A Comprehensive Study on Heat Balance Analyses in Grain Warehouses During the Winter Season: The Case of Konya Province

Abstract

The storage of agricultural products particularly cereals is becoming increasingly great interest worldwide. Preserving the quality of stored products is possible through precise control of the internal environmental conditions of storage facilities. In the literature, most studies on cereal storage structures have focused on the physiological and microbiological characteristics of the products. However, engineering-based structural elements such as heat transfer, ventilation efficiency, and material properties have not been adequately addressed. This study therefore, aimed to examine comprehensively the heat flow during the winter season in storage structures with different structural characteristics, specifically focusing on heat losses (through structural elements and ventilation) and heat gains resulting from the metabolic activity of the stored products. In this context, 72 different storage units from 30 enterprises were grouped based on material properties (reinforced concrete and steel construction). The analysis revealed that the calculated thermal conductivity of steel silos (2.62 kcal/m²h°C) was found significantly higher by comparison to reinforced concrete silos (1.69 kcal/m²h°C). Although reinforced concrete silos required higher ventilation rates, steel silos demonstrated better overall ventilation performance across all product types. In examined winter heat balance, ventilation efficiency varied significantly depending on the building material and the type of stored product. In this regard, steel silos were found to be approximately twice as efficient as reinforced concrete silos in terms of thermal performance. Especially for cereals with high respiration rates (e.g., maize), storing them in steel silos providing more effective ventilation was considered a more suitable solution.