SOLIDS-DRYING EQUIPMENT

TABLE 12-36 Some Materials That Have Been Successfully Spray-Dried in a 6-m-Diameter by 6-m-High Chamber with a Centrifugal-Disk Atomizer* Air temperature, K Material Blood, animal Yeast Zinc sulfate Lignin Aluminum hydroxide Silica gel Magnesium carbonate Tanning extract Coffee extract Detergent A Detergent B Detergent C Manganese sulfate Aluminum sulfate Urea resin A Urea resin B Sodium sulfide Pigment In 440 500 600 475 590 590 590 440 420 505 510 505 590 415 535 505 500 515 Out 345 335 380 365 325 350 320 340 355 395 390 395 415 350 355 360 340 335

12-89

QL = liquid volumetric flow rate Qa = air volumetric flow rate For single-fluid pressure nozzles, a rule of thumb is employed: X vs = 500/ P
3

(12-64)

% water in feed 65 86 55 63 93 95 92 46 70 50 63 40 50 70 60 70 50 73

Evaporation rate, kg/s 5.9 8.2 10.0 6.9 19.4 16.9 18.2 5.2 3.8 5.0 6.2 2.6 5.5 1.7 3.8 1.9 2.0 13.2

where P = pressure drop across nozzle, lb/in2. For centrifugal disks, the relation of Friedman, Gluckert, and Marshall is employed [Chem. Eng. Prog., 48, 181 (1952)]: Dvs 0.6 0.2 lLw 0.1 = 0.4 (12-65) r l Nr2 2 where Dvs = average drop diameter, ft r = disk radius, ft = spray mass velocity, lb/(minft of wetted disk periphery) l = liquid density, lb/ft3 N = disk speed, r/min = liquid viscosity, lb/(ftmin) = surface tension, lb/min2 Lw = wetted disk periphery, ft
NOTE: All groups are dimensionless. To convert dynes per square centimeter to joules per square meter, multiply by 103; to convert poises to newton-seconds per square meter, multiply by 101; to convert feet per second to meters per second, multiply by 0.3048; to convert feet to meters, multiply by 0.3048; to convert pounds per minute-foot to kilograms per second-meter, multiply by 0.025; to convert pounds per cubic foot to kilograms per cubic meter, multiply by 16.019; to convert pounds per minute squared to kilograms per second squared, multiply by 1.26 104; to convert British thermal units per hour to kilojoules per second, multiply by 2.63 104; and to convert British thermal units per hour-square foot-degree Fahrenheit per foot to joules per square meter-second-kelvin per meter, multiply by 1.7307. Inspection of these relationships will show that the variables are difficult to specify in the absence of tests except when handling pure liquidswhich in spray drying is rare indeed. The most useful method for employing these equations is to conduct small-scale drying tests in a chamber under conditions in which wall impingement and sticking are incipient. The maximum particle size can then be back-calculated by using the relationships given in the following paragraphs, and the effects of changing atomizing variables evaluated by using the preceding equations:

*Courtesy of NIRO, Inc. 3 NOTE: The fan on this dryer handles about 5.2 m /s at outlet conditions. The outlet-air temperature includes cold air in-leakage, and the true temperature drop caused by evaporation must therefore be estimated from a heat balance.

Important variables which must be fixed before design of a commercial dryer are the following: 1. The form and particle size of product required 2. The physical properties of the feed: moisture, viscosity, density, etc. 3. The maximum inlet-gas and product temperatures Theoretical correlations of spray-dryer performance published by Gluckert [Am. Inst. Chem. Eng. J., 8(4), 460466 (1962)] may be employed for the scale-up of laboratory dryers and, in some instances, for estimating dryer requirements in the absence of any tests. Several assumptions are necessary. 1. The largest droplets, which dry most slowly, are the limiting portion of the spray. They determine ultimate chamber dimensions and are employed for the evaluation. 2. The largest droplet in a spray population is 3 times the diameter of the average drop size [see Eq. (12-66)]. 3. A droplet Nusselt number = 2, corresponding to pure conduction (Reynolds number = 0) to infinity, is employed for evaluating the coefficient of heat transfer. 4. Drying conditions, because of turbulence and gas mixing, are uniform throughout the chamber; i.e., the entire chamber is at the gas exit temperaturethis fact has been well established in many chambers except in the immediate zone of gas inlet and spray atomization. 5. The temperature driving force for drying is the difference between the drying-gas outlet temperature and, in the case of pure water, the gas wet-bulb temperature. In the case of a solution, the adiabatic saturation temperature of the pure saturated solution is employed rather than the wet-bulb temperature. Methods for calculating average and maximum drop sizes from various atomizers are given by Marshall (op. cit.). For pneumatic nozzles, an expression developed by Nukiyama and Tanasawa is recommended: 0.45 1000QL 1.5 1920 Xvs = + 597 (12-63) l Qa Va l where Xvs = average drop diameter, m (a drop with the same volume-surface ratio as the total sum of all drops formed) = surface tension, dyn/cm = liquid viscosity, P Va = relative velocity between air and liquid, ft/s l = liquid density, g /cm3

Xm = 3Xvs

(12-66)

where Xm = maximum drop diameter, m. Gluckert gives the following relationships for calculating heat transfer under various conditions of atomization: Two-fluid pneumatic nozzles: 6.38Kf v2/3 t ws a wa + ws Q= (12-67) 2 Dm s waVa wa Single-fluid pressure nozzles: 10.98Kf v2/3 t t Q= Ds (12-68) 2 Dm s Centrifugal-disk atomizers: 4.19Kf (Rc r/2)2 t ws t Q= (12-69) 2 D m s rN where Q = rate of heat transfer to spray, Btu/h Kf = thermal conductivity of gas film surrounding the droplet, Btu/(hft2)(Fft), evaluated at the average between dryer gas and drop temperature v = volume of dryer chamber, ft3 t = temperature driving force (under terminal conditions described above), F Dm = maximum drop diameter, ft ws = weight rate of liquid flow, lb/h s = density of liquid, lb/ft3

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