DISTRIBUTION OF INTRODUCED CARBON-DIOXIDE THROUGH STORED WHEAT BULKS - A PILOT-SCALE STUDY

Citation
K. Alagusundaram et al., DISTRIBUTION OF INTRODUCED CARBON-DIOXIDE THROUGH STORED WHEAT BULKS - A PILOT-SCALE STUDY, Canadian agricultural engineering, 38(2), 1996, pp. 83-89
Citations number
24
Categorie Soggetti
Engineering,Agriculture
ISSN journal
0045432X
Volume
38
Issue
2
Year of publication
1996
Pages
83 - 89
Database
ISI
SICI code
0045-432X(1996)38:2<83:DOICTS>2.0.ZU;2-J
Abstract
The distribution of introduced carbon dioxide (CO2) was measured exper imentally in three 1.42-m-diameter bins containing wheat to a depth of 1.37 m. Dry ice was used as a source of CO2 gas. The effects on the d istribution of CO2 of the floor opening (circular near the centre, rec tangular, and circular near the wall), the grain surface left open or covered with a polyvinylidene chloride (PVDC) sheet, and the mass of i ntroduced dry ice were studied. The CO2 gas moved more rapidly in the horizontal direction than in the upward vertical direction. Although t here were gradients in the vertical direction, the CO2 concentrations were nearly uniform in the horizontal direction in the top two-thirds of the wheat bulks. The efficiency of retention (the ratio of the mass of CO2 retained in a bin to the total mass of CO2 input, eta(r)) was, on average, 6 percentage points greater when the grain surfaces were covered with the PVDC sheet than when grain surfaces were open. The ma ximum observed eta(r) was only 55%.