Abstract. A study of the application of natural air drying on shelled corn in Timor using a bedtype dryer has been performed. The study aspects were limited to obtain the suitable air flow rate
requirement and duration of the drying operation per day. For each aspect, the treatments were
carried out simultaneously. The results showed that at the average ambient air temperature of
30.6°C and relative humidity (RH) of 73.0% the air flow rate of 0.83 L/s-kg provided the highest
drying rate. Subsequently, by using the same air flow rate, three scheme of drying operations
duration were used, i.e., 8 hours per day (08.00-16.00), 6 hours per day (09.00-15.00) and 4
hours per day (10.00-14.00). The average temperature and RH of ambient air condition at the
second experiment were 30.3°C and 73.3% respectively. After 4 days of drying, the 8 hours per
day (first scheme) treatment was able to dry the shelled corn from the initial moisture content of
27.24% w.b. to the final moisture content of 14.05% w.b. The specific energy consumption
(SEC) of the first scheme was 1.75 MJ/kg. The final moisture content of the second and third
schemes were 15.08 % w.b. and 18.45 % w.b. respectively with SEC of 1.41 MJ/kg and 1.21
MJ/kg respectively