Drying rates for acid-delinted cottonseed

Moisture control during the harvesting, storage, and processing phases of c otton production is essential for producing a quality product. This reports describes the moisture absorption and desorption rates for acid-delinted c ottonseed. Absorption values are shown for temperatures of 20 degrees C and 35 degrees C and desorption values for temperatures ranging from 20 degree s C to 130 degrees C (68-266 degrees F). The desorption (drying) moisture d ata were plotted against time and found to be exponential in nature and are modeled reasonably well by the theoretical falling rate (exponential decay ) function. Nonlinear regression analysis was used to fit the value of the coefficients in the theoretical falling rate equation to the experimental d ata. Temperature significantly affected the coefficient containing the diff usivity parameters in the drying equations. A generalized solution of the f alling rate drying equation, suitable for engineering calculations, was dev eloped as a function of absolute temperature. Results indicate that moistur e absorption by cottonseed occurs in two phases. The first absorption phase appears to be physical in nature and similar to the curves of other biolog ical materials. The second phase, which shows an increased moisture absorpt ion rate after a leveling off period, may indicate increased metabolic acti vity.