Mathematical modelling, energy consumption, and quality evaluation of wheat seeds subjected to intermittent drying

This work aims to evaluate the kinetic profile of intermittent drying of wheat seeds using traditional models from the literature and the fractional calculus technique. Furthermore, it aims to verify the application of the intermittent drying process on the amount of antioxidant compounds, protein, and lipid content of the grain, in addition to energy consumption to obtain the desired final moisture content of the wheat. It was verified that the prediction of drying kinetics by Page and fraction order models were similar (modelling efficiency varying between the range of 0.917–0.995, varying the drying condition and wheat cultivar). Regarding antioxidant compounds for the three wheat cultivars, it can be seen that the higher fraction of ethanol (74.0% and 90.36%) used for extraction had greater process efficiency. Regarding the protein content in the three wheat cultivars, lower drying temperatures and intermittency periods result in lower quality losses of material (12.3% for BRS-Atobá wheat, 9.89% for BRS-Jacana wheat, and 18.71% for BRS-Sanhaço wheat). In terms of lipids, it was found that the influence of temperature was greater on the lipid content than on the protein content of the material (for the best drying condition, there were percentage decreases for the best condition of 36.16% for the BRS-Atobá wheat, 34.9% for BRS-Jacana, and 52.2% for BRS-Sanhaço). Regarding energy consumption during the drying process, it can be seen that the conditions used for intermittency and drying time, in addition to the sample conditions, directly impact energy consumption.