ABSTRACT
Equilibrium moisture contents of long-grain rough rice samples with initial moisture
content of 20% and dried in a fluidized-bed system at temperatures ranging from
60 to 90 °C and relative humidities from 7% to 75% were measured. Rice sample mass
and drying air conditions were recorded throughout the drying duration of each test until
a steady-state mass was attained. The Page equation, with experimentally-determined
drying parameters, was used to describe the drying data. Equilibrium moisture contents
were determined as asymptotic values of the Page model. These equilibrium moisture
contents were in turn used to estimate empirical constants of the Modified Chung-Pfost
equation, a model commonly used to predict equilibrium moisture content values. The
resulting Modified Chung-Pfost equation predicted equilibrium moisture contents with
a root mean square error of 0.6182 and a coefficient of correlation of 0.96.