CH411 Simultaneous Heat and

Mass Transfer

Dr Khurram Imran Khan

Drying of Solids Lectures

GIK Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology

Faculty of Materials & Chemical Engineering
Fall Semester 2018
 Drying of Solids
• Drying a solid means the removal of small amounts of water
or other liquids from the solid materials.
• Drying is usually the final step in product production before
packaging.
• Water or other liquids may be removed from solids
mechanically by presses or centrifuges or thermally by
vaporization.
• The product contains no liquid is called Bone-Dry
• Solid Forms: flakes, granules, crystals, powders, slabs, or
continuous sheets etc.
• The liquid in solids: on the surface, inside the solid, partly
inside and partly outside
• Temperature Requirement: depend on solids properties.
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 Classification of Dryers
• Continuous and batch-wise or agitator
• Drying under vacuum
• Major Divisions
– Dryers in which the solids is directly exposed to a hot gas
(usually air)
– Dryers in which heat is transferred to the solid from an external
medium such as condensing steam, usually through a metal
surface with which solid is in contact.
– Dryers that are heated by dielectric, radiant, or microwave
energy.
• The dryers that expose the solids to a hot gas are called
adiabatic or direct dryers
• The dryers in which heat is transferred from an external
medium are known as non-adiabatic or indirect dryers.
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 Solid handling in Dryers

Cross-circulation Drying Through Circulation Drying

Rotary Dryer Pneumatically conveyed

Fluidized bed Dryer
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 Critical moisture
content of clay 9%
Loading
10 lb/ft2 of screen

Air at 160oF and Tw= 80oF

Air superficial velocity 5 ft/s

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 Principles of Drying
• Wide variety of materials and many types of
equipment, there is no single theory of drying
• Principle of drying based on: Variations in shape
and size of stock, in moisture equilibria, in the
mechanism of flow of moisture through the solid,
and in the method of providing heat
• Dryers are seldom designed by the user but are
bought from companies that specialize in
engineering and fabrication of drying equipment.

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 Th

Batch dryer Tsb

Temperature
Tv

Tsa Time

Thb
Temperature Patterns in dryers

Tha
Tsb

Temperature
Tv

Continuous counter current adiabatic Dryer

Tsa
Percent of dryer length
 Heat Transfer in dryers
• Calculation of Heat Duty
qT
 c ps Tsb  Tsa   X a c pL Tv  Tsa    X a  X b  
m&s
 X b c pL Tsb  Tv    X a  X b  c pv Tva  Tv 
– Heat the feed (solid and liquid) to the vaporization temp.
– Vaporize the liquid
– Heat the solid to their final temperature
– Heat the vapour to its final temperature
– Heat the air or other added gas to its final temperature
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• Heat transfer coefficients
• Heat transfer units
• Phase Equilibria
• Equilibrium Moisture and free moisture

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Phase Equilibria

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XT, total moisture content, or R, drying rate
Typical plots of total moisture
content and drying rate versus
drying time.
A

Total Moisture
B Content

Initial Constant rate Falling rate

rate
t, time
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 Example 24.1
A filter cake 24 in. (610 mm) square and 2in. (51 mm) thick,
supported on a screen, is dried from both sides with air at a
wet-bulb temp. of 80oF and a dry bulb temp. of 160oF. The
air flows parallel with the flakes of cake at a velocity of 8
ft/s. The dry density of the cake is 120 lb/ft3. The equilibrium
moisture content is negligible. Under the conditions of
drying the critical moisture is 9 percent, dry basis. (a) What
is the drying rate during the constant rate period? (b) How
long would it take to dry this material from an initial
moisture content of 20 percent (dry basis) to a final moisture
content of 10 percent? Equivalent diameter De is equal to 6
in. (153 mm). Assume the heat transfer by radiation or by
conduction is negligible.
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 Drying in the falling-rate period
• Once there is no more moisture at top
surface, further evaporation takes place below
the surface at a rate that depends on the
heat-and mass- transfer resistance in the
partially dried solid.
• Rate depends on solid is porous or nonporous.

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XT, total moisture content, or R, drying rate
Typical plots of total moisture
content and drying rate versus
drying time.
A

Total Moisture
B Content

Initial Constant rate Falling rate

rate
t, time
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 Calculation of drying time under
constant drying conditions
For drying under constant conditions, the time of drying can be
determined from drying rate-curve.

Drying time from laboratory conditions

dmv ms dX
By definition of drying rate R 
Adt A dt
Total drying time by integrating ms X1 dX
between X1 and X2 the initial and final
free moisture content, respectively.
tT 
A 
X2 R
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In the constant-rate period R = Rc ms  X 1  X 2 
tc 
and the drying time is simply ARc

R  aX
In the falling rate period, as an
approximation, the drying rate
can be assumed proportional to
the moisture content

dmv ms dX ms dX
R  aX  
Adt A dt A dt

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  X c  aA
 tT  tc 
Integrating between Xc and X2, the
critical and free-moisture ln  
contents, gives  X 2  ms

Since a  Rc / X c ms X c  X c 
 tT  tc   ln  
ARc  X 2 
ms  Xc 
tT   X 1  X c  X c ln 
ARc  X2 

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 Example 24.2 (through circulation drying)
The filter cake of Example 24.1 is extruded onto a screen in
the form of cylinders ¼ in. in diameter and 3 in. long. The
solids loading is 8 lb of dry solids per square foot of screen
surface. The bed porosity is 45 percent. The air with same
dry and wet bulb temperatures (Exp. 24.1-[160 and 80oF])
with superficial velocity of 4 ft/s. The critical moisture
content of the solids, as before, is 9 percent. How long will
it take to dry the solids from 20 to 10 percent moisture?

 Thb  Twb   Tha  Twb 

qT 
QT
 hATL  T L  ln T  T  / T  T 
tT  hb wb ha wb 
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 Tray Dryers

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 Screen Conveyor Dryers

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 Tower Dryers/ Turbo Dryer

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 Rotary Dryers

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 Heat Transfer in Dryers
• Calculation of Heat Duty
qT
 c ps Tsb  Tsa   X a c pL Tv  Tsa    X a  X b  
m&s
 X b c pL Tsb  Tv    X a  X b  c pv Tva  Tv 
– Heat the feed (solid and liquid) to the vaporization temp.
– Vaporize the liquid
– Heat the solid to their final temperature
– Heat the vapour to its final temperature
– Heat the air or other added gas to its final temperature
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 Example 24.3
Calculate the diameter and length of an adiabatic
rotary dryer to dry 2800 lb/h of a heat sensitive solid
from an initial moisture content of 15 percent to a
final moisture content of 0.5 percent, both dry basis.
The solids have a specific heat of 0.52 Btu/lb.oF; they
enter at 80oF and must not be heated to a
temperature above 125oF. Heating air is available at
260oF and a humidity of 0.01 lb of water per pound
of dry air. The maximum allowable mass velocity of
the air is 700lb/ft2.h.
0.5G 0.67 Thb  Twb
qT  V T  0.125 DLG T N t  ln
0.67

D Tha  Twb
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Continuous Fluid-Bed Dryer

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Spray Dryer with Parallel Flow
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Thin film dryer

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 Drum Dryer
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 Dryer Thermal Efficiency

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