Chemical and Process Engineering

Faculty of Engineering
University of Peradeniya
Sri Lanka

CP 202 – Separation Process Principles

DRYING CHARACTERISTICS

ISURANGA R.A.T.
E/18/145
2022.01.30
DATE: 30.01.2022
TITLE: Drying Characteristics
AIM: To measure the constant rate of drying of a moistened sand bed, and tocompare this with
the free surface evaporation rate of water under the same conditions
THEORY:

Drying
Drying is the removal of moisture from solids and liquids by
evaporation to a gas stream. In most Chemical Engineering
applications, moisture is frequently water and the gas used is air.

Rate of drying curve

When the moisture content is plotted as a function of time, a curve can
be obtained. A typical curve is illustrated in figure 1.

Figure 1

Much information can be obtained if the data are converted to rates of drying,
R expressed as

R = grams of moisture evaporated

Time x Area

and plotted against the moisture content x, given by

x = kg moisture
kg dry solid

as shown in figure 2.

[1]
 Figure 2

This may be done by measuring the slopes of tangents drawn to the

curve in Figure 1.

Where
Ls = weight of dry solid and
A =Area of the drying surface

As shown in figure 2 there are two important rates i.e

1. A-B : constant rate period

2. B-C : first falling rate period
3. C-D : Second falling rate period

APPARATUS:

1. Oven
2. Drying pans (Two numbers)
3. Stop watch
4. Electronic weighing balance

[2]
PROCEDURE:

Weigh about 100g of fine sand in the drying pan. Add enough water to make it into a
paste. Weigh the mixture. Keep the pan with the wetted sand bed in a drying oven
which has been preheated to a suitable temperature (e.g. 80oC ) and weigh the
contents every 15 minutes. Simultaneously, place a quantity of water in another
drying pan and place it in the oven, and add every 15 minutes to obtain the free
surface evaporation characteristics.

RESULTS:

1. Plot moisture content vs. time for the sand bed.

2. Plot the drying rate vs time for the sand bed and plot the drying rate vs
moisture content for the same bed.
3. Determine the constant rate of drying of the bed from the experimental
observations.
4. Determine constant rate period of drying
5. Determine the free surface evaporation rate for the pool of the water
from the experimental observations.

DISCUSSION:

1. Discuss your results

2. Give industrial applications where drying is encountered.

REFERENCES:

1. Chemical Engineering – Vol

Coulson J.M. and Richardson J.F.
Pergamon Press

2. Unit Operations of Chemical Engineering

McCabe W.L. and Smith J.C.
McGraw Hill Inc

[3]
OBSERVATIONS:

Weight of the pan for sand (𝑊𝑝 ) = 61 𝑔

Weight of pan + sand (𝑊𝑠 ) = 161 𝑔
Initial weight of pan +sand + water (𝑊𝑤 ) = 176 𝑔
Diameter of pan for sand (𝐷𝑠 ) = 82 𝑚𝑚, 83.3 𝑚𝑚, 84 𝑚𝑚
Diameter of pan for water (𝐷𝑤 ) = 90.3 𝑚𝑚, 90.05 𝑚𝑚, 91.5 𝑚𝑚

Drying
Weight of the sand pan(𝑔) = 𝑊𝑤 Weight of the pool of water(𝑔)
time/min

0 176 30.27
15 174.8 28.1
30 172.7 26.15
45 170.6 24.2
60 168.5 22.1
75 166.4 20.15
90 164.3 18.1
105 162.2 16.1
120 161.44 14.1
135 161.29 12.2
150 161.29 10.1

RESULTS:

1. Plot moisture content vs. time for the sand bed.

SPECIMEN CALCULATION:

𝑊𝑤 −𝑊𝑠
Moisture content of wet sand bed = × 100%
𝑊𝑠 −𝑊𝑝

For data set 3,

172.7−161
Moisture content of wet sand bed = × 100% = 11.7%
161−61

[4]
TABULATION:

Table 02: Variation of Moisture Content(%) Vs Time(min)

Drying
Weight of the sand pan(𝑔) = 𝑊𝑤 Moisture content= 𝑀 %
time(min) = 𝑡
0 176 15
15 174.8 13.8
30 172.7 11.7
45 170.6 9.6
60 168.5 7.5
75 166.4 5.4
90 164.3 3.3
105 162.2 1.2
120 161.44 0.44
135 161.29 0.29
150 161.29 0.29

16
MOISTURE CONTENT (%)

14

12

10

0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160
TIME/(MIN)
FIGURE 03: VARIATION OF MOISTURE CONTENT VS TIME

[5]
2. Plot the drying rate vs time for the sand bed and plot the drying rate vs
moisture content for the same bed.

SPECIMEN CALCULATION:
82 𝑚𝑚+83.3 𝑚𝑚+84 𝑚𝑚
Average diameter of the pan for sand = 3
= 83.1 𝑚𝑚

From Theory,
𝐿𝑠 𝑑𝑀
𝑅= ×| |
𝐴 𝑑𝑡

For data set 5,

𝑑𝑀
= 𝐺𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑢𝑟𝑣𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝐹𝑖𝑔𝑢𝑟𝑒 03
𝑑𝑡 𝑡60
(5.4 − 9.6) × 10−2
=
45 − 75
= −0.0014

0.1 𝑘𝑔
𝑅 = × |−0.0014|𝑚𝑖𝑛−1
𝜋 × (83.1⁄2 × 10−3 )2 𝑚2

= 2.58 × 10−2 𝑘𝑔⁄𝑚2 . 𝑚𝑖𝑛

[6]
TABULATION:

Table 03: Variation of Drying Rate (R) Vs Time (t)

Drying
Drying Rate (𝑘𝑔⁄𝑚2 . 𝑚𝑖𝑛) = 𝑅
time(min) = 𝑡

0 0.004916735
15 0.014750205
30 0.025812859
45 0.025812859
60 0.025812859
75 0.025812859
90 0.025812859
105 0.025812859
120 0.009341797
135 0.001843776
150 0

0.03
DRYING RATE (𝑘𝑔∕𝑚2.𝑚𝑖𝑛)

0.025

0.02

0.015

0.01

0.005

0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160
TIME(MIN)
FIGURE 04: VARIATION OF DRYING RATE (R) VS TIME (T)

[7]
TABULATION:

Table 04: Variation of Drying Rate (R) Vs Moisture Content (M)

Moisture content= 𝑀 % Drying Rate (𝑘𝑔⁄𝑚2 . 𝑚𝑖𝑛) = 𝑅

15 0.004916735
13.8 0.014750205
11.7 0.025812859
9.6 0.025812859
7.5 0.025812859
5.4 0.025812859
3.3 0.025812859
1.2 0.025812859
0.44 0.009341797
0.29 0.001843776
0.29 0

0.03
DRYING RATE (𝑘𝑔∕𝑚2.𝑚𝑖𝑛)

0.025

0.02

0.015

0.01

0.005

0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16
MOISTURE CONTENT(M)
FIGURE 05: VARIATION OF DRYING RATE(R) VS MOISTURE
CONTENT(M)

[8]
3. Determine the constant rate of drying of the bed from the experimentalobservations.
From the table 03,
𝑅𝐶𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑡 = 2.58 × 10−2 𝑘𝑔⁄𝑚2 . 𝑚𝑖𝑛

4. Determine constant rate period of drying.

Constant rate period of drying = 105 – 30 min
= 75 min

5. Determine the free surface evaporation rate for the pool of the waterfrom the experimental
observations.

90.3 𝑚𝑚+90.05 𝑚𝑚+91.5 𝑚𝑚

Average diameter of pan for water = = 90.61 𝑚𝑚
3

(20.15−16.1) 𝑘𝑔
Free surface evaporation rate R =
𝜋×(90.61⁄2×10−3 )2 𝑚2 ×(105−75) 𝑚𝑖𝑛
= 2.093 × 10−2 𝑘𝑔⁄𝑚2 . 𝑚𝑖𝑛

[9]
DISCUSSION:
1. Discuss your results.
We have obtained two values for drying constant of water from wet sand bed and water pool
as follows,
𝑅𝐶𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑡 (𝑤𝑒𝑡 𝑠𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑏𝑒𝑑) = 2.58 × 10−2 𝑘𝑔⁄𝑚2 . 𝑚𝑖𝑛
𝑅𝐶𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑡 (𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑝𝑜𝑜𝑙) = 2.093 × 10−2 𝑘𝑔⁄𝑚2 . 𝑚𝑖𝑛
There is slight difference in those two-values of constant rate of drying. This may be due to
the errors occur throughout the experimental procedure.
Drying is continuous process but in this experiment, we are taking out the pan from the oven
to measure the weight in known time intervals, so it is interrupting the drying process in the
oven due to the condition changing since ambient conditions and oven conditions are different.
This scenario will directly affect to the draying rate.
In the experiment we must take some measurements, dimension of the pan and weight of the
pan. For that we are using instruments respectively, a vernier caliper and a balance. These
instruments may have some errors like calibration errors, errors due to less maintenance, etc.
Moreover, when getting the readings there also be some errors due to human errors.
Furthermore, there may be errors in the calculation also. Specifically, in the developing of
gradient there could be some errors since it is very uncertain, and it will affect the final result.

2. Give industrial applications where drying is encountered.

Drying is a major mass transferring process used across in the multiple industries. Some of the
applications of the drying are as follows.
• In electronic industry, for drying electronic items, chips, circuit board and etc.
• Used in food and beverage industry, usually for dehydrate and sterilize before packing.
• Pharmaceutical and medicinal industry use drying for sterilization and incubation of
different preparations of samples.
• For dry, warm up blankets and crockery accessories, drying is used in hotel industry.
• Dryers are used for drying wood-based panels and wood pellets.
• Paper making industry also uses dryers for drying the paper pulps.
• For degassing the epoxy resins dryers are used.

[10]
REFERENCES:

1. CHEMICAL ENGINEERING LABORATORY 3, CE 427 DRYING of SOLIDS. Heran, Scott.

“What Are the Types and Applications of Industrial Drying Ovens.” Armature Coil Equipment

Blog, 13 June 2014, www.armaturecoil.com/blog/what-are-the-types-and-applications-of-

industrial-drying-ovens/. Accessed 30 Jan. 2022.

2. Module # 4 DESIGN of DRYERS: INTRODUCTION, TYPES of DRIERS, DESIGN

CONSIDERATION of DRIERS.

3. netzbarmedia, elbgraphen &. “Industrial Applications - BÜTTNER Energy & Drying.”

Www.buettner-Energy-Dryer.com, www.buettner-energy-dryer.com/en/drying-energy-

application/. Accessed 30 Jan. 2022.

4. “The Applications of an Industrial Drying Oven.” Thermcraft Incorporated, 10 Apr. 2018,

thermcraftinc.com/applications-industrial-drying-oven/. Accessed 30 Jan. 2022.

[11]