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Received: 5 January 2021 Revised: 11 February 2021 Accepted: 18 February 2021 The Journal of Engineering
DOI: 10.1049/tje2.12027

ORIGINAL RESEARCH PAPER

Study on the drying characteristics of rice by microwave and hot

air drying

Fangqing Ling Tongsheng Sun

School of Mechanical Engineering, Anhui Abstract

Polytechnic University, Wuhu, China
This study presents the experimental methods of microwave drying and hot air drying
of rice to simultaneously improve the dry storage effect of rice, reduce the mouldy and
Correspondence
Tongsheng Sun, School of Mechanical Engineering, spoilage of rice, and measure the moisture content, water activity and temperature changes.
Anhui Polytechnic University, Wuhu, China, 241000. A thermal imaging camera was used to photograph the temperature distribution of rice at
Email: [email protected]
different times to study the changing law of rice drying characteristics and analyse the
relationship between rice water activity and drying speed. Results show that the changes
in the moisture content and water activity of rice are inversely proportional with time. A
400 W microwave drying has a more pronounced heating effect on rice than 850 W hot
air drying. The efficiency of the first 20 min of rice drying is better than that of the last
20 min. The highest temperature of 40◦ C was reached after microwave drying for 8 min,
while nearly 40◦ C was reached after hot air drying for 56 min. These results can be applied
to further analyse the influence of different drying methods on rice water activity and guide
the reduction of bacterial propagation in rice and the improvement of the quality of rice.
This work provides a theoretical basis for choosing the optimal drying method.

1 INTRODUCTION tion of apple chips. Liu et al. [5] used hot air– microwave com-
bined drying technology to dry red dates; explored the contents
Rice is one of the main sources of food in my country. The prob- of phenolic substances, soluble sugars, organic acids, triterpene
lems encountered by newly harvested rice needs mainly involve acids, vitamin C, total phenols, and total flavonoids in red dates
transportation, drying, and storage. According to the specific under different processing methods; and compared their antiox-
statistics of relevant departments, more than 5 million tons of idant capacities. Badmus et al. [6] studied the effects of different
grains are lost annually due to moulds and deteriorate because drying methods on the concentration and antioxidant activity
of insufficient drying. Therefore, timely drying treatment of of some important chemical substances in edible brown algae.
newly harvested rice is the top priority [1, 2]. Hot air drying Kay et al. [7] measured the organoleptic characteristics of sam-
is an outside-to-inside drying method that first heats the outer ples prepared at different drying temperatures and evaluated the
surface of the medium and then transfers the heat to the inside energy consumption of the drying process. All related research
of the medium. Microwave drying is a fast drying method that confirmed that different drying methods and drying conditions
simultaneously heats the inner and outer surface of the medium. affect the characteristics and quality of the medium itself. The
These two techniques have different drying rates and heating changes in various indicators during medium drying must be
effects on rice, and thus further affecting the change of rice detected to improve the quality and efficiency of medium prepa-
water activity [3]. Studying the influence of microwave and hot ration. In this study, rice, an important food crop, is selected
air drying on rice water activity is helpful in choosing the most as the drying medium. Its moisture content and water activity
energy-saving and appropriate drying method. Mu et al. [4] curve are fitted under different drying methods and parame-
studied the drying characteristics of apple slices under different ters. This work provides a reference for the timely drying of
infrared radiation distances and hot air temperatures and anal- harvested rice and the prevention of mildew in rice storage. In
ysed the drying time, colour, hardness, brittleness, and rehydra- addition, a thermal imager was used to photograph the changes

This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is
properly cited.
© 2021 The Authors. The Journal of Engineering published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of The Institution of Engineering and Technology

J. Eng. 2021;2021:201–208. wileyonlinelibrary.com/iet-joe 201

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202 LING AND SUN

in the temperature and physical characteristics of the rice under

two different drying methods, hot air and microwave, to screen
out the optimal drying method.

2 EXPERIMENTAL MATERIALS

2.1 Materials

Dry medium rice: Rice of the same variety was produced in the
same area. During the experiment, the rice that was full and
without husk was selected as the test material.

2.2 Instruments and equipment

Infrared thermal imager, microwave vacuum drying oven, blast

drying oven, water activity metre, electronic analytical balance,
capacitive grain moisture metre, and special glass heating vessel
were used for microwave drying.

2.2.1 Initial image of rice

As shown in Figure 1, the rice with a moisture content of 25%

has a full and round appearance, bright colour, no cracking of
the rice husk, normal smell, and no musty smell. The picture
taken by a thermal imaging camera showed that the rice tem-
perature is close to the ambient temperature with the highest of
25.9◦ C and the lowest of 23.4◦ C.

3 HOT AIR AND MICROWAVE DRYING

EXPERIMENT

3.1 Experimental steps

FIGURE 1 Rice initial state (a) the actual rice at the beginning, (b) initial
rice temperature distribution
The specific experimental steps are shown in Figure 2.
Pre-treatment of the rice test: The rice is screened, and those
with full grains are selected. The soaking method is applied to 3.2 Rice drying experiment
obtain the rice with specific initial moisture content. A paper
towel is used to absorb the surface moisture. 3.2.1 Experimental initial parameters
Microwave and hot air drying experiment: Prior to the exper-
iment, the initial moisture content of the rice is measured with The experimental parameters in this study are shown in Table 1.
a capacitive grain moisture metre. The rice is then placed in a
microwave vacuum drying oven or a hot air drying oven for dry-
ing and removed every 4 min. The internal water activity of the 3.2.2 Experimental results
rice is measured using a water activity metre. The temperature
of the rice is recorded with an infrared thermal imaging camera The experimental results of hot air drying and microwave drying
every 8 min. After complete cooling, the mass is weighed, the of rice are shown in Table 2:
experimental data are recorded, and the rice moisture content is
measured.
Analysis of experimental results: The experimental data of 3.3 Water content fitting
water content and water activity of rice under two drying meth-
ods are fitted and analysed, and the drying rule of rice was The change of rice moisture content during drying can help
obtained. The infrared thermal imaging, colour, odour and understand the specific drying situation of moisture, which plays
shape of rice husk were compared to analyse the optimal dry- an important role in the storage and management of rice [8,
ing method. 9]. On the basis of the experimental data of water content, the
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LING AND SUN 203

FIGURE 2 Experimental analysis process of rice drying

TABLE 1 Experimental parameters of hot air and microwave drying

Hot air drying parameters Microwave drying parameters

Drying power (W) 850 Drying power (W) 400

Temperature resolution (°C) 0.1 Vacuum (MPa) 0.04
Microwave frequency (MHz) 2.45
Initial moisture content of rice 25%
Maximum experimental temperature (°C) 40

TABLE 2 Moisture content results using hot air and microwave drying

The
remaining Hot air Microwave- Microwave
mass of hot drying Hot air dried rice drying rice Microwave
Specimen air drying rice rice moisture drying remaining moisture drying
Stage number Time(min) (g) content water activity mass (g) content water activity

The first stage 1 0 100 24.80% 0.933 100 24.60% 0.938

2 4 98.2 23.40% 0.923 97.6 22.70% 0.889
3 8 97.2 22.60% 0.894 92.65 21.70% 0.763
4 12 96.3 21.90% 0.826 95.3 20.90% 0.708
5 16 95.7 21.50% 0.789 94.8 20.50% 0.671
6 20 95.2 21% 0.721 94.3 20% 0.645
7 24 94.7 20.60% 0.691 93.6 19.40% 0.638
The second stage 8 32 94.1 20% 0.626 92.9 18.8% 0.597
9 40 93.6 19.6% 0.594 92.4 18.4% 0.591
10 48 93 19.1% 0.516 92 18% 0.506
11 56 92.6 18.8% 0.511 91.6 17.7% 0.508
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204 LING AND SUN

FIGURE 3 Fitting curve of the water content of hot air drying rice FIGURE 5 Fitting curve of water activity and time for hot air drying

Hence, the fitting curve is in good agreement with the data

points. From the curve fitting coefficient, the moisture content
of microwave-dried rice can be seen. The rate fitting equation is

−0.0002576 × t 2 + 0.1762 × t + 2.924

wm = (3)
t + 11.9

3.3.1 Water activity curve fitting equation

Water activity refers to the ratio of the vapour pressure of water

when a substance such as food or medicine reaches equilibrium
FIGURE 4 Fitting curve of microwave drying rice moisture content in a closed container in relation to the saturated vapour pres-
sure of pure water at the same temperature [12]. Water exists in
inverse proportional function is used to fit the water content rice in the form of free and bound water. Bound water is com-
equation in the form of [10, 11]: bined with rice protein, soluble substances such as sugar and
salt. This part of bound water cannot be used directly. Free water
p1 × x 2 + p2 × x + p3 is formed because of the capillary action existing in the water in
f (x) = (1)
x + q1 the interstices of rice. Compared with bound water, free water
is more active and easier to evaporate. This type of water is the
where p1 , p2 , p3 , q1 are the curve fitting coefficients. medium of all biochemical reactions in the food [13, 14].
Inverse proportional curve fitting method (rational) in MAT- Water activity refers to the existing state of water in rice, that
LAB is used to fit the moisture content change data dur- is, the degree of combination or freeness of water and rice. A
ing hot air drying of rice, and the fitting curve is shown in high water activity indicates a low degree of water binding to
Figure 3. the rice and a high degree of dissociation and vice-versa. The
According to the calculation of the fitting results, the square growth and reproduction of various microorganisms in rice are
of the range is 0.9994, the standard mean-variance RMSE is determined by its water activity rather than its water content.
0.0005509, and the fitting correlation coefficient is 0.9991. For example, the water activity of rice determines the germina-
Hence, the fitting curve is in good agreement with the data tion time, growth rate, and mortality of Aspergillus flavus inside
points. The curve fitting coefficient shows the water content of the rice. Controlling the water activity of rice is beneficial to
hot air drying rice. The rate fitting equation is inhibit the reproduction of microorganisms and improve its
storage quality [5, 15].
−0.0002941 × t 2 + 0.1889 × t + 3.522 The water activity data obtained from the experiment are
wh = (2) inputted into a program written in MATLAB. The proportional
t + 14.21
function curve fitting method (rational) is used to fit the rela-
Inverse proportional function curve fitting method (rational) tionship between water activity and time during hot air drying
in MATLAB is also used to fit the moisture content change data of rice. The curve is shown in Figure 5.
during the microwave drying of rice. The fitting curve is shown Fitting results show that the square of the range is 0.9858,
in Figure 4. the standard average variance RMSE is 0.02228, and the fit-
According to the calculation of the fitting results, the square ting correlation coefficient is 0.9797, indicating that the curve
of the range is 0.9984, the standard average variance RMSE is in agreement with the data points. The curve fitting coeffi-
is 0.001015, and the fitting correlation coefficient is 0.9977. cient shows the water activity of hot air drying rice. The degree
 20513305, 2021, 4, Downloaded from https://ietresearch.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1049/tje2.12027 by Nat Prov Indonesia, Wiley Online Library on [19/02/2023]. See the Terms and Conditions (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/terms-and-conditions) on Wiley Online Library for rules of use; OA articles are governed by the applicable Creative Commons License
LING AND SUN 205

FIGURE 6 Fitting curve of water activity and time for microwave drying

of fitting equation is
FIGURE 7 Variation curve of moisture content in two drying methods
4
0.934 × t 2 − 143.9 × t + 1.068 × 10
Awh = (4)
t + 1.104 × 104

The relationship between water activity and time during rice

microwave drying is also fitted, and the fitted curve is shown in
Figure 6.
Fitting results show that the square of the range is 0.9718,
the standard average variance RMSE is 0.02838, and the fit-
ting correlation coefficient is 0.9597, indicating that the curve is
in agreement with the data points. The curve fitting coefficient
shows the water activity of microwave-dried rice. The degree of
fitting equation is

−0.0007987 × t 2 + 0.4256 × t + 15.58

Awm = (5)
t + 16.33

FIGURE 8 Drying rate curve of two drying methods

4 ANALYSIS OF RESULTS
water vapour evaporation, or polarisation and friction under the
4.1 Moisture content drying rate analysis influence of high-frequency electromagnetic field would gener-
ate heat to convert to water vapour evaporation.
Drying rate is defined as the mass of moisture vapourised After 24 min, the value of the paddy drying rate is reduced
in a unit area of wet material per unit time [16, 17]. When and changes slowly. This phenomenon occurs because after the
the contact surface of dry material and drying medium can- surface water of rice evaporates, the internal water must be first
not be determined, the drying rate is expressed by drying transferred to the surface of the rice and then evaporate. The
strengthNt calculated using formula (6) [18]. The rice moisture permeation rate of the water from the inside to the outside of
content curve (Figure 7) and the drying rate curve (Figure 8) are the rice is lower than the evaporation rate of the water at the
drawn according to the above fitting equation: surface. As a result, the overall drying rate of the rice grains
decreases and gradually becomes flat, and the change of the
dMm Yi+1 − Yi moisture content curve almost maintains a parallel downward
Nt = − =− (6)
dt ti+1 − ti trend.
As shown in the figure, 400 W microwave drying is faster and
Figures 7 and 8 show that the total moisture content curve more efficient than 850 W hot air drying.
of rice grains shows a decline trend of rapid, rapid, and gentle.
The entire drying process can be simply divided into two stages,
namely, rapid and slow drying. In the first 24 min, the mois- 4.2 Water activity analysis
ture content of the rice is high, the drying rate is relatively large,
and the decline accounts for most of the overall decline. The On the basis of the fitting equation, the water activity curves
reason for this change in the curve is that the surface water of of different drying methods are drawn as shown in Figure 9.
rice would preferentially exchange heat with hot air to convert to The water activity of rice under the two drying methods also
 20513305, 2021, 4, Downloaded from https://ietresearch.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1049/tje2.12027 by Nat Prov Indonesia, Wiley Online Library on [19/02/2023]. See the Terms and Conditions (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/terms-and-conditions) on Wiley Online Library for rules of use; OA articles are governed by the applicable Creative Commons License
206 LING AND SUN

the water activity decline rate slows down. The curve tends to
be flat.

4.3 Research on rice temperature change

During rice drying using microwave vacuum drying oven and

blast drying oven, an infrared thermal imaging camera is used to
photograph the rice, measure the temperature change of the rice
at each time period (Figures 10 and 11), and observe the colour,
smell, and shape of rice husk (Table 3) [19–21].
As shown in Table 3, the temperature of the hot air drying of
rice increases slowly. After 56 min, the maximum temperature of
rice is close to the set temperature of 40◦ C and the temperature
of microwave drying increases rapidly. After 8 min, the max-
FIGURE 9 Water activity curve of two drying methods
imum temperature of rice has reached 40◦ C and then fluctu-
ates continuously. Although the minimum temperature of both
methods gradually increases from the initial temperature with
shows a trend of rapid decline and then deceleration. The 400 W time, the temperature of microwave drying is basically higher
microwave drying induces more evident changes than the 850 W than that of hot air drying.
hot air drying curve. In the first 24 min, the water activity of the As shown in Figure 10, the initial high-temperature area of
microwave-dried rice decreases substantially with a large ampli- rice under hot air drying is located in the area directly oppo-
tude and then declines gradually. By contrast, the water activity site the hot air outlet. When the rice heat gradually diffuses
curve of the hot air-dried rice maintains a certain speed and then from the middle high-temperature area to the surrounding
gradually decreases. This difference is due to the fast drying rate low-temperature area, the temperature in the low-temperature
of microwave-dried rice and the loss of a large amount of free area gradually increases. Figure 11 shows that because the elec-
water leading to the fast drop in water activity. After 24 min, tromagnetic wave emission port in the microwave drying oven
the dry rice transitions from the first stage of rapid drying to is located on the right side of the rectangular parallelepiped
the second stage of slow drying. The internal moisture of the cavity and is under the coupling of the electromagnetic and
rice penetrates to the surface and then evaporates. The drying temperature fields, the centre of the glass disc in the dry-
speed is limited by the internal moisture penetration rate, and ing cavity is the peak position of the electromagnetic wave

FIGURE 10 Temperature change of hot air drying rice (a) temperature distribution at 8 min, (b) temperature distribution at 24 min, (c) rice state at 56 min, and
(d) temperature distribution at 56 min
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LING AND SUN 207

FIGURE 11 Temperature change of microwave drying rice (a) temperature distribution at 8 min, (b) temperature distribution at 24 min, (c) rice state at 56 min,
and (d) temperature distribution at 56 min

TABLE 3 Changes of temperature and various indicators during rice drying

Hot air drying Microwave drying

Maximum Minimum Maximum Minimum

Rice drying temperature (°C) 8 min 32.6 27 43.9 30.8

16 min 34.8 29.2 44.6 28.9
24 min 36.3 31.3 46.9 33.8
32 min 36.8 33 44.8 34.6
40 min 37.9 32.6 46.3 34.5
48 min 37.4 31.5 44.0 33.9
56 min 38.1 33.5 47.4 35.2
Rice smell Initial drying Normal smell, no musty Normal smell, no musty
End of drying Rice fragrance Strong aroma of rice
Rice colour Initial drying The particles are full and shiny The particles are full and shiny
End of drying The grains are full, fewer grains have cracks The grains are full, fewer grains have cracks
Rice husk shape Initial drying The shell is full, yellow, without cracking The shell is full, yellow, without cracking
End of drying Light yellow colour, a few rice husks cracked The colour is light yellow, and the husk
cracks more and more easily

distribution in the cavity. The centre of the disk is heated is stronger, and the degree of drying is more thorough than
the most, and the temperature of the rice in the centre is the under hot air drying. Rice husks under microwave drying are
highest. The surrounding temperature is substantially lower also easier to crack than those under hot air drying.
than that in the centre. When the microwave continues to dry,
the temperature in the surrounding area gradually increases.
Microwave drying simultaneously heats up the inside and the 5 CONCLUSION
surface; hence, the drying is uniform. Hot air drying heats the
surface through convective heat transfer of hot air; hence, the The influence of hot air drying and microwave drying on rice
drying is uneven and slow. Therefore, the colour of rice grains drying is studied. The experimental data are used to analyse
under microwave drying is fuller and brighter, the aroma of rice the drying characteristics of rice moisture content and water
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208 LING AND SUN

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This work is supported by the Scientific Research Project of How to cite this article: Ling F, Sun T. Study on the
Education Department of Anhui Province (No. KJ2020ZD38) drying characteristics of rice by microwave and hot air
drying. J Eng. 2021;2021:201–208.
ORCID https://doi.org/10.1049/tje2.12027
Tongsheng Sun https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2053-2437