Chapter 5 Drying

Introduction
drying a solid means the removal of relatively
small amounts of water or other liquid from the
solid material to reduce the content of residual
liquid to an acceptably low value.
It is often the final operation in a
manufacturing process.
Example
Sugar production washed and centrifuge sugar
crystals are dried to get the product ready for
packaging,
leather processing, soap production, Mi lk
powder.
Drying doesnt ensure complete removal of
moisture.
drying is carried out for one or more of
the following reasons:
To reduce volume.
To make a material more suitable for handling as, for
example, with soap powders, dyestuffs and fertilizers.
To provide definite properties, such as, for example,
maintaining the free-flowing nature of salt.
To remove moisture which may otherwise lead to
corrosion. One example is the drying of gaseous fuels
or benzene prior to chlorination.
Sterilization
Remove undesired volatile components.
Mechanism of drying
When a moist solid is heated to an appropriate
temperature moisture vaporizes at or near the
surface and the heat required for drying is
supplied by a hot gas.

Different types of solids ( crystalline, granular,

beads, powders, sheets, slabs, filter cakes)
Mechanisms of moisture transport can be by
capillary forces, liquid diffusion, pressure
induced or vapor diffusion.
a) Solid is uniformly wet b) upper region is partly
dry
Mechanism that dominates depends on the
C) upper region of the solid is dry. Resistance to
nature of solid, pore structure and rate of
drying.
moisture
diffusion increases from a to b to c and drying
rate decreases.
Three resistances play important role in the drying
process
The resistance to liquid or vapour transport inside the
solid.
The resistance to convective mass transfer of vapor
from the surface of the solid to the bulk gas.
The resistance to convective heat transfer from the bulk
of the drying gas to the solid surface.
 The moisture content of a material is usually expressed in terms of its water
content as a percentage of the mass of the dry material, though moisture
content is sometimes expressed on a wet basis,
Important definition and terms
 A solid of initial moisture content X i is being dried in

contact with a gas of relative humidity RH*. The water

present in the solid exerts a vapor pressure equal to that

of pure water till a moisture content of X b is reached.

So Xi Xb is the unbound moisture content of the wet

solid.

As the moisture content decrease below X b the vapor

pressure exerted by the water remaining in the solid also

decrease. As the moisture content reaches the

equilibrium moisture content X*, the vapour pressure of

moisture over the solid becomes equal to the partial

pressure of water vapor in the drying gas. X b is bound

moisture Xi X* is the free moisture content.

 Moist air
Dry air (mass concentration = Ca) Saturation
Air contains maximum amount of water
Water vapour (mass concentration vapour
= Cw) Increase water vapour Condensation
C Ca C w [kg / m ]
3

Saturated volume
Humid volume of saturated gas
Humidity of C
saturated
*
kg air (H 0)
Cw) kg H0 w
[ ]
Humidity
H (H [ ] Ca kg
Ca kg
Dew point (d)
Temperature at wich the air is saturated
Humid volume with specific amount of water vapour.
Volume taken by 1 kg gas (dry gas
+ associated vapour)
[m]
 Humidity in function of the partial pressure
nw p w

V RT
M w pw
Mass concentrat ion water : C w nwMw
RT
the same way :
M a pa
Ca
RT
substitute in the formula of H :
Cw M w pw RT M p 18 pw
H w w
Ca RT M a pa M a pa 29 pa
 Humidity (H) Percentage humidity
18 pw H
H PH 100
29 pa
H0
and pt pa pw
Percentage relative humidity
18 pw
H
29( pt pw )
PRH 100 pw
*
pw
For air/water vapour system
p t pw
18 pw
H
29 pt
Psychrometry Chart:
- X-axis: Dry bulb temperature
- Y-axis: Humidity
- Specific volume
- Relative humidity
- Enthalpy at saturation
- Wet bulb or saturation
temperature ( temprature of wet solid )
Rate of drying
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. The form of the
drying rate curve varies with the structure and type of
material, and two typical curves are shown.
curve 1, two zones:
AB- rate of drying is constant and
BC- a steady fall in the rate of drying as the moisture
content is reduced.
point B is known as the critical moisture content.
Curve 2
The 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 first falling rate period and FC, is the
second falling rate period. The drying of soap gives rise
Constant rate period
drying takes place from a saturated surface of the material by diffusion of the
water vapour through a stationary air film into the air stream.
Under this condition, diffusion of a vapour from a liquid surface into a gas can
be used to calculate rate of drying.
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.
Assumption no first period of falling rate
drying

Constant rate period

Reading Assignment types of drying equipments.
Example
A wet solid is dried from 25 to 10 per cent moisture under constant drying conditions in 15 ks (4.17 h). If the
critical and the equilibrium moisture contents are 15 and 5 per cent respectively, how long will it take to dry the
solid from 30 to 8 per cent moisture under the same conditions?