrium with the
sample gives a measure of the initial moisture content of
the sample.
Moisture Content Representation
 Wet Basis
 Percentage amount of moisture as expressed with the total weight
of the sample
 Commonly used in commercial expression of moisture content of
the product.
• Dry Basis
 Percentage amount of moisture as expressed with the bone- dry
weight of the product
 Commonly used expression of moisture in laboratory and/ or
experiments.
Wet - basis
𝐺𝑤 −𝐺𝑑
MCw = 𝑥 100%
𝐺𝑤

Dry – basis
𝐺𝑤 −𝐺𝑑
MCd = 𝑥 100%
𝐺𝑑
Conversion Formulas
𝑀𝐶𝑑
MCw =
100+𝑀𝐶𝑑
𝑀𝐶𝑤
MCd =
100 −𝑀𝐶𝑤
𝐺𝑑
Gw =
100 −𝑀𝐶𝑤
𝐺𝑤
Gd =
100+𝑀𝐶𝑑
Weight reduction (primary method) Electrical characteristics (secondary method)
Oven method IR balance Capacitive MC meter Resistance MC meter
Principle Evaporation of water at Detection of weight loss by Grain is filled in between two Electrical resistance of
high temperature. heating and drying plates of a capacitor. Water crushed grains
Calculation of moisture contents affects dialectical
from initial weight and dry properties Water affects resistance.
matter weight
Advantage Most exact method More accurate than quick More accurate than resistance Fast readings.
moisture meters (0.1%) type MC meters (0.2-0.5%)
Very portable
Covers full range (0- Portable
100%MC) Affordable

Rugged
Automatic operation

Small sample size


Constraint Expensive oven with Relatively long process More expensive than Lowest accuracy (typically
temperature control time (10-30 minutes) resistance type MC meters 0.5%)
needed
Larger sample sizes
Sensitive mechanics Limited MC range
Long process time
Application Reference in research Laboratory Laboratory and field Field and laboratory, grain
industry
Research
Jindal Drying Time Equation

Where:
t is the drying time in hours
T is the drying temperature at
°C
R2
 The measure of fit of the model to the data
 Measures the goodness of fit
References
 PAES 203 : 2000 Moisture Content Determination for Rice
and Corn
QUESTIONS? COMMENTS?

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