Ravaro Batch Grain Dryers

The Italian company Ravaro has been producing its grain dryers for 59 years (since 1967). Besides the grain dryers, the company produces a whole range of grain elevator equipment: continuous grain dryers, augers, bucket elevators, chain conveyors, grain cleaners, intake pits, and many others. Therefore, Ravaro Srl has gained extensive experience and can supply a complete range of equipment for your grain drying and storage facility.

If you have any questions about Ravaro batch grain dryers or you are unsure which type of dryer or grain dryer to choose, just call us: +380 (67) 658-0767.

The Evolution of Ravaro’s Batch Grain Dryers

Thirty to forty years ago, Ravaro Srl manufactured cylindrical mobile and portable grain dryers with perforated walls and an auger. These types of dryers are still produced by several companies in Italy. Today, they remain a viable option for very small farmers or situations where the dryer needs to be transported from one location to another. Additionally, we at Finpro Group continue to represent Agrex mobile grain dryers in some markets, including Türkiye. These dryers are designed similarly. (Please see this link for details).

However, such mobile dryers exhibit several significant disadvantages in certain applications:

The auger is not the ideal solution for recirculating grain, as it causes significantly more damage to the grain than a bucket elevator does. As you can see in the historical photo, even in those times, Ravaro Srl began producing such dryers equipped with bucket elevators instead of augers.
The open design of the dryer, lacking heat insulation, affects its productivity and leads to increased fuel consumption.
Farmers have complained about high levels of dust emissions.
The components of this dryer were subject to rapid wear.
These dryers have limited hopper capacities.

Advantages of Ravaro Batch Dryers

Therefore, many years ago, Ravaro Srl decided to discontinue the production of cylindrical dryers and focus on manufacturing mixed-flow grain dryers with the following important features:

The wear-resistant design ensures decades of operation with highly abrasive materials such as paddy rice or soybeans.
The mixed-flow grain dryer design ensures very even drying. This not only results in uniform final moisture content but also reduces fuel consumption.
Heat insulation with rockwool minimizes heat emission to the environment, thereby reducing fuel consumption.
An optional heat recirculation system enables even greater fuel savings.
The grain dryer has a modern pneumatic dust suppression system that blocks airflow during every grain discharge, thus significantly reducing dust emissions.
Bucket elevators are equipped with an optional dust aspiration system, which helps reduce dust emissions and keeps the equipment cleaner.
Bucket elevators reduce grain damage compared to augers in other batch grain dryers.
The Ravaro bucket elevator is specifically designed for batch dryers with a low-speed configuration, operating at a belt speed of approximately 2 meters per second compared to 3 meters per second of a conventional bucket elevators. This reduced speed ensures gentler handling of the grain, which is crucial since batch grain dryers recirculate grain 2-4 times during the drying process.
Bucket elevators are specifically designed to fit the grain dryer and do not require elevator pits or any special foundation design.

Batch or Continuous Dryer?

Continuous grain dryers are recommended for drying large volumes of grain and also for drying corn, because:

Continuous dryers eliminate the downtime associated with loading and unloading grain. They operate non-stop, 24 hours a day throughout the drying season. Consequently, given the same dryer capacity, continuous dryers can process a greater volume of grain compared to batch dryers.
Continuous dryers can utilize heat recovery and recirculation systems, which are particularly effective in drying corn and saving fuel. These systems typically use natural gas or LPG, but diesel or biomass fuels can also be employed.

However, batch grain dryers offer several advantages over continuous ones:

A batch dryer can dry grain in small batches. This is particularly important for small farmers, as continuous grain dryers are generally feasible for operations continuously handling 250 tons of corn per day (with moisture reduction from 28% to 14%) and above.
Batch dryers can dry grains that require a rest period, such as paddy rice. All of the highest-quality paddy rice in the world is dried using batch dryers.
Unlike with continuous dryers, farmers using batch dryers are not required to make additional investments to organize continuous supplies of wet grain and the discharge of dry grain, nor to operate the farm 24 hours a day.

Sometimes, the choice between continuous and batch grain dryers is obvious, but often it is not. Farmers must consider various factors to make an informed decision. If you need any help or advice in selecting the right grain dryer for your operation, please call us at: +380 (67) 658-0767.