Numerical modeling and simulation of temperature profiles in finger millet bed during solid state fermentation

Abstract

The temperature profile (core temperature and temperature gradient) of the finger millets bed affects the efficiency of the solid-state fermentation (SSF) process and quality of the product. Despite its detrimental effect, it is difficult to measure/monitor the temperature profile inside a chamber. Hence, the temperature profiles in the finger millets bed during SSF were predicted and analyzed using numerical modeling. The bed thicknesses (0.075, 0.15, and 0.225 m) and air flow velocities (0.12, 0.24, and 0.36 m/s) were varied to study the temperature profiles in the SSF process. Fermentation was carried out in a fixed bed solid-state fermenter. The results showed that temperature profiles were depending upon both bed thickness and air velocity and the lesser differences in temperature profiles were observed at 0.15 m bed thickness and 0.24 m/s air velocity. The low relative error (−0.335–0.250) and chi-square (0.00–4.09) values indicated that the model could be used for prediction of temperature profiles in finger millet bed and it could be used for online temperature profiling in commercial-scale solid state fermenter.