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Agricultural
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Aquaculture
Dale Bumpers College
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Grain Drying and StorageGrain Shrink Table (Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet) - This spreadsheet illustrates the weight of grain at moisture content levels from 5 to 30% of several grain types. Shrinkage may be determined by taking the weight at the high moisture level and subtracted the weight at some lower level. A calculation is included at the bottom of the table for grain bin capacity versus filling depth and bin diameter. The user enters depth and bin diameter to obtain capacity. Using psychometric charts to determine the equilibrium moisture content (EMC) of grain can be overwhelming for most of us. We have developed two calculators that will help you determine if running bin fans correctly under specific conditions will 1) dry your grain or 2) potentially add more moisture to the grain, resulting in storage problems, which waste energy. Both of these calculators require you to collect some meteorological data and enter these values into the calculator. The calculators then output whether or not drying will occur under your current conditions. If drying will not occur, they give a recommended minimum heat amount that must be added before drying will occur. The first calculator, titled "Equilibrium Moisture Content Using Known Relative Humidity," requires you to have an instrument on hand that will tell you relative humidity (%). If no instrument is handy, you could use the local weather station’s reading of relative humidity; however, an on-farm reading is much more accurate. You will also need to have plenum temperature (°F), current moisture content of grain (%) and target moisture of grain (%). The second calculator, titled "Equilibrium Moisture Content Using Sling Psychrometer," requires you to take a sling psychrometer reading in or near the plenum. The calculator requires the wet bulb temperature (°F), dry bulb temperature (°F), current moisture content of grain (%) and target moisture of grain (%). |
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University of Arkansas • Division of Agriculture |
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