Dryer performance enhancement through grain preheating

Increasing the capacity of existing continuous-flow corn dryers, without affecting grain quality, is physically and economically feasible by preheating the corn before it enters the dryer. This premise was tested successfully at a commercial site in the midwestern U.S. Corn was preheated in a hopper-bottom wet-holding bin to 25-35°C, resulting in a dryer-capacity increase of up to 20%. The quality of the corn (i.e., the number of stress-cracks) was not affected by the preheating process. The system results in a positive cash flow when the preheater/dryer system is operated a sufficient number of hours per year.