Industrial Drying

ChE 133
1st sem AY 1718
Design Project
• Your 1 MW power plant is to be powered through the
incineration of municipal solid wastes.
• Design the absorption towers that would be needed to
remove the SOx and NOx from the flue gas.
• Design the fixed bed adsorber that would be needed
to remove the organic compounds from the flue gas
(i.e. use dioxins as your representative chemical)
• Design any required heat exchangers for the operation
of these unit operations
• Deadline: November 22
Outline
• Methods of Drying
• Drying Equipment
• Drying Principles
• Equilibrium moisture
• Drying Curves
• Batch Drying
• Continuous Drying
Drying
• Drying is defined as the transfer of liquid from a wet solid
into an unsaturated gas phase

• The removal of moisture from the gas phase, (also

referred to as drying) has been discussed under
adsorption and dehumidification, and was already
covered before.
Drying
• Drying is defined as the transfer of liquid from a wet solid
into an unsaturated gas phase

• In terms of the gas phase, drying is identical to

humidification, but the solid phase influences the
transport of the liquid.

• Our focus will be the moist solid.

How is drying different from evaporation?

Drying
• Common reasons for drying:
• Solids handling (storage, transport, dosage)
• Quality control (e.g. textile, food)
• Process requirement (e.g. vulcanization)
• Shaping step (e.g. catalyst synthesis)
Methods of Drying
• Process Classifications
• Batch vs. continuous
• Freezing vs. evaporating
• Direct (adiabatic) vs. indirect (non-adiabatic) heating
• Degree of agitation
Methods of Drying
• Most used types
• Flash
• Spray
• Cylinder
• Convective rotary
• Contact rotary
• Fluidized bed
Methods of Drying
• Heating Mechanism
Methods of Drying
• Factors for Selection
• Drying time/profile
• Production rate (>100 kg/h  continuous)
• HSE (explosion, corrosion, etc.)
• Allowable product temperature
Batch Dryer Selection
Continuous Dryer Selection
Tray Dryers
• Simplest type; for batch
drying
• Smallest capacity
• Suitable for laboratory
operations
• Trays may have a solid
bottom or perforated
Conveyor or Tunnel Dryers
• Material in the form of sheets or placed in trays
• Conveyors to make it continuous
Particulate Dryers
• For free-flowing particulate
material
• Rotary Dryer
• Plate Dryer
Particulate Dryers
• Flash Dryer
Particulate Dryers
Particulate Dryers
Slurry and Paste Dryers
• Usually used for batch drying
• Rotary vacuum dryer
• Drum dryer
Spray Dryers
• To produce fine powders from dilute solutions, slurries, gel,
or emulsions
Spray Dryers
Freeze Drying
• Also called lyophilization
• Used for drying foods,
vitamins and other heat-
sensitive products below
0oC
• Preservation of original
flavour, aroma, colour,
shape, texture
• Very little shrinkage
• Negligible product loss
• Examples: instant coffee,
strawberries, chives
Freeze Drying
• Material is quickly frozen
• Pressure is lowered to
vacuum conditions
• Sublimation: ice front
retreats from surface
• Results:
• Nearly dry porous solid
• Since only water
vapour moves, soluble
substances (e.g.
sugars, vitamins) are
not displaced
Freeze Drying
• For most of the drying period, the temperature is constant
(sub-zero)
• T is determined from material and energy balance
• Heat transfer through the dry zone and the gas film
• Mass transfer of water vapour through the same layers
• Drying time is nearly proportional to the square of the
thickness of the solid sample (usually hours)
• Energy-intensive
Drying Examples
• Drying of wood
• Diffusion through the fibre walls is slow, that the surface
may already be dry, but the interior is still wet 
cracking and warping of the wood

• Spray drying of detergents

• Drying time depends on droplet size
• Outer layer forms a tough, partly dry shell, but heat still
flows through the shell, evaporating the liquid inside,
and eventually rupturing the spheres, and the product
size distribution cannot exactly be predicted
Some Terms
• Unbound moisture
• Moisture in excess of the equilibrium moisture content
corresponding to saturation humidity

• Bound moisture
• Liquid which exerts a vapour pressure less than that of
the pure liquid

• Free moisture content: (total moisture minus XE’)

• Liquid which is removable at a given temperature and
humidity; may include both bound and unbound
moisture
Some Terms
Equilibrium Moisture Content
• Categories of wet solids
according to drying
behaviour
• Type 1 Granular or
crystalline solids that hold
moisture in open pores
between particles 
capillary action to surface
• Type 2 Fibrous, amorphous,
and gel-like materials that
dissolve moisture or trap
moisture in fibers or very
fine pores  liquid diffusion
to surface
Equilibrium Moisture Content
Liquid Transport in Solids: Diffusion
• For relatively homogeneous solids such as fibrous
organics, gel-like substances or porous cakes

• Fick’s Law:

• Where DL* is the liquid-phase diffusion coefficient

applicable for movement through the solid phase
Liquid Transport in Solids: Capillary
Action
• For beds of particulate solids, crystalline solids or solids
with a large, open-pore structure
• Movement of liquid results from a net force arising from
differences in hydrostatic head and in surface tension
effects
Consider this…
It’s complicated
• The basic mechanism of liquid movement has not yet
been completely understood because the drying
process is influenced by fluid mechanics, surface
chemistry and solid structure, aside from transport issues

• With this, a quantitative design of the dryer based on

theory is not practical.

Analysis is empirical
Drying Curves
• For direct-heat drying (Sherwood, 1929)
′
= =−
Drying Curves
A Unsteady-state Rise of Tsolid to Twb; usually negligible moisture removal
B adjustment
B Constant-rate period External surface maintains film of liquid; diffusion/capillary
C action = evaporation
C (First) Falling-rate Liquid on surface starts to deplete
D period
D Second Falling-rate Surface is dry; drying occurs from inside the solid
period
Drying Curves
• Type 1 Solids
Drying Curves
• Constant-rate Period (CRP)
• Free moisture covers exposed surface
• Moisture evaporated is replenished by capillary action
or liquid diffusion
• May extend to X* for Type 1 solids in agitated
conditions
• Drying rate controlled by external heat and mass
transfer
• Heat transfer primarily by convection

= = − = −

= ′ − ′

Ma: molar mass of water

Heat Transport
Example
CaCO3 filter cake in a tray is to be dried by cross-
circulation from the top surface. Each tray is 2.5 cm high,
with an area of 1.5 m2, and is filled with 73 kg of wet filter
cake having a water content of 30% on the dry basis. The
heating medium is air at 1 atm and 170oF with a relative
humidity of 10%. The velocity of air passing across the wet
solid is 4 m/s. Estimate time in hours needed to reach the
experimentally determined, critical moisture content (end
of the constant-rate period) of 10% on the dry basis, if the
preheat period is neglected.
Drying Curves

( constant)

• Falling Rate Period (FRP)

• Rate of capillary action/liquid diffusion not sufficiently fast 
surface tends to a dry state
• Surface T remains at WBT (if heat transfer is adequate), but area
for mass transfer decreases  linear decrease of drying rate with
moisture content
• Development of moisture profile in the wet solid
Drying Curves
• Falling Rate Period
• The shape of the drying curve during the falling rate
periods depends primarily on the structure of the solid
• At the end of drying, when R=0, any moisture content
in the solid is defined as the equilibrium moisture
content, XE’
• Some materials can be completely dried such that
XE’=0
• For others, the solid will contain significant moisture
content no matter how long the drying is continued
Drying Curves
• Falling Rate Period
• In many cases, the drying curve during the falling rate
period approaches a line from XC’ to XE’
• Thus, the rate at any time during the falling rate period is:

R RC t WS ( XC¢ - X E¢ ) X 2¢ dX ¢
=
X ¢ - X E¢ X C¢ - X E¢
ò tC dt = - AR ò XC¢
X ¢ - X E¢
C

X ¢ - X E¢ WS ( XC¢ - X E¢ ) X2¢ - X E¢
R= RC (t - t C ) = - ln
X C¢ - X E¢ ARC XC¢ - X E¢
What happens when equilibrium moisture
content is negligible?
Drying Curves
• Falling Rate Period
• Empirical Case 1: linear decrease
′
=
′

′ ′ ′
=− = ln
′

• Empirical Case 2: parabolic decrease

= ′+ ′ , ′ =

′
= ln
Example
Experimental data for the through-circulation drying of
extrusions of ZnO in a bed using air at a flow rate of 340
ft3/min show a constant rate period from X0=33% to
Xc=13%, with a drying rate of 1.42 lb H2O/h-lb bone-dry
solid, followed by a falling-rate period that approximates
Case 1. Calculate the drying time for the constant-rate
period and the additional time in the falling-rate period to
reach a free-moisture content of 1%.
Alternative Approach: Batch Dryers
• Through-circulation drying
• Mass balance: =
Y+
• Energy balance:
− ′ =ℎ −
= ln
• From batch drying,
=
ln / ′
= ′ is no longer constant!
ℎ −
Must use an average −
Alternative Approach: Batch Dryers
• Through circulation drying
• Energy balance: = ln

• Define LMTD, such that − ≈Δ

− − − −
Δ = =
ln ln

ℎ
Δ = − 1 − exp −
ℎ
Continuous Dryers
• For Direct heaters

• Mass balance: = − = ℋ −ℋ
− = ℋ
• Energy balance: (s – dry solid, g – dry gas, m – moisture)
Continuous Dryers
• Temperature profile for counter-current dryers

• For Zone 1 (CRP), = − = −

′ ′
=− =
−
Continuous Dryers
• Temperature profile for counter-current dryers

• For Zone 2 (FRP) with external resistance controlling, =

̇ ′ ̇ ′
=− =
−
Continuous Dryers
• Simplifying Assumptions
• All heat is transferred
via convection
• Mass transfer area is
equal to heat
transfer area
• No evaporation
occurs during the
initial warm up or
cool down period
• Moisture removal
occurs entirely at Tsa
Example
Raw cotton ( =0.7 g/cm3 , Xc=0.4 lb H2O/lb dry solid, XE
=0.008 lb H2O/lb dry solid) is to be dried in a tunnel dryer
through which it passes in a conveyor belt 2 ft wide in a
layer 0.5 in deep. Sixty pounds of dry air per pound of dry
solids flows though the dryer countercurrent to the stock at
a mass rate of 500 lb/hr-ft2 and enter at 2000F with a 1200F
wet bulb temperature. The stock enters at 800F and
contains 1 lb moisture per lb dry solids. It leaves at 150oF
with a moisture content of 0.1 lb H2O per pound of dry
solids. The specific heat of dry cotton may be taken as
0.35 Btu/lb0F. Determine the drying time required.
0.8
hG = 0.0128GV
Example
Questions?