MASS TRANSFER ECP 224

UNIT 6:
DRYING
 OUTLINE
• Introduction
• Equipment for drying
• Drying equilibrium
• Drying curve
• Rate of drying
• Material and Energy Balances for Direct-Heat Dryers

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 INTRODUCTION
• Drying is the removal of moisture (either water or other
volatile compounds) from solids, solutions, slurries, and
pastes to give solid products(1).
• This unit deals only with drying operations that produce solid
products.
• Drying is widely used to remove moisture from(2):
1. crystalline particles of inorganic salts and organic
compounds to produce a free-flowing product;
2. biological materials, including foods, to prevent spoilage and
decay from microorganisms that cannot live without water;
3. pharmaceuticals;
4. detergents;
5. lumber, paper, and fiber products;
6. dyestuffs;
7. solid catalysts;
8. milk;
9. films and coatings,
10.products where high water content entails excessive
transportation and distribution costs.
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 INTRODUCTION
• Drying can be expensive, especially when large amounts of
water are to be removed due to high heat of vaporization of
water.
• Hence use of pre-feed dewatering operations by
mechanical means such as expression; gravity, vacuum, or
pressure filtration; settling; and centrifugation, which also
diminish the length of drying cycles(1,2).

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 Purposes of Drying
1. Drying or dehydration of biological materials, especially
foods, is used as a preservation technique.
2. To reduce transportation and distribution costs
3. To make a material more suitable for handling as, for
example, with soap powders, dyestuffs and fertilisers.
4. To provide definite properties, such as, for example,
maintaining the free-flowing nature of salt.
5. To remove moisture which may otherwise lead to corrosion.
One example is the drying of gaseous fuels or benzene prior
to chlorination.

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 Classification of Drying
 Classification according to mode of operation:
1. batch
2. continuous.
 Classification according to mode of heat transfer to evaporate
moisture(2).
1. Direct- contact heat dryers: contact material with a hot
gas, which not only provides the energy to heat the material
and evaporate the moisture, but also sweeps away the
moisture.
2. Indirect-contact heat dryers: provide heat to the material
by conduction and/or radiation from a hot surface. Energy
may also be generated within the material by dielectric, radio
frequency, or microwave heating.
 Capital costs for direct-heat dyers are higher, but indirect-heat
dryers are more expensive to operate and are used only when
the material is either temperature-sensitive or subject to crystal
breakage and dust or fines formation.
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 Batch Dryers
 Equipment for drying batches includes:
1. tray (also called cabinet, compartment, or shelf) dryers
2. agitated dryers.

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 Tray Dryers
 In tray dryers, which are also called shelf, cabinet, or
compartment dryers, the material, which may be a lumpy
solid or a pasty solid, is spread uniformly on a metal tray to a
depth of 10 to 100 mm.

Figure 6.2: Tray dyers

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 Agitated dryers
 Indirect heat with agitation and, perhaps, under vacuum, is
desirable for batch drying when any of the following conditions
exist:
1. material oxidizes or becomes explosive or dusty during drying;
2. moisture is valuable, toxic, flammable, or explosive;
3. material tends to agglomerate or set up if not agitated;
4. maximum product temperature is less than about 30oC.

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Figure 6.2: Agitated dryers HIT/ HARARE 9
 Continuous Dryers
 A wide variety of industrial drying equipment for continuous
operation is available. The following descriptions cover most
types, organized by the nature of the wet feed:
1. granular, crystalline, and fibrous solids, cakes,
extrusions, and pastes;
2. liquids and slurries; and
3. sheets and films.
 In addition, infrared, microwave, and freeze-drying

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 Tunnel Dryers
 The simplest, most widely applicable, and perhaps oldest
continuous dryers are the tunnel dryers, which are suitable for
any material that can be placed into trays and is not subject to
dust formation.

Figure 6.3: Tunnel dryers. (2)

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 Belt or Band Dryers
 A more continuous operation can be achieved by carrying the
solids as a layer on a belt conveyor, with hot gases passing
over the material.

Figure 6.4 Perforated-belt or band-conveyor dryer.

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 Turbo-Tray Tower Dryers
 When floor space is limited but headroom is available, the
turbo-tray or rotating-shelf dryer, is a good choice for rapid
drying of free-flowing, nondusting granular solids

Figure 6.5: Rotating-shelf dryer (2)

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 Rotary Dryers
 A rotary dryer consists of a hollow cylinder which is rotated and
usually slightly inclined toward the outlet. The wet granular solids
are fed at the high end move through the shell as it rotates.
 The heating can be direct contact with hot gases in
countercurrent flow or indirect contact through the heated wall of
the cylinder.

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Figure 6.7: Direct-heat rotary dryer. AND PROCESS SYSTEM ENGINEERING/
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 Screw-Conveyor Dryers
 Less popular than rotary dryers is the screw-conveyor dryer, which
consists of a trough or cylinder that carries a hollow screw, inside
of which steam condenses to provide heat for drying the material
being conveyed.

Figure 6.8: Screw-conveyor dryer.

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 Fluidized-Bed Dryers
 Free-flowing, moist particles can be dried continuously with a
residence time of a few minutes by contact with hot gases in a
fluidized-bed dryer,
 This dryer consists of a cylindrical or rectangular fluidizing chamber
to which wet particles are fed from a bin through a star valve or by a
screw conveyor, and fluidized by hot gases blown through a heater.

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Figure 6.8: Fluidized-bed dryers. HIT/ HARARE 16
 Spray Dryers
 When solutions, slurries, or pumpable pastes containing more
than 50 wt% moisture, at rates greater than 1,000 lb/h— are to be
dried, a spray dryer should be considered.
 Feed is pumped to the top center of the chamber, where it is
dispersed into droplets or particles from 2 to 2,000 mm by an
atomizer:
 Hot gas enters the chamber, causing moisture in the atomized
feed to rapidly evaporate

Figure 6.9: Spray dryer (2)

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 PSYCHROMETRY
 If moisture is to evaporate from a wet solid, it 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.

 In an indirect-heat dryer, where little or no gas is used to carry

away the moisture as vapor, the partial pressure of the moisture
approaches the total pressure, and the temperature of
evaporation approaches the boiling point of the moisture at the
prevailing pressure, as long as the moisture is free liquid at the
surface of the solid.

 If the moisture interface recedes into the solid, a temperature

above the boiling point is necessary at the solid–gas interface to
transfer the heat for evaporation to the liquid–gas interface.

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 PSYCHROMETRY
 If the moisture level drops to a point where it is entirely sorbed,
its vapor pressure is less than the pure vapor pressure and an
even higher temperature is required to evaporate it.

 In a direct-heat dryer, similar situations occur, except that the

temperature at which moisture evaporates depends on the gas-
moisture content.

 Calculations involving the properties of moisture–gas mixtures

for application to drying are most conveniently carried out with
psychrometric charts.

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 Psychrometric
(humidity) chart for air–
water at 1 atm.

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 Wet-Bulb Temperature
 The wet-bulb temperature is the temperature read by
a thermometer covered in water-soaked cloth (wet-bulb
thermometer) over which air is passed.
 At 100% relative humidity, the wet-bulb temperature is equal to the
air temperature (dry-bulb temperature) and it is lower at lower
humidity.
 It is defined as the temperature of a parcel of air cooled to saturation
(100% relative humidity) by the evaporation of water into it, with
the latent heat supplied by the parcel.

Figure 6.11: Wet-bulb

temperature.

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 EQUILIBRIUM-MOISTURE CONTENT
OF SOLIDS
 In a direct-heat drying process, the extent to which moisture can
be removed from a solid is limited, by the equilibrium-moisture
content of the solid, which depends on factors that include
temperature, pressure, and moisture content of the gas.
 Even if the drying conditions produce a completely dry solid,
subsequent exposure of the solid to a different humidity can result
in an increase in moisture content.

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 • Moisture content, X, is
expressed as mass of
moisture per 100 mass
units of bone-dry solid.
• This is the most common
way to express moisture
content and is equivalent
to wt% moisture on a dry-
solid basis.

Figure : Typical isotherm for equilibrium-moisture content of

a solid.
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 IF equilibrium-moisture content, X* , is plotted for a second-
category solid for a given temperature and pressure, against relative
humidity, HR.
 In some cases, humidity, H, is used with a limit of the saturation
humidity, Hs.
 At HR =100%, equilibrium-moisture content is called bound
moisture, XB.
 If the wet solid has a total moisture content, XT > XB, the excess,
XT - XB, is unbound moisture.
 At a relative humidity < 100%, the excess of XT over the
equilibrium moisture content, i.e., XT - X* , is the free-moisture
content.
 In the presence of a saturated gas, only unbound moisture can be
removed during drying.
 For a partially saturated gas, only free moisture can be removed.
But if HR= 0, all solids, given enough time, may be dried to a bone-
dry state.

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Figure : Equilibrium-moisture content at 25oC and 1 atm.
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 Drying periods
 In drying, it is necessary to remove free moisture from the
surface and also moisture from the interior of the material. If
the change in moisture content for a material is determined
as a function of time, a smooth curve is obtained from which
the rate of drying at any given moisture content may be
evaluated.

Figure 6.12.:Rate of
drying of a granular
material

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 Drying rate curve varies with the structure and type of material,
and two typical curves are shown in Figure 6.12. (2)
 In curve 1, there are two well-defined zones:
◦ AB, where the rate of drying is constant
◦ BC, where there is a steady fall in the rate of drying as the
moisture content is reduced.
 The moisture content at the end of the constant rate period is
represented by point B, and this is known as the critical moisture
content.
 Curve 2 shows three stages, DE, EF and FC.
◦ DE represents a constant rate period, and
◦ EF and FC are falling rate periods.
◦ In this case, the Section EF is a straight line, however, and
only the portion FC is curved.
◦ Section EF is known as the first falling rate period and
◦ FC, as the second falling rate period.
 The drying of soap gives rise to a curve of type 1, and sand to a
curve of type 2. J. GOVHA: DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL
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 Time for drying
If a material is dried by passing hot air over a surface which is
initially wet, the rate of drying curve in its simplest form is
represented by BCE, shown in Figure 6.13

Figure 6.13. The use of a rate of drying curve in estimating the

time for drying

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 Example 16.1
Coulson, J.M.; and Richardson, J.F.; Chemical Engineering Volume 2, 5th Ed

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 Example 16.3
Coulson, J.M.; and Richardson, J.F.; Chemical Engineering Volume 2, 5th Ed

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 Material and Energy Balances for
Direct-Heat Dryers
Figure 6.14
General
configuration
for a
continuous,
direct-heat
dryer.

• Consider the continuous, steady-state, direct-heat dryer shown in

Figure 6.14.
• Although countercurrent flow is shown, the following development
applies equally well to cocurrent flow and crossflow.
• Assume that:
• The dryer is perfectly insulated so that the operation is adiabatic.
• As the solid is dried, moisture is transferred to the gas.
• No solid is entrained in the gas, and changes in kinetic energy and
potential energy are negligible.
• The flow rates of dry solid, ms, and dry gas, mg, do not change as
drying proceeds
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 • Material balance on the moisture:

• The rate of moisture evaporation, my, is given by a

rearrangement of Eqn above:

• where the subscripts are ws (wet solid), ds (dry solid), gi (gas in),
and go (gas out).

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• In terms of enthalpies, the energy balance is as follows,
where s, g, and m refer, respectively, to dry solid, dry gas, and
moisture:

• where any convenient reference temperatures can be used to

determine the enthalpies.
• When the system is air, water, and a solid, a more convenient
form

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• A further simplification in the energy balance for the air–
water–solid system can be made by replacing enthalpies for
water by their equivalents in terms of specific heats for liquid
water and steam and the heat of vaporization.

• Equations are useful for determining the required gas flow rate
for drying a given flow rate of wet solids, as illustrated in the
next example.

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• Also of interest for sizing the dryer is the required heat-
transfer rate, Q, from the gas to the solid. For the air–water–
solid system, this rate is

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EXAMPLE 18.17 Balance for a Direct-Heat Dryer.
J. D. Seader, Ernest J. Henley, D. Keith Roper, Separation Process principles, 2 nd Edition,

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From psychometric chart

(a) From

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(c) The rate of heat transfer is obtained from below eqn using the
conditions for the solid flow.

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(d) The entering air flow rate is obtained from eqn below using the far
RHS of that equation with the above value of Q.

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TASK
Explain the concept of freeze drying.

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 Reference
1. Christine John Geankoplis, Transport Processes and
Separation Process Principles, 4th Edition, 2003, PHI
Learning Private Limited
2. J. D. Seader, Ernest J. Henley, D. Keith Roper, Separation
Process principles, 2nd Edition, 2011Wiley,
3. Coulson, J.M.; and Richardson, J.F.; Chemical Engineering Volume
2, 5th Ed., 1999, Butterworth-Heinemann

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