Kidney bean seed was dried in a laboratory scale fixed bed. The effect of seed coat on drying dynamic characteristics and the changes of seed coat structure were investigated. A mathematical model was established to simulate the drying process and determine the moisture diffusivity. Numerical results agree well with the experimental data. The average moisture diffusivity of the seed with separated coat is 1.67 times larger than that of the seed with coat, and the moisture diffusivity of seed cotyledon is 3.2 times larger than that of the seed coat. It is proved that the seed coat is the most main resistance of mass transfer and is also one of the key points of the optimization of heat and mass transfer for seed drying.
