The ultimate goal of soybean drying is to get rid of the excess moisture in the kernel in order to make it less accessible to living microorganisms, such as fungi and bacteria.
In this process, moisture is evaporated from the kernel to the surrounding air.
Therefore, soybeans are dried in most cases by passing relatively large volumes of air, either ambient or heated, through the grain.
Figure 15-2 shows an example of an on-farm grain drying and storage site. The quality of the drying air determines the final moisture content of the bean kernels.
In addition, the
Figure 15-2. Grain drying and storage bins.
UPDATED 3-2014 1
speed of soybean drying (known as the drying rate) depends on the moisture content and temperature of kernels as well as on the temperature, relative humidity and velocity of the drying air.
Soybeans are typically dried down to 13.0% or 12.0%, depending on whether they are going to be marketed directly or stored for several months.