Drying

Reference

Chapter 18 of Separation Process Principles,

3rd Ed., Seader, Henley, Roper, Wiley

Introduction
Drying is the removal of moisture from solids, slurries, and
pastes to give solid products.

A process of mass-transfer
Often refers to removing moisture from liquids and gases

Industrial applications
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Chemical products: crystalline particles of inorganic salts,

organic compounds, films, coatings
Biological materials including food
Pharmaceuticals
Detergents
Lumber, paper, fibers
2

Introduction
Pre-feed dewatering operations by mechanical means such
as filtration and centrifugation can diminish the length of
drying cycles.

Common modes of heat transfer

1.
2.

3.
4.

Convection from a hot gas in contact with the material

Conduction from a hot, solid surface in contact with the
material
Radiation from a hot gas or surface
Heat generation within the material (microwave heating)

Classification
1.
2.
3.

Batch (less than 500 lb/h) vs. continuous (more than 2000 lb/h)
Direct-heat (convection) vs. indirect-heat (conduction)
Stationary vs. agitated
3

Introduction
(a)

(c)

(b)
moisture + air

Hot metal
Hot air

- Indirect heat
- Stationary

- Direct heat
- Stationary

Drying effectiveness
Sensitive products
(temperature sensitive or dust-formed)

Hot air

- Direct heat
- Agitated

C>B>A
A>B>C
4

Equipment: batch dryers

Tray dryers

Oldest and simplest batch dryer

Cross-circulation (solid tray bottom) or through-circulation (perforated tray
bottom) for solids with appreciable voids such as granules, noodles and pellets
Mostly direct heating; Indirect heating is possible with hollow shelves carrying
hot steam under vacuum
Useful when low production rates of multiple products are involved
5

Equipment: batch dryers

Agitated dryers

Indirect heating with agitation; perhaps, under vacuum

Can be used when
(1) material oxidizes or becomes explosive or dusty during drying;
(2) moisture is toxic, flammable, or explosive;
(3) material tends to agglomerate if not agitated;
(4) maximum product temperature is less than about 30 OC.

Equipment: continuous dryers

Band-conveyor dryer

Circulation of heated gases upward and/or downward through a moving,

permeable, layered bed of wet material from 1 to 6 inches deep.
Multiple sections, each with a fan and set of gas-heating coils, can be arranged
in series to provide a dryer, with a single belt as long as 150 ft with a 6-ft width,
giving drying times up to 2 h, with a belt speed of about 1 ft/minute.
Granular or pelletized materials with appreciable voids should be used.
7

Equipment: continuous dryers

Direct-heat rotary dryer

A popular dryer for evaporating water from free-flowing granular, crystalline, and flaked solids
of relatively small size, when breakage of solids can be tolerated
Wet solids enter through a chute at the high end and dry solids discharge from the low end.
Cylindrical shell is slightly inclined from the horizontal with a slope of less than 8 cm/m
Hot gases flow counter currently or co-currently (may use cylinders not inclined) to the solids.
Longitudinal lifting flights are mounted on the inside of the rotating shell causing the solids to
be lifted, then showered through the hot gas during each cylinder revolution.
Typically the bulk solids occupy 818% of the cylinder volume, with residence times from 5
8
minutes to 2 h.

Equipment: continuous dryers

Fluidized-bed dryer

Fluidized-bed dryers have become very popular in

recent years because they: (1) have no moving parts;
(2) provide rapid heat and mass transfer between gas
and particles; (3) provide intensive mixing of the
particles, leading to uniform conditions throughout the
bed; (4) provide ease of control; (5) can be designed for
hazardous solids and a wide range of temperatures,
pressures, residence times, and atmospheres; (6) can
operate on electricity, natural gas, fuel oil, thermal
fluids, steam, hot air, or hot water; (7) can process very
fine and/or low-density particles; and (8) provide very
efficient emissions control.
Minimum fluidization velocity; where the pressure drop
is equal to the weight of the solids per unit crosssectional area of the bed normal to gas flow.
Materials that are successfully dried in fluidized-bed
dryers include coal, sand, limestone, iron ore, clay
granules, granular fertilizer, granular desiccant, sodium
perborate, polyvinylchloride (PVC), starch, sugar,
coffee, sunflower seeds, and salt.
9

Equipment: continuous dryers

Spray dryer

When solutions, slurries, or pumpable pastes

containing more than 50 wt% moisture, at rates greater
than 1,000 lb/hare to be dried.
Feed is pumped to the top center of the chamber,
where it is dispersed into droplets or particles from 2 to
2,000 m by atomizers.
Hot gas enters the chamber, causing moisture in the
atomized feed to rapidly evaporate. Gas flows cocurrently to the solids.
Applications: detergents, milk, starch, yeast, zinc
sulfate, lignin, aluminum hydroxide, silica gel,
magnesium chloride, manganese sulfate, urea resin,
sodium sulfide, coffee extract, tanning extract, color
pigments, tea, tomato juice, polymer resins, and
ceramics

10

Equipment: continuous dryers

Drum dryer

To process solutions, slurries, and pastes with indirect heat

Applications: milk, detergents, brewers yeast, potatoes, skim milk, malted milk,
coffee, tanning extract, and vegetable glue.

11

Psychrometry (humidity chart)

For airwater vapor mixtures at 1atm

Calculations involving the properties
of moisturegas mixtures for
application to drying are most
conveniently carried out with
psychrometric charts.

Use steam table to find:

- Vapor pressure (PAS)
- Enthalpy of vaporization (Hwvap)

12

Psychrometry

13

Psychrometry
Example: Air at 130 F and 1 atm enters a direct-heat
dryer with a humidity of 0.03 lb H2O (A)/lb H2O-free air
(B). Determine by the psychrometric chart and the
relationships of Table 18.4: (a) relative humidity and (b)
humid volume.

14

Wet-bulb temperature

In drying process, solids must be heated to a temperature at which its vapor pressure
exceeds the partial pressure of the moisture in the gas in contact with the wet solid.
The wet bulb temperature, Tw, can be measured by covering a thermometer bulb with
a wick saturated with the liquid being evaporated and passing a partially saturated gas
past the wick.
Tw is equal to the adiabatic saturation temperature for air-water system.
In a typical drying process, the wet solid is heated to Tw.
15

Equilibrium moisture content

Moisture content, X; wt% moisture

on a dry-solid basis
W; wt% moisture on a wet-solid
basis

Isotherm (Figure 18-23)

At given T and P
Equilibrium moisture content as a
function of relative humidity
Provide useful information for directheat drying processes
16

Equilibrium moisture content

Moisture adsorption is exothermic.

17

Equilibrium moisture content

18

Drying periods
preheating
until T=Tw
constant-rate

first falling-rate
second falling-rate

19

Constant-rate drying period

Drying-rate flux, R
A : mass-transfer area,
mv: mass of moisture evaporated
ms: mass of bone-dry solid

For constant-rate period

The rate of mass transfer is determined by gas-phase boundary-layer or film

resistance at the wet surface of the solid.
The wet solid is assumed to be at a uniform temperature, so the only
resistance to convective heat transfer is in the gas phase.
The rate of moisture evaporation can then be based on convective heat
transfer or mass transfer
i refers to the gas-solid interface
Ti = T w
20

Constant-rate drying period

It is more common to use the heat-transfer relation of when air is the gas and water is the
moisture because of the wide availability of the psychrometric chart for that system and the
equality of wet-bulb and adiabatic-saturation temperatures.

Drying-rate flux for constant-rate drying period, Rc

constant-rate drying period

(Tg=Td)

Based on solid mass, (not wet-solid mass)

a : external SA of solid/mass of solid (A/ms)

ms: mass of solid

Drying rate per solid mass

Constant rate drying time

( )
=
=
=

21

Constant-rate drying period

where in (1), G is the mass velocity of air in
the flow channel that passes over the wet
surface. In (2), G is the mass velocity of the
air impinging on the wet surface. In (3) to (8),
dp is the particle diameter and G is the
superficial mass Velocity.

uavg = avg. velocity of gas (m/s)

= density of humid gas (kg/m3)
= humid volume (wet gas basis) (m3/kg)
(volume of moisture-gas/mass of moisture-gas)

=
1+
22

Constant-rate drying period

23

Constant-rate drying period

24

Falling-rate drying period

- When moisture travels from the interior of a wet solid to the surface, a
moisture profile develops in the wet solid. The profiles shape depends on the
nature of the moisture movement.
- When the moisture is free moisture in the interstices of particles like soil and
sand, or is moisture above the fiber-saturation point in paper and wood,
moisture movement occurs by capillary action.
- When the internal moisture is bound moisture, as in the last stages of drying
of paper and wood, or soluble moisture, as in soap and gelatin, moisture
migrates to the surface by liquid diffusion.

25

Falling-rate drying period (empirical approach)

- During the falling-rate period, estimation of drying rate using capillary flow and
diffusion theory is often challenging due to non-idealities. Alternatively,
estimates could be made by a strictly empirical approach that ignores the
mechanism of moisture movement, but relies on experimental determination of
drying rate as a function of average moisture content for a particular set of
conditions.

General equation for drying time calculation

Fig. 18-31

For constant-rate period,

26

Falling-rate drying period (empirical approach)

Fig. 18-31

Rate of drying for falling-rate period

Drying time in the falling-rate period

Total drying time

Curve fitting using a parabolic function

(18-43)

Drying time in the falling-rate period

X must be the free-moisture content!!

(18-44)

27

Falling-rate drying period (empirical approach)

28

Falling-rate drying period (empirical approach)

29

Falling-rate drying period (liquid diffusion theory)

For slow-drying materials for which the rate of drying is controlled by internal diffusion of moisture
to the exposed surface: during the evaporation of a surface liquid film in a constant-rate drying
period controlled by gas-phase mass transfer, no moisture diffuses to the surface, and after
completion of evaporation of that film, resistance to mass transfer is due to internal diffusion in a
falling-rate period.

Ficks second law

BCs
X=Xo at t=0 for -a < z < a
X=X* at z=a for t 0

unaccomplished free-moisture change

Fourier number of diffusion, NFoM

X is the total moisture content!!

position ratio
30

Falling-rate drying period (liquid diffusion theory)

The rate of mass transfer from one surface

The average moisture content

The equation can be used to determine the moisture diffusivity, DAB, from
experimental data, and then that value can be used to estimate drying rates for
other conditions.
When NFoM > 0.1 , only the first term in the infinite series is significant.

31

Falling-rate drying period (liquid diffusion theory)

32

Falling-rate drying period (liquid diffusion theory)

Roughly estimate DAB using the simplified eqn,

ln(Eavg) vs time
0

10

-0.2
-0.4

y = -0.0858x - 0.2135
R = 0.9935

-0.6
-0.8
-1
-1.2

33

Falling-rate drying period (liquid diffusion theory)

For sphere
The average moisture content

Eavg

N FoM

X avg X *
X0 X

n 1

1
n 2 2 DABt
exp(
)
2
2
n
r

DABt
2
r

When NFoM > 0.1 , only the first term in the infinite series is significant.

X avg X *
X0 X

exp(

2 DABt
r

)
34