Heat-moisture control in agricultural-product production using moisture from water vapor extraction

A method comprising:

• pre-conditioning an agricultural material by direct contact with a mixture of heated air and moisture to form preconditioned agricultural material that is warmed and moisturized and a first exhaust stream that is cooler and drier than the mixture of heated air and moisture;
• measuring a plurality of temperatures of air flows and material, and controlling the mixture of heated air and moisture in order to control a temperature and a moisture content of the preconditioned material based on the measured temperatures;
• conditioning the agricultural material for a pre-determined period of time;
• processing the conditioned material into warm processed product;
• cooling the warm processed product with air to produce cooled processed product and warm moist air of a second exhaust stream;
• and
• adding heat and moisture from the second exhaust stream to produce at least a portion of the mixture of heated air and moisture used to precondition the incoming agricultural material.

A computer-readable medium having control information stored thereon for causing a suitably programmed agricultural-material-processing system to execute a method comprising:

• pre-conditioning an agricultural material by direct contact with a mixture of heated air and moisture to form preconditioned agricultural material that is warmed and moisturized and a first exhaust stream that is cooler and drier than the mixture of heated air and moisture, wherein the moisture includes water vapor extracted from a material being cooled and dried;
• measuring a plurality of temperatures of air flows and material, and controlling the mixture of heated air and moisture in order to control a temperature and a moisture content of the preconditioned material based on the measured temperatures;
• conditioning the agricultural material for a pre-determined period of time;
• processing the conditioned material into warm processed product;
• and
• cooling the warm processed product with air to produce cooled processed product and warm moist air of a second exhaust stream.

A computer-readable medium having control information stored thereon for causing a suitably programmed agricultural-material-processing system to execute a method comprising:

• pre-conditioning an agricultural material by direct contact with a mixture of heated air and moisture to form preconditioned agricultural material that is warmed and moisturized and a first exhaust stream that is cooler and drier than the mixture of heated air and moisture;
• measuring a plurality of temperatures of air flows and material, and controlling the mixture of heated air and moisture in order to control a temperature and a moisture content of the preconditioned material based on the measured temperatures;
• conditioning the agricultural material for a pre-determined period of time;
• processing the conditioned material into warm processed product;
• cooling the warm processed product with air to produce cooled processed product and warm moist air of a second exhaust stream;
• and
• adding heat and moisture from the second exhaust stream to produce at least a portion of the mixture of heated air and moisture used to precondition the incoming agricultural material.