Premium
Relative humidity control in equilibration studies
Author(s) -
Henderson Sylvia,
Pixton Stanley W.
Publication year - 1981
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.2740321202
Subject(s) - relative humidity , humidity , chemistry , moisture , potassium hydroxide , salt (chemistry) , sodium hydroxide , atmospheric pressure , water content , atmosphere (unit) , potassium , pulp and paper industry , meteorology , physics , geotechnical engineering , organic chemistry , engineering
The relative humidities in closed containers over both saturated salt solutions and wheat were identical at atmospheric and reduced pressures and reducing the pressure did not alter the relationship between moisture content and equilibrium relative humidity. When using saturated salt or potassium hydroxide solutions to condition samples of wheat, wheatfeed and rapeseed to required humidities, reducing the pressure accelerated the rate of moisture exchange between the product and the atmosphere, without affecting the moisture content‐relative humidity equilibria. There was almost total loss of viability of seeds conditioned at 93% r.h., and some loss for seeds that had been wetted prior to exposure at lower humidities, especially for wheat at atmospheric pressure. It is recommended that saturated salt solutions be used for reliable humidity control when conditioning products, but whenever there is any reason to use potassium hydroxide, as much solution as possible should be used with the required quantity of product.