This work concerns the drying of maize in a flotation fluidized bed by intermittent blowing of hot air. The aim of the study was on the one hand to determine the effect of this drying technique not only on the energy consumption, but also on the grain quality, and on the other hand to develop a mathematical model which simulates the observed phenomena. The effect of the conditions of intermittent drying as the duration of aeration and rest periods, respectively, t(a) and t(r) has been examined. The ratio t(r)/t(a) does not affect the drying kinetics for values greater than 2. Besides, intermittent drying consumes less energy than drying with a continuous air flow because it reduces the actual drying duration by 50%. However, for the operating conditions of this study, this technique did not allow an improvement in the wet-milling quality. A mathematical model adapted to intermittent drying has been developed. This model leads to very good predictions on the evolution of air humidity, dryer temperature, grain moisture content and temperature, but also the variation of maize wet-milling and proteic qualities. This model can be used for the control of drying process under optimal conditions.