Cereal Chem 49:598 - 604.  |  VIEW ARTICLE
Sorption Kinetics of Water Vapor by Yellow Dent Corn. II. Analysis of Kinetic Data for Damaged Corn.

D. S. Chung, S.-W. Park, W. J. Hoover, and C. A. Watson. Copyright 1972 by the American Association of Cereal Chemists, Inc. 

Sorption of water vapor by sound and by damaged (broken or heat-damaged) yellow dent corn differed appreciably in rates of equilibrium moisture contents under conditions tested. Initially sorption rates decreased, in order, in broken, heat-damaged, and sound corn; then rates for heat-damaged and sound corn reversed after a certain sorption time. Equilibrium moisture contents decreased in this order: broken, sound, and heat-damaged. Sorption of water vapor on corn seemed to be controlled by a surface-adsorption mechanism early, then by a diffusion-controlling mechanism. A model describing the simultaneous adsorption and diffusion process was used to describe the entire range of the kinetic process. Parameters involved in the simultaneous adsorption-diffusion model may be used to estimate general physical quality of grain, and as a guide for grain conditioning, storage, and drying.