MOISTURE DIFFUSIVITY OF CORN KERNEL COMPONENTS DURING ADSORPTION .2. PERICAP

A corn kernel was modeled as a slab corn (corn without pericarp) an a slab shell (pericarp), and mositure diffusivity of the pericarp was es timated by optimizing the experimental and theoretical adsorption data using a finite difference technique. The diffusion equations were sol ved using the Crank-Nicolson scheme. Experimental data were obtained f rom thin-layer moisture adsorption tests using two varieties of corn ( FR27 x MO17 and P3576) with and without pericarp. Air temperatures of 25, 30, 35, and 40-degrees-C each at 75, 80, and 90% relative humidity were used. The mean moisture diffusivity of pericarp increased with a ir temperature (0.355 x 109 to 0.553 x 10(-9) m2/h) and decreased lowe r (about two orders of magnitude) than those of corn with and without pericarp.