SIMULATION OF THE DRYING CHARACTERISTICS OF GROUND NEEM SEEDS IN A FLUIDISED BED

The neem seed is a good source of neem oil as well as insecticides and pesticides. The oil and insecticides can be extracted by two consecutive leaching of neem seed kernels with hexane and ethanol. This work presents a model for simulating the drying of neem seeds in a fluidized bed. Experimental values obtained from literature were used to validate the model prediction. The drying simulation results show that there was a good agreement between the experimental values and the corresponding model predictions.