Premium
Spontaneous heating and ignition in stored palm kernels. IV.—Observations of temperature, humidity, and air composition in palm‐kernel stacks
Author(s) -
Bowes P. C.,
Thomas A.
Publication year - 1951
Publication title -
journal of the science of food and agriculture
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.782
H-Index - 142
eISSN - 1097-0010
pISSN - 0022-5142
DOI - 10.1002/jsfa.2740020205
Subject(s) - stack (abstract data type) , humidity , relative humidity , atmosphere (unit) , environmental science , carbon dioxide , airflow , palm kernel , atmospheric sciences , meteorology , chemistry , thermodynamics , agroforestry , physics , organic chemistry , palm oil , computer science , programming language , geology
Measurements of temperature and humidity have been made in a steel‐sheeted stack of bagged palm kernels during a period of one year and they have been correlated with the atmospheric temperature and humidity. The oxygen and carbon dioxide contents of the air in the stack have also been determined at intervals. The results are consistent with the occurrence of ventilation in the stack. This ventilation is apparently sufficient to carry away heat produced by the slow absorption of oxygen which takes place. Over long periods the mean relative humidity of the air in the stack is about equal to the mean atmospheric humidity for the period, when allowance is made for the difference in temperature that may exist between the interior of the stack and the atmosphere. Thus the overall moisture content of the stack approaches equilibrium with long‐period mean atmospheric humidities; but this is a slow process and the importance of including only dry bags of kernels in the stack is emphasized. No heating was detected in the stacks under observation and, during those periods when humidity measurements were made, conditions in the stacks were not favourable to active mould‐growth.