Despite the importance of resolving issues related to predicting the formation of heat-moisture fields during storage of grain, seeds and bulk-stored roots and tubers and the changes in technological properties of food raw materials that depend on them, currently, the mathematical descriptions of these associated phenomena do not suffice. This is due to the complexity and poor knowledge of the storage processes for bulk-stored food products at both the micro and macro levels. Such masses are a system with distributed parameters. In this regard, the possibility of predicting the fields of heat and moisture content depends, on the one hand, on the completeness of the necessary information about the moisture and temperature of the components of the mass at the initial moment, and on the other hand, on the reliability of the mathematical model capable of describing the real processes of heat transfer in bulk based on this information, which is used to set boundary conditions and thermophysical constants. An analysis of the nature of the features of heat and mass transfer in a discrete bulk of food product can be carried out only on the basis of the developed analytical models. This is the subject of this paper.

The quality of finished and semi-finished food products, as well as the possibility of deep processing of secondary raw materials, largely depends on the storage conditions of raw materials coming for processing. Excessive overheating or overcooling of bulk food raw materials (for example, grain, potatoes, Jerusalem artichoke and other types of agricultural products) often leads to bacterial contamination and another type of damage. It causes unwanted costs due to extra sorting Besides, the damaged raw material cannot be recycled to extract additional useful substances such as starch from the cleaned surface of the pulp or food fibers during the processing of Jerusalem artichoke, so additional losses occur. Thus, the processes should be closely attended both in the storage themselves and directly in the stored bulks of food products. It is necessary to take into account this external environment impact on set mode storage to maintain the required temperature and humidity conditions, providing safe prolonged storage regimes for the bulk food raw materials.

The paper aims to research a possibility of storing plant agricultural raw materials. Rational management of natural resources is a dominant trend in the economy development, which involves the fullest processing of plant raw materials intended for human consumption with minimum waste. Active grain ventilation is conducted by drying at a low temperature to preserve the quality of raw and wet grain, as well as by cooling grain batches stored to increase their durability. With a certain moisture content grain can be gradually dried, cooled, preserved, aerated depending on its condition and purpose. These technological methods provide a significant reduction in energy costs in comparison with thermal drying, as well as improving the quality of seeds and grains due to the “soft” completion of the biochemical processes associated with maturation and stabilization of the protein-enzyme complex. Active ventilation requires no complex equipment or large capital investments. Therefore, it is no coincidence that the technologies developed on the basis of active ventilation are widely used in processing of main volumes of high quality grain in USA, Canada, and Australia. The intensification of the grain preparation process achieved by this way reduces energy costs of drying. The study models the storage conditions for bulks of various types of agricultural raw materials under active ventilation.

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