Abstract:Rape is grown for production of vegetable oil, protein, forage, nectar, and energy with high economic value and development potential. The process of drying and storage of rapeseed is a key link between rape planting and oil comprehensive process and utilization. Based on analysis of rapeseed drying characteristics and main drying technology, research progress of heat and mass transfer and optimization of rapeseed hot-air drying was summarized for providing basis for optimization of apparatus design, drying technique, parameter, and process control. Traditional drying theories and models are mostly based on Luikov Theory and Whitaker Theory, and made some simplification or modification. Since porous media was assumed as meanly distributed continuous material, the intrinsic relationship between the local and the whole porous media is hard to be revealed. Combining Fractal Theory and Pore Networks Model is an effective method for scale integration of porous media drying. Numerical researches on hot-air drying are made from macroscopic, multiscale and microscopic perspectives. By applying CFD technology, information of drying rate, energy consumption and moisture distribution can be effectively obtained, which can be employed to optimize the drying apparatus and control the drying process. Researches on rapeseed hot-air drying are mainly focused on drying characteristics, quality of the product and their measurement technology. The drying technique, drying parameters and drying process should be optimized in order to obtain good drying quality of the product.
