Predicting Storage Conditions for Rice Seed with Thermodynamic Analysis
AbstractThe desorption isotherms ofjaponicaandindicarice seeds were determined at 15, 25, 35, 45 °C within the water activity range from 0.12 to 0.92 and it was observed that GAB model could accurately describe the desorption behaviors with low values of mean relative error (MRE). The thermodynamic properties of rice seeds were obtained by water desorption isotherms. The moisture content with the minimum integral entropy was considered as the best storage condition where the strongest energetic interaction between water molecular and solid occurred and the optimum seed moisture for storage at 35 °C occurred at 6.02 g water per 100 g of dry matter (ɑwof 0.12) forjaponicarice seed and 5.28 g water per 100 g of dry matter (ɑwof 0.08) forindicarice seed, respectively. The mechanisms of desorption process were determined with integral enthalpy–entropy compensation theory and it was observed that the at low moisture content the desorption process of rice seed was controlled by changes of entropy, whereas the desorption process was considered to be controlled by enthalpy mechanism at high moisture content. It was found that theindicarice seed exhibited a wider water activity range in the minimum integral entropy zone, indicating thatindicarice seed was more stable to withstand the different storage conditions compared withjaponicarice seed.