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Research Paper: PHPostharvest Technology
Paddy dehydration by adsorption: Thermo-physical
properties and diffusion model of agriculture residues
S. Tirawanichakul
a
, Y. Tirawanichakul
b,
, E. Sniso
b
a
Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Prince of Songkla University, HatYai, 90110 Songkhla, Thailand
b
Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, Prince of Songkla University, HatYai, 90110 Songkhla, Thailand
a r t i c l e i n f o
Article history:
Received 31 January 2007
Received in revised form
6 June 2007
Accepted 1 November 2007
Available online 18 December 2007
Dehydration of high-moisture grain kernels using adsorption is an interesting method,
especially when agricultural residues are used as adsorbents. This dehydration method is a
low-temperature drying process that is simple, requires no mechanical equipment, has low
energy consumption and maintains grain quality. The aim of this research was to
investigate the use of rice husk, coconut husk and sago palm rachis to reduce the moisture
content of fresh paddy. The thermo-physical properties and the drying kinetics of these
agricultural residues acting as moisture adsorbents were studied. The bulk density, specic
heat capacity, void fraction, equilibrium moisture content (EMC) and the effective diffusion
coefcient (D
eff
) of the adsorbents were determined. The bulk density, specic heat capacity
and void fraction were determined at initial moistures contents ranging from 4.1% to 72.4%
dry-basis (d.b.). The EMC and D
eff
values were measured at surrounding temperatures and
relative humidity varying from of 40 to 70 1C and from 10% to 90%, respectively. For
evaluating the D
eff
value using thin-layer drying (TLD), an experiment was carried out at
inlet air temperatures of 3070 1C. The bulk density and specic heat capacity of all three
adsorbents were linearly dependent on the moisture content and the void fraction was
inversely related to the moisture content. The four commonly cited EMC equations were
tted to the experimental data. A modied Henderson equation provided the best t for
describing the EMC isotherm of all the study cases. The modied Henderson and Pabis
model provided a good t to the experimental TLD results and the D
eff
values, determined
by non-linear regression, were signicantly affected by the inlet drying air temperature.
The D
eff
values were in the range 1.2 10
8
6.210
8
m
2
s
1
. Sago palm rachis had the
highest D
eff
value compared to coconut husk and rice husk. However, the most suitable
adsorbent material was rice husk because it was easy to prepare and it could be
regenerated by low-temperature heating.
& 2007 IAgrE. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction
Sorption processes are used to remove moisture from
materials (Rouquerol et al., 1999). The application of adsor-
bents for moisture reduction and the dehumidication of
paddy using silica gel were reported by Murata et al. (1993).
The results showed that the silica gel dehumidier for cereal
grains at ambient air temperature was technically feasible.
Applications of moisture adsorption by agriculture residues
have previously been reported and studied (Inoue et al., 2002).
Thailand as an agro-industrial country has large amounts of
agricultural residues such as coconut shell and coconut husk,
ARTICLE IN PRESS
1537-5110/$ - see front matter & 2007 IAgrE. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.biosystemseng.2007.11.001

Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: supawan.t@psu.ac.th (S. Tirawanichakul), yutthana.t@psu.ac.th (Y. Tirawanichakul).
B I OS YS T E MS E NGI NE E R I NG 99 ( 2008) 249 255
rice husk, starch waste from cassava and sago palm rachis
that can be used in various applications (Malik, 2003).
It is generally agreed that moisture reduction from the grain
kernel, some fruits and food such as rough rice, corn, sh and
starch, is described by unsteady liquid diffusion based on
Ficks law (Henderson & Pabis, 1961). Hill (1949) and Crank
(1975) previously proposed isothermal liquid diffusion models
to describe the drying rate of a grain as a function of
diffusivity. Additionally, they found that the effective diffu-
sion coefcient (D
eff
) value depended on the inlet drying air
temperature and the initial moisture content. However, a few
previous investigations on application of moisture removal by
adsorption have been reported and studied (Murata et al.,
1993; Inoue et al., 2002). The application of moisture deso-
rption for grain using agricultural residues is an interesting
and simple technique which removes the need for mechan-
ical equipment and results in lower energy inputs.
The objectives of this research were to determine the
physical parameters of agricultural residues (rice husk, coco-
nut husk and sago palm rachis) affecting dehydration for
fresh paddy kernel. Thermo-physical properties such as the
specic heat capacity, bulk density and void fraction values of
these agricultural residues need to be determined. In addi-
tion, the equilibrium moisture content (EMC) isotherm, the
effective diffusion coefcient (D
eff
) and the thin-layer drying
equation for all adsorbents required consideration.
2. Experimental procedures
2.1. Materials
The adsorbents rice husk, raw sago palm rachis and coconut
husk were uniformly rewetted by water spraying to initial
moisture contents of 5.621.5% (d.b.) to determine the EMC
and 14.9%, 20.1% and 27.1% (d.b.) to examine the thin-layer
drying equation, and to 4.172.4% (d.b.) to evaluate specic
heat capacity, bulk density and void fraction.
To determine the equilibrium moisture content, saturated
salt solutions of potassium nitrate (KNO
3
), sodium chloride
(NaCl), magnesium nitrate decahydrate (Mg(NO
3
)
2
6H
2
O),
magnesium chloride decahydrate (MgCl
2
6H
2
O) and lithium
chloride (LiCl) were used.
2.2. Methods
2.2.1. Determination of physical properties
The physical properties of the adsorbents were determined in
terms of the specic heat capacity, bulk density and void
fraction. To determine the specic heat capacity, sago palm
rachis and coconut husk samples were cut into cubes
measuring 23.2mm23.2mm23.2mm and rice husk was
formed in a layer with dimensions of 7 mm15mm. The
specic heat capacity of the agricultural residues was
determined using a calorimeter. Consequently, to calculate
the bulk density, the mass of the samples was weighed
by an electronic balance with an accuracy of 70.01g and
the volume measured using a volumetric ask. The bulk
density was calculated from the mass and volume of the
samples.
2.2.2. Determination of equilibrium moisture content (EMC)
To determine the EMC of the agricultural residues (adsor-
bents), the samples were weighed (2035g) and kept in
stainless-steel wire nets, hanging in ve bottles, which
contained the ve saturated salt solutions (in Section 2.2.1).
The glass bottles were then placed in an incubator at a
constant temperature and a relative humidity (H
R
) of 40701C
and 1090%, respectively. The time to achieve the equilibrium
state between the adsorbent and the saturated salt solution
was approximately 1220 days. The samples were then
removed and weighed to determine the nal moisture
content (so-called equilibrium moisture content, M
eq
) follow-
ing the AOAC (1995) method. Four isotherm models for
predicting the equilibrium moisture content were chosen to
t the experimental data of EMC, surrounding temperature (T)
and the H
R
. They were the modied Brunauer et al. (1938)
(BET), the ChungPfost equation (Chung & Pfost, 1967), the
modied Henderson (1952) and the Halsey (1948) equations.
ARTICLE IN PRESS
Nomenclature
A, B, C, g, h, k, m and n arbitrary coefcients
c
p
specic heat capacity, kJ kg
1
1C
1
D
eff
effective diffusion coefcient or effective diffu-
sivity, m
2
s
1
D
o
Arrhenius factor
E
a
activated energy, kJ kmol
1
K
1
H
R
relative humidity, decimal
L characteristic half-thickness, m
M moisture content, % (d.b.)
M
eq
equilibrium moisture content, % (d.b.)
M
i
initial moisture content, decimal (d.b.)
M
t
moisture content at drying time (t), decimal (d.b.)
M
R,exp,i
experimental data of moisture ratio at the ith
drying time, decimal (d.b.)
M
R,pre,i
predicted value of moisture ratio at the ith drying
time, decimal (d.b.)
MR moisture ratio at the ith drying time which is
dened as (M
t
M
eq
)/(M
i
M
eq
), decimal
N number of samples
n number of terms
R universal gas constant, 8.314kJ kmol
1
K
1
R
2
coefcient of determination, decimal
T absolute temperature, K
T
in
inlet drying air temperature, 1C
t drying time, s
l
n
root of the Bessel function of the rst kind of
order zero
r bulk density, kgm
3
e void fraction, %
B I OS YS T E MS E NGI NE E R I NG 99 ( 2008) 249 255 250
The equations used were
Modied BET equation (Brunauer et al., 1938)
H
R
1 H
R
M
eq

1
AB

H
R
B 1
AB
, (1)
where H
R
is the relative humidity in decimals; A and B are
arbitrary coefcients; and M
eq
is the equilibrium moisture
content in decimals (d.b.).
ChungPfost equation (Chung & Pfost, 1967)
ln H
R

A
RT
e
BMeq
, (2)
where R is the universal gas constant, 8.314kJ kmol
1
K
1
; T is
the absolute temperature in K.
Modied Hendersons equation (Henderson, 1952)
1 H
R
e
ATM
B
eq

. (3)
Halseys equation (Halsey, 1948)
H
R
e
A=RTM
B
eq

. (4)
The constants in these models were determined by the
non-linear regression analysis from the experimental
data. The coefcient of determination (R
2
) value was used as
the criterion for determining the best t of the experimental
data.
2.2.3. Development of a thin-layer drying equation and the
effective diffusion coefcient
The samples were dried in a thin layer (thickness of 15mm)
to determine the effective diffusion coefcient. Drying
was performed at hot-air inlet temperatures of 30701C,
which were suitable for the dehydration of adsorbents.
Above drying temperatures of 70 1C the adsorbents
may burn and decompose. An air velocity for determining
the thin-layer drying kinetics of materials was xed at
1.8ms
1
.
Samples were maintained at initial moisture contents of
14.9%, 20.1% and 27.1% (d.b.). The inlet, outlet and ambient air
(wet and dry bulb) temperatures were recorded using a
datalogger with an accuracy of 71 1C. Air velocity was
measured by a hot-wire anemometer with an accuracy of
70.1ms
1
.
(a) Empirical model:
Empirical models were developed using non-linear regres-
sion. The four conventional models were formulated as
follows:
Newton (Mujumdar, 1987)
MR e
kt
. (5)
Page (Page, 1949)
MR
M
t
M
eq

M
i
M
eq

e
kt
m

. (6)
Two-term model (Sharaf-Eldeen et al., 1980)
MR Ae
kt
n

Be
gt
. (7)
Modied Henderson and Pabis (Karathanos, 1999)
MR Ae
kt
Be
gt
ce
ht
, (8)
where MR is the moisture ratio at the ith drying time. It is
dimensionless and is dened as (M
t
M
eq
)/(M
i
M
eq
) where M
t
,
M
i
and M
eq
are the predicted, initial and equilibrium moisture
contents, respectively, decimal (d.b.); A, B, k, g, h, m and n are
arbitrary coefcients; and t is drying time in s.
The empirical equations were evaluated for best t using
the coefcient of determination (R
2
). The experiments were
replicated.
(b) Theoretical model:
It is assumed that moisture is transferred by liquid
diffusion and that shrinkage of materials is negligible during
drying. In the partial differential equations for moisture
diffusion to a single piece of adsorbent, the rice husk is
assumed to be an innite slab and both the coconut husk and
the sago palm rachis are assumed to be cubic in shape. The
general solution for moisture ratio can be expressed by the
following equation:
For an innite slab
MR
M
t
M
eq

M
i
M
eq

8
p
2
X
1
n1
1
2n 1
2
e
p
2
2n1
2
=4LD
eff
t
; (9)
where L is the characteristic half-thickness of the adsorbent
in m; t is the drying time in s.
For the cubic shape
MR
M
t
M
eq

M
i
M
eq

8
p
2

3
X
1
n0
1
2n 1
2

3
e
2n1
2
3p
2
D
eff
t=L
2

.
(10)
The effective diffusion coefcient (D
eff
) is conventionally
described by the Arrhenius-type equation as follows:
D
eff
D
o
e
Ea=RT
, (11)
where D
o
is an Arrhenius factor and E
a
is an activated energy
in kJ kmol
1
K
1
.
Many studies have reported that D
o
depends on the
absolute drying air temperature (T) and the moisture content.
However, this D
o
value can be determined as a constant
(Mulet et al., 1989; Rovedo et al., 1998). The experiments were
replicated three times.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Determination of physical property
Fig. 1 shows the variability of the specic heat capacity of rice
husk, coconut husk and sago palm rachis with the moisture
content. The experimental data of each adsorbent were tted
ARTICLE IN PRESS
B I OS YS T E MS E NG I NE E R I NG 99 ( 2008) 249 255 251
to linear regression. The results show that the specic heat
capacity (c
p
) in kJ kg
1
K
1
of all adsorbents has a linear
relation to the moisture content (M) in % (d.b.). These specic
heat capacities are determined corresponding to the pervious
works (Mulet et al., 1989). The equations are as follows:
rice husk c
p
0:0287M 1:6686, (12)
coconut husk c
p
0:0232M 2:2325, (13)
sago palm rachis c
p
0:0343M 2:2986 (14)
with values for R
2
of 0.953, 0.948 and 0.935, respectively.
The results showed that rice husk had the lowest specic
heat capacity, while at lower moisture contents coconut husk
and sago palm rachis had similar specic heat capacities.
However, at higher moisture contents, the rice husk had a
relatively low heat adsorption compared to the others.
Fig. 2 shows the relationship between the bulk density and
the moisture content of the three adsorbents. The bulk
density of the adsorbents was linearly dependent on the
moisture content. Moreover, the bulk density of rice husk had
a relatively high value compared to the coconut husk and
sago palm rachis. The bulk densities (r) in kgm
3
could be
expressed as follows:
rice husk r 1:27M 80:65, (15)
coconut husk r 0:26M 34:41, (16)
sago palm rachis r 0:26M 56:13 (17)
with values of R
2
of 0.973, 0.918 and 0.932, respectively.
The experimental and tted void fraction data for all
adsorbents are shown in Fig. 3. The results indicated that
the percentage of void fraction (e) slightly decreases with an
increase in the moisture content. The least-squares regres-
sion analysis indicated that the tted regression equations
were in close agreement with the experimental data. More-
over, the percentage of void fraction of rice husk was higher
than that for coconut husk and sago palm rachis, respectively
rice husk 0:0922M 98:75, (18)
coconut husk 0:0887M 81:19, (19)
sago palm rachis 0:0483M 69:75 (20)
with values of R
2
of 0.952, 0.974 and 0.973, respectively.
However, rice husk is a more suitable adsorbent than
coconut husk and sago palm rachis, especially in Thailand.
This is because rice husk is a direct by-product of dehusking
of paddy and it is not necessary to cut it into a in rectangular
shape like the others.
3.2. Determination of the equilibrium moisture content
The four EMC desorption models for rice husk, coconut husk
and sago palm rachis were evaluated as shown in Tables 13,
respectively. The results indicated that the predicted values
using the modied Henderson model were in close agreement
with the experimental results for the temperature and
ARTICLE IN PRESS
0
1
2
3
4
5
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Moisture content,% (d.b.)
S
p
e
c
i
f
i
c

h
e
a
t

c
a
p
a
c
i
t
y
,

k
J

k
g

1
Experiment Simulation
Fig. 1 Relationship between specic heat capacity and
moisture content of three Absorbents; , sago palm rachis;
, coconut husk; , rice husk; , regression.
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Moisture content, % (d.b.)
B
u
l
k

d
e
n
s
i
t
y
,

k
g

(
m
3
)

1
Fig. 2 Change in bulk density of rice husk, coconut husk
and sago palm rachis at various moisture contents; , sago
palm rachis; , coconut husk; , rice husk; , regression.
60
70
80
90
100
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Moisture content, % (d.b.)
V
o
i
d

f
r
a
c
t
i
o
n
,

%
Fig. 3 Change in void fraction of rice husk, coconut husk
and sago palm rachis at various moisture contents; , sago
palm rachis; , coconut husk; , rice husk; , regression.
B I OS YS T E MS E NGI NE E R I NG 99 ( 2008) 249 255 252
relative humidity ranges. The R
2
values of the EMC absorption
isotherm of these three adsorbents simulated using the
modied Henderson equation were 0.942, 0.773 and 0.942
for rice husk, coconut husk and sago palm rachis, respec-
tively. Additionally, the modied EMC equations are as
follows:
rice husk 1 H
R
exp3:03 10
4
TM
0:91
eq
, (21)
coconut husk 1 H
R
exp2:57 10
4
TM
0:92
eq
, (22)
ARTICLE IN PRESS
Table 1 Equilibrium moisture content constants and
coefcients of different desorption isotherm models for
rice husk
Model Arbitrary constants in
model
R
2
A B
Modied BET 0.998 1.638 0.815
Chung and Pfost 7.426 10
3
0.199 0.996
Modied Henderson 2.750 10
4
1.130 0.988
Halsey 8.673 10
3
1.017 0.995
R
2
, coefcient of determination.
Table 2 Equilibrium moisture content constants and
coefcients of different desorption isotherm models for
coconut husk
Model Arbitrary constants in
model
R
2
A B
Modied BET 0.613 1.557 0.902
Chung and Pfost 3.899 10
4
0.393 0.731
Modied Henderson 1.608 10
6
2.374 0.773
Halsey 1.010 10
6
3.103 0.842
R
2
, coefcient of determination.
Table 3 Equilibrium moisture content constants and
coefcients of different desorption isotherm models for
sago palm rachis
Model Arbitrary constants in
model
R
2
A B
Modied BET 0.725 1.415 0.944
Chung and Pfost 1.858 10
4
0.240 0.996
Modied Henderson 1.289 10
5
2.257 0.999
Halsey 5.071 10
5
2.528 0.999
R
2
, coefcient of determination.
0
.
0
0
.
2
0
.
4
0
.
6
0
.
8
1
.
0
0 20 40 60
Drying time, min
0 20 40 60
Drying time, min
Drying time, min
M
o
i
s
t
u
r
e

r
a
t
i
o
,

d
e
c
i
m
a
l
0
.
0
0
.
2
0
.
4
0
.
6
0
.
8
1
.
0
M
o
i
s
t
u
r
e

r
a
t
i
o
,

d
e
c
i
m
a
l
0
.
0
0
.
2
0
.
4
0
.
6
0
.
8
1
.
0
M
o
i
s
t
u
r
e

r
a
t
i
o
,

d
e
c
i
m
a
l
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
(a)
(b)
(c)
Fig. 4 Comparison between experimental data and
simulated data from the modied Henderson and Pabis
empirical model at various drying times, drying
temperatures of 30701C and a constant airow rate of
1.8ms
1
; , drying temperature of 301C; , drying
temperature of 501C; K, drying temperature of 701C; ,
simulation. (a) Rice husk with initial moisture content of
14.9% (d.b.). (b) Coconut husk with initial moisture content
of 27.1% (d.b.). (c) Sago palm rachis with initial moisture
content of 14.9% (d.b.).
B I OS YS T E MS E NG I NE E R I NG 99 ( 2008) 249 255 253
sago palm rachis 1 H
R
exp1:02 10
4
TM
1:30
eq
(23)
with the values of R
2
of 0.942, 0.773 and 0.942, respectively.
The EMC values of all adsorbents will be used for evaluating
the empirical and semi-theoritical moisture ratio in the next
section.
3.3. Establishment of a thin-layer drying equation and an
effective diffusion coefcient
To validate the moisture ratio (MR) equation, including the
EMC value for adsorbents, the thin-layer drying of rice husk,
coconut husk and sago palm rachis was conducted at the
drying temperatures of 30, 50 and 70 1C. The inlet drying air
velocity was xed at 1.8ms
1
. The experimental results were
used to formulate the thin-layer drying equation by curve
tting [Eqs. (5)(8)]. The rate of measured and predicted
moisture transfer was signicantly related to the inlet drying
air temperature. Additionally, drying at high temperatures
was more rapid. Fig. 4 compares the measured and predicted
values for moisture content at various drying times. The
results also showed that the proposed modied Henderson
and Pabis model could predict the moisture content in close
agreement with the measurements. The R
2
value is higher
than 0.99 as shown in Table 4.
Eqs. (9) and (10) were used to determine the effective
diffusion coefcient (D
eff
) and the diffusion coefcient at air
temperatures of 30701C was formulated using Eq. (11). The
equations were written as follows:
rice husk D
eff
0:815e
9:6910
3
T
in

, (24)
coconut husk D
eff
0:914e
2:0110
2
T
in

, (25)
sago palm rachis D
eff
1:260e
1:5910
2
T
in
, (26)
where T
in
was the inlet drying air temperature in 1C and with
values of R
2
of 0.997, 0.997 and 0.998, respectively.
Figs. 57 show the effective diffusion coefcient versus
drying air temperature. The results show that the D
eff
value
was exponentially related to the drying temperature. At the
drying air temperature range between 30 and 70 1C, the range
of values of the D
eff
value for rice husk [(110) 10
10
m
2
s
1
] is
lower than that obtained of coconut husk [(16) 10
8
m
2
s
1
]
and sago palm rachis [(25) 10
8
m
2
s
1
]. This indicates that
coconut husk and sago palm rachis more rapidly transfer
moisture compared to rice husk. These D
eff
values are useful
for predicting the drying kinetic of adsorbents. All of these
physical parameters are necessary to develop a mathematical
model for predicting paddy drying by adsorption. Moreover,
some physical parameters will be useful for studying the
combustion and adsorption of these agricultural residues.
ARTICLE IN PRESS
Table 4 Illustration of arbitrary constants of modied Henderson and Pabis drying model for three different absorbents
Type Absorbent Drying model coefcient of Modied Henderson and Pabis model R
2
M
i
, % d.b. Inlet drying temperature,
1C
A B C g h k
Rice husk 20.1 50 0.4400 0.4393 0.1267 0.2258 0.0130 0.2258 0.999
Coconut husk 27.1 50 0.5372 0.4217 0.0412 0.0017 1.7761 0.0526 0.999
Sago palm
rachis
14.9 50 0.1369 0.1776 0.1327 0.0226 0.7173 0.0226 0.991
M
i
, initial moisture content; R
2
, coefcient of determination.
0
.
0
1
.
0
2
.
0
3
.
0
4
.
0
0 30 60 90 120
Temperature, C
D
i
f
f
u
s
i
o
n

c
o
e
f
f
i
c
i
e
n
t
,

1
0

1
0
,

m
2

1
Fig. 5 Relationship between the effective diffusion
coefcient and the temperature of rice husk; ,
experimental data of rice husk; , non-linear regression.
0
.
0
1
.
0
2
.
0
3
.
0
4
.
0
5
.
0
6
.
0
7
.
0
8
.
0
9
.
0
0 30 60 90 120
Temperature, C
D
i
f
f
u
s
i
o
n

c
o
e
f
f
i
c
i
e
n
t
,

1
0

8

m
2

1
Fig. 6 Relationship between the effective diffusion
coefcient and the temperature of coconut husk; ,
experimental data of coconut husk; , non-linear
regression.
B I OS YS T E MS E NGI NE E R I NG 99 ( 2008) 249 255 254
4. Conclusions
The physical properties of three agriculture residues (rice
husk, coconut husk and sago palm rachis) using initial
moisture contents of 4.172.4% (d.b.) were studied. The
important parameters for drying kinetics such as equilibrium
moisture content, thin-layer drying equation and effective
diffusion coefcient were determined at drying temperatures
of 30701C and initial moisture contents of 14.9%, 20.1% and
27.1% (d.b.). In a future paper these physical properties will be
used for developing a mathematical model of paddy drying
using these agriculture residues. The following conclusions
are drawn:
1. The physical property of adsorbents in terms of the
specic heat capacity, bulk density and void fraction was
found to be linearly dependent on the moisture content.
The rice husk was found to have a high specic heat
capacity, bulk density and void fraction compared to
coconut husk and sago palm rachis.
2. The modied Hendersons equation developed to predict
the equilibrium moisture content for all adsorbents was
valid for ambient relative humidity in the range between
10% and 90% and temperature in the range of 40701C.
3. The empirical equation for thin-layer drying using the
modied Henderson and Pabis model provided close
agreement between predicted and measured results for
all three adsorbents.
4. The drying kinetics of adsorbents was well explained by
the diffusion model while an effective diffusion coefcient
can be formed as an Arrhenius function of drying air
temperature.
Finally, it can be concluded that rice husk is the most
suitable agriculture residue for dehydrating fresh paddy. This
is because it is a direct by-product of paddy dehusking and
does not need to be prepared before being used in the drying
process. However, in the absence of rice husk, both sago palm
rachis and coconut husk can be used for moisture removal
from fresh paddy.
Acknowledgements
The authors wish to express their sincere thanks to Graduate
School, Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of
Engineering and Department of Physics, Faculty of Science,
Prince of Songkla University, Thailand for their nancial
support and facilities. Finally, the authors would like to
gratefully acknowledge Dr. K. Inoue, Agricultural Engineering
Division, the National Agricultural Research Center for
Hokkaido Region (NARCH) Japan for his warmly advice.
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ARTICLE IN PRESS
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Fig. 7 Relationship between the effective diffusion
coefcient and the temperature of sago palm rachis; ,
experimental data of sago palm rachis; , non-linear
regression.
B I OS YS T E MS E NG I NE E R I NG 99 ( 2008) 249 255 255