A research on determination of thermal properties of some oily seeds

Thermal properties namely, specific heat, thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity of corn, soybean and sunflower were determined as a function of moisture content (w.b.) and temperature. The specific heat was measured by using mixture method and ranged from 1.4868 to 2.4224 kJ/kg ? C, 1.3934 to 3.1976 kJ/kg ? C and 0.8649 to 1.9302 kJ/kg ? C for corn, soybean and sunflower, respectively. The thermal conductivity was measured by transient technique using line heat source and varied between 0.1194 and 0.2474 W/m ? C for corn, 0.0980 and 0.2276 W/m ? C for soybean, 0.0929 and 0.2099 W/m ? C for sunflower. The average values of thermal diffusivity ranged between 1.111 ? 10-7 and 1.371 ? 10-7 m2/s for corn, 8.268 ? 10-8 and 1.496 ? 10-7 m2/sfor soybean, 2.325 ? 10-7 and 3.695 ? 10-7 m2/s for sunflower. Simple empirical models were developed to express thermal properties as a function of moisture content and temperature.