You read that right. A study was performed comparing rice to other desiccants. In this case, it was for hearing aids that had been submerged in water. This is the first official study I’ve seen.
I’ve used it for years as a desiccant for some applications. Right now, my desiccant in the AMS is about saturated. I’m going to give this a try and see what the RH drops to.
You can also recharge rice in an oven or dehydrator at 120 Deg F
Moisture can damage any electronic devices including hearing aids. It is commonly known that rice can ‘rescue’ an electronic device if wetted. Authors of the below-described study researched whether uncooked rice could be used as an efficient equivalent to often expensive moisture removal products. They compared uncooked white rice with seven different silica gel desiccants (four of them were produced and distributed by the same company). Relative humidity of a hearing aid (submerged in water for sixty seconds prior to testing) was tested in a chamber with an implemented Campbell Scientific temperature and relative humidity (RH) sensor and data logger. Sixty seconds may be perceived as a short time, however authors found that RH did not change significantly even if hearing aids were submerged in water for one hour. Two non-functional hearing aids were tested in this study. RH was tested prior and after 15 minutes, 1 hour and 8 hours treatments with different desiccants or uncooked white rice. Although the omnibus test indicated that there were significant differences between eight desiccants, the post-hoc analysis did not confirm any significant difference between rice and other desiccants. The recommended RH to preserve corrosion should be below 30%. For this study only eight hours treatment allowed this criterion to be met. However, even 15 minutes treatment caused over 20% decrease in RH (after eight hours treatment about 60% decrease was observed).
The obtained result may indicate that uncooked rice could be a much cheaper alternative to moisture removal products which may be very useful especially in countries where access to the commercial desiccants is limited.
It would also be interesting to find out how using rice as a desiccant influences the performance of a functional hearing aid which is used on a daily basis.
Using rice as dessicant has been already used for years in our homes and restaurants (almost in Europe but i think worldwide)…
Few rice grains in a salt shaker to keep the salt dry.
Does anybody remember it ?
For hearing aids it’s the same . It is to keep them dry, in fact each hearing-aid’s case is supplied with desiccant holder elements.
Sighhh… yes… I’m old enough to remember rice in the salt shaker during those humid summer months before air conditioning was commonplace.
As far as this study goes. I don’t know what’s more baffling, the fact that they had to do a study to prove what has been known for centuries or the fact that someone paid them to do the study. How do I get in on that money?
This is a very cool thought and should work well I think. But where do we get indicating rice?
But it should work. The only question is what kind of capacity for moisture they have. (I know, I know - 2 cups water to 1 cup rice )
All common desiccants should be able to go to very low moisture contents. What is needed is to know how much water it holds at various humidity level to generate a curve like these others… But I bet it actually works very well. Even better - when it hits capacity, make pilaf!
Someone said a few years ago not to use rice around electronics…like cell phones…because rice flakes off (dust like) and will end up causing clogs instead.
I also remember something about not using rice. Anyone? Beuller, Beuller…
ah… this is different though. It’s being suggested to dry filament so it won’t be near electronics. But here it is anyway.
Yes, you should not use rice to dry a wet phone because it can damage your phone:
Rice isn’t very effective: Rice is not a reliable way to dry a phone and can actually damage it.
Rice can get stuck in your phone: As rice absorbs water, it can become mushy and sticky, and bits of rice can get stuck in your phone’s ports, speaker cavities, and seams.
Rice can introduce dust and starch: A study found that after 48 hours in rice, only 13% of the water had come out of the phone.
Corrosion can damage your phone: While the phone is drying, corrosion can damage the delicate electronics inside.
Apple warns against using rice: Apple officially advises against using rice to dry wet phones.
Here’s the answer to the phone drying statements.
Some points are not applicable as you aren’t putting your filament in a pile of rice.
Rice can get stuck in your phone- so can loose silica gel. You can put rice in small fine mesh bags so it can’t move, but still allows air flow. And don’t pour rice on your filament - problem solved.
Rice can introduce dust and starch:
To be clear- Dust is rice dust, rice is a starch- the dust is a starch.
Solution I simply put the rice in some fine flour sifters and agitate it. You can remove the dust and again- the filament is NOT coming in contact with the rice like immersing a phone in it does.
A study found that after 48 hours in rice, only 13% of the water had come out of the phone.
I saw these tests. The humidity content of rice out of a bag varies. They did NOT dry the rice first, so how accurate are those numbers when there is no control?
Corrosion comment is not applicable unless you submerge your AMS in water.
Apple warns against using rice- that’s because you immerse the phone in rice to remove the water. Again not applicable for what we’re talking about.
To dry rice before first use, or at any time to recharge it, spread it on a cookie sheet or flat surface and put it in an oven or dehydrator at around 120 degrees for 8+ hours. Similar to how you dry out silica gel, but at a lower temperature. You can go longer, but so you know, dry rice holds a moisture content of 12% or less immediately after drying.
Keep in mind, drying times will vary based on your relative humidity and you could try higher temperatures. The 120 degrees came from an article on drying rice for long term storage to be used as a food.
What I find irritating is the the statements that come out of the Internet that all too often click-bait.
In particular, statements like:
A study found that after 48 hours in rice, only 13% of the water is removed from a phone.
I call bullshit on that for the exact reasons you cited. If you put wet rice in a bag, it won’t show a decrement in moisture. As we post here often: Did they weigh the rice before and after?
Apple warns against using rice to dry phones, but this is unrelated to the current context.
Sure… the most trustworthy organization in the world tells us that they don’t want users to find a DIY free method. It wouldn’t surprise me if there was an Apple part number for purchase of a desiccant bag of regular silica gel but with the Apple logo, people will pay 10X the price just because…
So, I asked ChatGPT about the best desiccant, and this is the response. The key takeaway is that multiple desiccant solutions exist, but it’s important not to confuse desiccation with dehydration—they are different processes, even though the terms are often used interchangeably.
Desiccant Material
Advantages
Disadvantages
Silica Gel
High absorption capacity, reusable by heating, non-toxic
Limited effectiveness at very high humidity, brittle when wet
Calcium Chloride
Extremely effective at high humidity, inexpensive
Deliquescent (turns to liquid after absorbing moisture), corrosive to metals
Activated Alumina
High absorption capacity, reusable, stable at high temperatures
More expensive than silica gel, requires high temperatures for regeneration
Molecular Sieves
Effective in low humidity environments, fast moisture absorption
Expensive, less efficient at high humidity
Clay
Inexpensive, effective for moderate humidity, environmentally friendly
Lower absorption capacity, not reusable
Charcoal
Can absorb both moisture and odors, readily available
Lower moisture absorption compared to silica gel or calcium chloride
Montmorillonite Clay
Natural, non-toxic, reusable at low heat
Less effective in very humid environments, lower absorption capacity than silica gel
Zeolite
High absorption capacity, reusable, effective over a wide range of temperatures
Expensive, not readily available in some markets
White Rice
Readily available, inexpensive
Low moisture absorption capacity, not as effective as dedicated desiccants
I think it’s a safe bet you’ve never worked in a research laboratory. Science is our early warning system. Scientists notice things and that provokes more research. What are you expecting, Olias? One and done on every topic of science is a way to be hit broadside by basically everything science warns us about.
Few scientific papers are ever complete. You may not like that, but it’s simply a fact of life. When a scientist says more research is needed, it’s not because they are getting rich and want to get richer as so many like to pretend. Few scientists are rich. Middle to maybe upper class but generally not rich. When scientists say more research is needed it’s because they see the limitations in their research and the gaps in knowledge that remain.
What do you want? “Oooh that’s dangerous but who needs to know more?” The biggest problem with science and scientists is people like you who trivialize what they do and the insight and information they make available. Scientists have been screaming about global warming since the 1980s though the effect was postulated in the early 1900s. Here we are in 2024 and just had multiple states devastated by a massive hurricane that came out of nowhere and in just days did what it did. That’s the danger - ignoring the science, ignoring the facts, and ignoring the advice.
Your petty little joke you keep repeating and think is so funny is actually pretty infuriating because it is so ignorant of the processes involved and all the checks and controls in place.
Since I respect you and value our friendship, I want to respond thoughtfully. My comment was meant as a lighthearted critique of what I perceive as a trend where some research seems detached from practical concerns. I want to emphasize that I have deep respect for science and for the people who engage in science.
My concern is with the broader pattern I’ve observed, where research often ends with the conclusion that ‘more research is needed,’ without clear consideration of real-world applications. From my experience and interaction at Bell Labs, I saw how research and practicality can be successfully balanced, which I feel is missing today in some cases.
To illustrate what I mean by frivolous research, here are a few examples that caught public attention as was supplied by a simple prompt in ChatGPT. These were funded by NSF and NIH.
Shrimp on a Treadmill (2011)
Duck Genitalia Research (2013)
Cocaine and Quail Sexual Behavior (2007)
These examples might have had scientific merit, but they also illustrate the challenge of communicating the relevance of such projects to the public, especially when taxpayer funding is involved.
Yeah, and there are Ignoble prizes as well. First, what a lot of those are are teaching devices used to hold new students’ attention while teaching the process. They are also ways to just blow off steam. Research can be high stakes and in some ways it’s like a football team dressing up like cheerleaders.
As you now allow, there can also be reasons behind the various funny papers that the research was actually important and those may not be reported in the papers that get popularized for being frivolous. Those results would be in serious papers published elsewhere.
ChatGPT be damned. Read the actual papers instead of the output from AI trained on X, meta, and the greater internet. When you start asking AI serious questions you better be able to tell what is junk from what is real. I’m not denying those papers exist but a google search is more appropriate.
When I was in grad school and doing my own research, we did all sorts of other kinds of crazy things just on hunches or even just playing around. Sometimes we were in the lab all night working on stuff or waiting for things to be ready or finish. What do you do while babysitting an experiment for hours? I don’t know the conditions or how much time or money might have been wasted, but I can assure you few research directors/professors would endorse or tolerate a bunch of BS results coming out of their lab. Again, wasn’t there but I’d bet little time or money was wasted.
Researchers are under pressure to produce. A professor I considered a friend was denied tenure because he spent more time teaching his students. You don’t produce research that gets published in the prestigious journals and you don’t get research money. You don’t get tenure. And in some places you just get fired. It’s not unlike many other professions. There’s even a catchy idiom - “publish or perish” and trust me, at a review if there isn’t worthy work in your portfolio, you perish.
Like so much other stuff these “anecdotes” and stories are taken out of context and twisted into derogatory indictments of science and scientists. I’ve been there. I’ve seen it. I’ve lived it. And I’m tired of it.
Just a reminder: An important granary is under attack. I don’t pray before eating - but I still know what’s on the plate. Rice prices are exploding, and the problem affects peoples. If you run out of grain, rice can help.
You can have the discussion about, but please don’t forget - you’re talking about a good at the bottom of Maslov’s hierarchy of needs. There are good reasons why people pray before eating. Praying before using the light switch or using a 3D Printer is not that common.
Not having electricity is one thing. The discussion about using two-class food for the animal feed industry, Industrial needs or for energy production is another - personally, I am more in favor of supplying it to the animal feed industry than for example producing pellets for burning (wood is difficult to press, key word corn starch). If it comes to rice, we are talking about a staple food of highest quality and also the management of agricultural zones, bioversity is an issue.
Personally, I wouldn’t be able to use just 10 grams of rice as a dessicant. As I already have a hard time by composting food - food is there to eat and you should take the time to take care of any kind of food. I have at least 10 kg of rice in storage per person under my roof - 10 kg, which is an emergency backup for 3 months for one person and I am blessed to have this.
There is one application of rice that I find very good, the so called Rice Banks
Personally, I don’t use desiccants at all - but I also have things that might be worse than if someone used desiccant. So I won’t throw stones here as long as I’m sitting in a glass house (which is a Swiss German saying).
Pretty much anything organic is food to something. Opposition to using rice as a desiccant based on that pushes to chemical/industrial solutions which tend to be harmful in all sorts of ways.
Which does more damage to the environment from production to when it’s no longer able to do its job - a cup of rice or a cup of silica gel beads?
The advantage of things like rice is it doesn’t last eons or release toxins like cobalt from the blue silica gel beads.
The reality is we all need to find ways to carry on that are less damage to the planet. If you are worried about the food supply (which you seem to be and should be), what have you done to reduce your use of fossil fuels which are damaging the food supply far more than using rice as a desiccant ever could be?
Not enough but much more than the moste, even they think they did. 150l fuel per year for personal transportation, no train no bus (that also consumes), heat pump heated building, solar and professionally reoriented to what makes sense. But you can’t expect that from everyone. And there’s nothing to be proud of, because the resources also come from somewhere.
“publish or perish” I read that before your comment, I just don`t comment on it even it was the main reson for the post. Cup of rice or a cup of silica gel beads, both are harmless as long as it’s just a cup. Forego both - And of course, if something belongs at a university, it stays by a cup if it were heard. “publish or perish” - is the result of the achievements were delivered not only since yesterday, and they way back to get also something from there… However, the balancing will take some time and the pendulum always swings back very brutally to the other side before it comes to balancing.
But you are right, this is way off topic and pollutes the thread.
How do I get in on that money? 
- problem solved.
