Examples of mechanical dryers

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See also: IRRI rice fact sheet

IRRI related video on Paddy Drying:

Low-cost and simplicity, the Flat bed dryer

Many mechanical dryers have been developed for rice but only very few did get commercialized succesfully. This page and it's sub pages provides information about some dryers that became popular in Southeast Asia. It does not constitute a comprehensive overview of all possible drying technologies. The dryers featured here are not neccessarily the best technical solution but, because they are accepted by the users, they seem to offer a good compromise between drying cost and benefits in terms of higher quality and weather risk avodiance in their specific settings.

Overview on commercially available dryers

(Click on the picture for a detailled description).

Target group	Dryer	Description
Farm level		Low cost dryer (SRR and STR dryers) Country: Vietnam Source: Nong Lam University (NLU), Ho Chi Minh City Capacity: 1t Drying time: 2 days Cost: US$ 100 Installed units in 2009: more than 1,400 Contact: NLU
Drying contract service provider Small to medium rice mills		Vietnamese Flat bed dryer Country: Vietnam Source: Nong Lam University, Ho Chi Minh City Capacity: 4-10t Drying time: 6-8h Cost: US$ 1,500 Installed units in 2009: more than 6,000 Contact: NLU
		Maligaya flat bed dryer Source: NLU - PhilRice cooperation Capacity: 4t Drying time: 6-8h Contact: PhilRice
		Cambodian flat bed dryer Source: NLU, Vietnam through IRRC Capacity: 4t Drying time: 6-8h Installed units until 2009: 7 Contact: MAFF
		Myanmar flat bed dryer Source: NLU, Vietnam through IRRC Capacity: 4t Drying time: 6-8h Installed units until 2009: 7 Contact: Pioneer Postharvest Development Group
		Indonesian box dryer Source: ICRR, Sukamandi Capacity: 3.3t Drying time: 6-8h Installed units until 2009: 200 Contact: Indonesian Center for Rice Research, Sukamandi
Large rice mills and processors		Commercial re-circulating batch dryer Source: Various companies Capacity: 4-12t/batch Drying time: 6-8h
Small seed dryers		IRRI flat bed dryer Source: IRRI Capacity: 1t Drying time: 6-8h Note: This is a design from the 1970s. Thousands of units were installed over the years but the design is outdated. It can still be used for drying seeds or demonstation purposes since it can be made portable. Contact: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Small seed dryers		IRRI seed dryer Source: IRRI, based on the Vietnamese SRR dryer Capacity: 200 kg Drying time: 12-24h Note: This is a prototype seed dryer for very small seed samples. The IRRI design uses a rice husk stove as heat source but that is very labor intensive. A coal stove using brickets is more appropriate. Contact: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it