Meridian natural air drying and aeration

Meridian’s Natural Air Drying and Aeration technology allows for in-silo grain drying that gradually reduces the moisture content while being gentle on the grain. This allows grain to be stored (and aged in case of paddy) for several months or even a few years.

The main factors that account for the degradation of grain are moisture, temperature and pests. The function of aeration is to condition the grain and keep the temperature and moisture levels within an acceptable range. However, in the case of moist grain at harvest (for example, 20% for paddy when the acceptable standard is 14%), drying of the stored grain is required. In places where the relative humidity is low (for example, 30 to 40%), the drying can be accomplished using natural air. However, in conditions where relative humidity is high (for example, 60 to 70%), adding low temperature supplemental heating of the air to lower the moisture content of the grain is required. As the name implies, fumigation blows air mixed with fumigant to kill any pests that may be present in the grain.

Meridian provides the optimally designed ducting, fans, heating cells and fumigation cells for aeration, air drying, heating and fumigation.

While there are multiple research papers on the best practices for aeration, air drying, heating and fumigation, the number of variables and the interaction between them make it difficult to put it in practice. Instead, the best practices need to be evolved for each application. Meridian has the expertise to provide a set of best practices to begin with, based on our experience in Canada and around the world, and put in place a continuous improvement loop to evolve the optimal best practices.