DRYERS AND

DRYING PROCESS
DRYERS

• Is a mass transfer process consisting of the

removal of water or another solvent
by evaporation from a solid, semi-
solid or liquid.
• This process is often used as a final production
step before selling or packaging products
Methods of dryers
Hot air (direct drying)

• Air heating increases the drying force for heat transfer and accelerates
drying. It also reduces air relative humidity, further increasing the driving
force for drying. In the falling rate period, as moisture content falls, the
solids heat up and the higher temperatures speed up diffusion of water
from the interior of the solid to the surface.
Natural Air Drying

• Materials are dried with unheated forced air, taking

advantage of its natural drying potential

• Process is slow and weather-dependent

NON- THERMAL DRYING

EXPRESSION
The expression of solid
to remove liquid.

Squeezing of wetted
sponge.
• Extraction: The extraction of liquid from solid by use of
solvent.
• Adsorption: By use of desiccants such as anhydrous
calcium chloride. The absorption of moisture from gases
by passage through a sulphuric acid column.
• Desiccation: Desiccation of moisture from a solid by
placing it in a sealed container with a moisture-removing
material e.g. silica gel in bottle.
Thermal drying
Application of heat
• Sun drying is a traditional drying method for
reducing the moisture content of paddy by
spreading the grains under the sun.
Supercritical drying
Supercritical drying, also known as
critical point drying, is a process to
remove liquid in a precise and
controlled way., also known as critical point drying, is
a process to remove liquid in a precise and controlled way.
PROCESSES
HOT AIR DRYING PROCESS

In which air is heated with steam, gas or hot water and then circulated over
the wet product. As the air picks up moisture from the wet product, its
humidity increases and the energy contained in this stream may make it a
useful heat source. Standard procedure is to exhaust this humid air or
dehumidify it. With a heat pump, heat can be extracted from the humid air.
The air is cooled down and dehumidified. The extracted heat can be
increased in temperature and can be used to heat the dryer.
NATURAL AIR DRYING PROCESS

Natural air drying uses the limited, but free, drying potential of unheated air
to lower the moisture content of corn to an acceptable level for storage. It is
a relatively slow method of drying - often stretching over several weeks. The
drying concept is similar to the cribbing of cob corn. However, in this case
the corn is shelled and we rely on fans rather than wind to move air through
the material.
SUPERCRITICAL DRYING PROCESS

Supercritical drying (SCD) is a process by which the liquid in a substance is

transformed into gas in the absence of surface tension and capillary stress
and is the process most commonly used to transform gels into aerogels.
Supercritical drying is performed to replace the liquid in a material with a
gas isolate the solid component from the material without destroying the
material’s delicate nanostructured pore network.
FREEZE DRYING PROCESS

Freeze drying is a water removal process typically used to preserve

perishable materials, to extend shelf life or make the material more
convenient for transport. Freeze drying works by freezing the material, then
reducing the pressure and adding heat to allow the frozen water in the
material to sublimate.
Equipment Of Dryers
Rotary-Drum Dryer
• Is a type of industrial dryer employed to reduce or minimize the
liquid moisture content of the material it is handling by bringing it into
direct contact with a heated gas.

• Is made up of a large, rotating cylindrical tube, usually supported

by concrete columns or steel beams

• Is inclined to slopes slightly so that the discharge end is lower than the
material feed end in order to convey the material through the dryer
under gravity
Fluidized Bed Dryer

• Fluidized bed dryer is also called fluidized bed. The drying chamber is
rectangular box type, the bottom is uniform air chamber, and a porous air
distribution plate is arranged between the air chamber and the drying
chamber. Usually, a plurality of vertical baffles are arranged in the drying
chamber to divide the fluidized bed into a plurality of small chambers, and
each partition plate can adjust the distance between the bottom and the
sieve plate up and down, so that the drying time of the material is more
uniform. The powdery granular material is continuously fed into the first
chamber of the dryer by the feeder. Since the material is in fluidized state, it
can freely move from the first chamber into the adjacent rear chamber, and
the dried product is discharged from the last chamber.
Characteristics:
• 1. Simple structure, convenient overhaul.
2. Simple steady operation.
3. The air and solid contact evenly with high thermal efficiency.
4. Low expenses of equipment maintenance.
5. Capable of lower temperature drying for the heat sensitive material.
Working Principle:

Preheated gas (air) is passed into the product layer under controlled
velocity after being uniformed by the distributor so as to create a fluidized
state. The raw material is fed into the bed. The dehydration process can
take place under very good heat & mass transfer conditions (good
uniformity of the material in the bed). The exhaust air is cleaned by cyclone.
Internal Heated Fluidized Bed Dryer

• Internal heated fluidized bed is a new drying technology developed on

the basis of conventional fluidized bed drying and indirect heating drying.
It immerses a tube heat exchanger in the fluidized drying material, and the
heat required for material dehydration is provided by a buried heat
exchanger and the hot air for fluidization. It is widely used for drying and
cooling of refined salt, soda ash, sodium percarbonate,
anhydrous sodium sulphate and other materials, is a high-efficiency and
energy-saving dryer.
Characteristics:
1. Efficiency in energy saving is high. Most heat is provided by the in-bed
heat exchanger with the efficiency about 90%, hot air is used mainly to
ensure normal fluidization, the quantity of hot air is much less than that
needed by conventional fluidized bed; power consumption and heat losses
of the exhaust air are accordingly reduced, resulting in higher drying
efficiency.
2. As gas flow velocity in the system is lower than that in the conventional
fluidized bed, so the material being entrained from the fluidized bed by the
air is reduced significantly, the load of the dedusting system is reduced and
the environmental protection is improved correspondingly.
3. Use of a special air distributor to prevent material leaking.
4. Easy to install, simple to operate, inexpensive to maintain.
Working Principle:

Preheated gas (air) is passed into the product layer under controlled
velocity after being uniformed by the distributor so as to create a fluidized
state. Fluidized bed dryer with in-bed heat exchanger is superior in an
advanced drying technique combined with normal fluidized bed drying
and indirect conduction type drying. The in-bed heat exchanger enhances
heat transfer of solid particles and thermal medium and improves drying
efficiency and drying capacity.
Rotary Dryer

Rotary dryer is a kind of drying equipment for processing large quantities of

materials. It has characteristics of reliable operation, large operation
flexibility, strong adaptability, large processing capacity, strong adaptability
of materials, drying of various materials. It is widely used in building materials,
metallurgy, chemical, cement industry to dry slag limestone, coal powder,
slag, clay and other materials
Characteristics:
1. Large drying capacity.
2. Continuous, steady operation.
3. Adjustable rotating speed fitting the requirements of different materials.
4. According to different material characteristic, it chooses different inner
structure to meet drying requirement of the materials.
5. Effective prevention of the material against sticking on the wall; an ideal
system for drying of material with high moisture content and viscosity.
Working Principle:

Based on the structure of the traditional rotary drum dryer, the self-cleaning
rotary dryer is equipped with a self-cleaning device on the chamber. When
material of high moisture content and viscosity enters the rotary drum dryer,
it is repeatedly lifted, mixed and dried along with the drum rotations. At the
same time, the self-cleaning device cleans the inside wall automatically,
and effectively prevents the material against sticking on to the wall. Finally
product achieves the required moisture content and is discharged from the
rotary drum dryer. The fine powder carried by the hot air and is collected by
the dust collector. The purified exhaust gas is dispersed in the air.
Dispersing Rotary Dryer

Dispersing rotary dryer is equipped with a built-in through shaft dispersing

device based on the structure of conventional rotary dryer. The dispersing
device runs through the entire cylinder in the axial direction, and the
material is evenly dispersed under the action of the dispersing mechanism,
effectively increasing the contact area between the material and high-
temperature flue gas, thereby improving the drying efficiency and fully
breaking the material.
Characteristics:
1. Large drying capacity.
2. Continuous drying operation with high flexibility.
3. Because of pulverization of disintegrator, the dryer is characterized by
high thermal efficiency.
Working Principle:
Based on the structure of a traditional rotary dryer, SD series of rotary dryers is
equipped with a disintegrator inside the dryer, in this way the dryer can
break the material as well as improve thermal efficiency. It can be applied
to dry conglomerating, washy and sticky materials, pasty materials and
even liquid materials. It is widely used in many fields, such as chemical
industry, brewing, pharmaceutical industry, fertilizer production, etc.
Steam Rotary Cylinder Dryer

Steam rotary cylinder dryer is used in drying of mineral powder, and has the
advantages of large processing capacity, fast drying speed and low energy
consumption. Drying is one of the important processes in the production of
mineral powder, and it is a high-energy consumption production operation.
The steam rotary cylinder dryer can reduce the production cost, is a drying
device that can adapt to large flow of ore powder, reduce energy
consumption and environmentally friendly.
Characteristics:
1. Large heat transfer area, high thermal efficiency.
2. High handling ability, suitable for the continuous operation.
3. Low drying temperature, simple operation, easy to use.
4. The gas is only used to transfer the volatile component, little amount of
gas is used, and the dust removal system is simple.
5. High efficiency of the airtight system, extremely suitable for the recycling
of organic solvents such as ethane.
Working Principle:

Based on the structure of a traditional rotary dryer, steam tube rotary dryer/calcinator is
equipped with some steam heating tubes inside of the dryer. The heating tubes run
through the dryer with pattern of 1 to 5 concentric circle(s), supplying heat needed by
drying process. The heating tubes rotate along with the rotary drum. The material
entrained in calcinator is lifted and agitated by the heating tubes in the rotary drum.
Being dehydrated/calcined by heat from the tubes, the product will move by inclination
of the dryer/calcinator from the upper end to the lower one and discharged from the
outlet at the lower end. The vaporized water will be vented by fans or in way of natural
ventilation. As for the organic solvent, it can be recovered by airtight steam tube rotary
dryer/calcinator. The circulation of inert gas can be used against explosion.
Rotary Cooler

Rotary cooler is a cooling device which is based on traditional rotary

cylinder and has a regular internal installation of cooling heat exchange
tube. In the cooler, the material flows outside the tube and the air/water
flows inside the tube as refrigerant, and the heat transfer through the tube
wall surface achieves the purpose of cooling the material.
Characteristics:
1. Indirect heat transfer, the material is not in contact with the refrigerant,
and there is no mixing and separation between them;
2. The equipment cooling pipe area is large, and the cooling effect on the
material is good;
3. The equipment is simple in composition, stable in operation and
convenient in maintenance.
Working Principle:

• Rotary cooler is equipped with a cooling heat exchange tube, the

air/water flows inside the tube, and the material flows outside the tube,
and the heat transfer through the tube wall surface achieves the purpose
of cooling the material.
• The equipment cylinder is installed obliquely, and the material is fed from
the high end and transported from the high end to the low end by the
rotation of the cylinder. The material is cooled indirectly during
the conveying process, and finally discharged from the
cooler discharging hood.
Rotary Calciner

Rotary calciner is a high-temperature processing equipment modified on the

basis of traditional rotary cylinder dryer by changing the form of its heat source.
The material enters the furnace through the kiln head feeder, and an arc-
shaped heating device (stacked kiln body) is added outside the middle portion
of the cylinder. The furnace is equipped with a fuel burner or an electric heating
element, and the flame of the burner or current of the electric heating element
is adjusted by an automatic control system to control the temperature of the
furnace so that the material is calcined at a certain temperature, and the
calcination time can be controlled by adjusting the rotation speed of the
furnace. The treated material is discharged from the lower end by the
inclination of the cylinder.
Characteristics:
1. The equipment has compact structure and good sealing effect, which reduces
material loss and heat loss.
2. Automatic temperature control, segmentation setting, over-temperature alarm, long
kiln lining life, uniform wall temperature distribution in each zone, temperature control
accuracy ≤ ± 5 °C.
3. The gas combustion is sufficient, the heat transfer efficiency is high, the heat
preservation performance is good, and the surface temperature rise of the equipment
does not exceed 50 °C.
4. The thermal efficiency of the burner is >99%, the single-pass thermal efficiency of the
roaster is more than 41%, the flame of the burner is columnar or flat, straight and powerful.
5. The combustion system exhaust NOx concentration is not higher than 100mg/Nm3.
Working Principle:

The material enters the furnace through the kiln head feeder, and an arc-
shaped heating device (stacked kiln body) is added outside the middle
portion of the cylinder. The furnace is equipped with a fuel burner or an
electric heating element, and the flame of the burner or current of the
electric heating element is adjusted by an automatic control system to
control the temperature of the furnace so that the material is calcined at a
certain temperature, and the calcination time can be controlled by
adjusting the rotation speed of the furnace. The treated material is
discharged from the lower end by the inclination of the cylinder.
Flash Dryer

Flash dryer is a vertical dryer with rotary pulverizing device, which can
simultaneously dry, pulverize and classify materials. It is a continuous drying
device specially designed for drying filter cake, paste and muddy materials
Material to be dried:

1. Fine chemical industry：magnesium (aluminium), three (binary) base lead

sulfate, molecular sieves, 4（3）A zeolite, black carbon, dibasic acid,
carmazine, silica gel, stearate, each kind of carbonate, heavy metallic salt, etc.
2. Dye：dye and intermediate：phthalein blue, ferric oxide red (yellow，black),
ultramarine, direct black, freeze yellow G, anthraquinone, H acid, J acid, DSD
acid, etc.
3. Pesticide and intermediate：TMTD, insecticides, atrazine, pesticides,
antiseptics, etc.
Working Principle:

The raw material is homogenized in the feed tank with a vertical agitator.
Tangentially directed hot air together with vertical rotary disintegrator
provides optimal distribution and disintegration of feed. The product is
separated by the exhaust bag filter system. The larger ones return to the
chamber to be disintegrated and dried continuously, until they achieve the
desired moisture content. They will be discharged from the chamber with
the hot air and collected in the separator.
Spray Dryer

The spray-dried raw material liquid may be solution, emulsion, suspension, melt or paste liquid.
The dried product may be in form of powder, granule, hollow sphere or cumularspharolith as
needed. The atomizer that disperses the feed liquid into droplets is the key component of spray
dryer. A pressure atomizer is used to obtain high pressure by a high-pressure pump. When the
high-pressure liquid passes through the nozzle, the pressure energy is converted into kinetic
energy and dispersed as droplets at a high-speed discharge. The hot air and atomized droplets
undergo heat transfer and mass transfer processes, and the droplets are dehydrated and dried
into powder, granule, hollow sphere or cumularspharolith. Due to the fast heat transfer and
mass transfer in the tower, it is especially suitable for drying of heat sensitive materials and has
better heat transfer efficiency.
Characteristics:
1. High operational flexibility on non-adhesive or low-adhesive liquid
materials.
2. Simple structure of the spray nozzle, easily used and maintained.
3. Less power consumption, low cost.
4. The hollow spherical product with big particles, good mobility and
solubility.
5. Can be used to spray-cooling granulation process, such as paraffin,
grease particles, special resins, etc.
Working Principle:

Liquid material is atomized through a special pressure nozzle with a high-pressure

pump. Hot air enters the dryer after being adjusted by an air distributor. The
material and hot air is mixed in the dryer, rapidly carries on heat and mass
transfer. Powder or granular products are produced in a very short time.
Products with larger particles size are discharged form the bottom of the dryer,
smaller particles enter the cyclone with hot air. The exhaust gas is discharged
into the air after dust removal in a scrubber. The dryers can be divided into high,
middle and low pressure spray dryers according to different pressures of
atomization, while taking into account different flow fields, they are divided into
co-current, fountain mode and counter-current spray dryers
Paddle Dryer

Paddle dryer is an indirect conduction heating type drying device, which is

suitable for processing materials with good thermal stability such as paste,
powder and granular. After special configuration, it can be used for
processing heat sensitive materials, materials that need recover solvents
during drying process and materials that need to be dried under rough
vacuum. At the same time, paddle dryer can also be used for cooling of
powder and granular materials and cooling and crystallization of some
special materials by injecting cooling medium. It also can inject heating
medium for heating materials and reactor to be heated.
Characteristics:
1. It adopts conduction type of heat transfer, the heat transfer efficiency is
high.
2. The self-cleaning function of the heat transfer surface is good.
3. The product quality is stable.
4. The material loss is small, the product recovery rate is high.
5. The material adaptability is broad, the product is dried evenly.
6. It can combine drying and cooling together.
7. The equipment with compact structure occupies small area.
8. The design is unique, and maintenance of the equipment is easy.
WorkingPrinciple:

As shown in the chart, in the jacket shell body there are two parallel shafts which have
interleaved paddles. Each shaft has several hollow fan-shaped paddles which interleave
with a certain spacing. There are two kinds of paddles: feed shear plane and return shear
plane, the shaft rotates at low speed. A heating medium enters the hollow rotary shafts
and paddles through a universal revolving joint. After heat transfer and drying, it is
discharged through the revolving joint. The material is continuously fed into the
equipment, next it is agitated and mixed near the paddles. At the same time, the material
is gradually dried by the heat conduction of paddle and jacket. The height of overflow
weir can be changed to adjust residence time. In addition, steam produced in the drying
process is discharged through the escape hole with trace amount of air.
SAFETY
Preventing Explosions and Fire

• Reduce Fire Risk: For a dryer to be safe, there must be measures taken to
reduce the risk of fires and explosions. Fires and explosions need 3 things:
oxygen, fuel, and heat or ignition. Direct fired dryers necessarily have fuel
(product being dried) and ignition (burner). The only factor to eliminate is
oxygen. Most dryers have an exhaust (flue) gas recycle loop to conserve
energy and maintain low oxygen levels. Too much excess air for
combustion and gaps between the seal and sealing surfaces increase the
oxygen content and expose your dryer to fire and explosion risks.
Personnel Safety

• The area around the dryer needs to be cleaned regularly. Dangerous

areas need appropriate signs and guards; they should be roped off during
normal operation. Dangerous areas include anywhere high pressure could
be released from the dryer system, such as explosion panels or doors,
weak areas in the ductwork or dryer components, improperly sealed
access doors, etc. The trunnion wheels should have safety guards,
preferably painted yellow for visibility. The drum drive chain should have a
safety guard to keep fingers and limbs away.
• Proper ventilation when working