Energy Conversion and Management 88 (2014) 641649

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Energy Conversion and Management

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/enconman

Analysis of heat recovery from a spray dryer by recirculation

of exhaust air
Boris Golman , Wittaya Julklang
School of Chemical Engineering, Institute of Engineering, Suranaree University of Technology, 111 University Avenue, Muang District, Nakhon-Ratchasima 30000, Thailand

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Received 9 June 2014
Accepted 4 September 2014
Available online 26 September 2014
Keywords:
Spray drying
Energy recovery
Exhaust gas recirculation
Mathematical model
Advanced ceramic materials

a b s t r a c t
Model simulations were employed to investigate the inuences of process parameters on the energy
recovery in spray drying process that partially recycle the exhaust drying gas. The energy efciency
and energy saving were studied for various values of recirculation ratios with respect to the temperature
and ow rate of the drying air, slurry feed rate and concentration of slurry in spray drying of advanced
ceramic materials. As a result, signicant gains in energy efciency and energy saving were obtained
for a spray drying system with high recirculation ratio of exhaust air. The high slurry feed rate and the
low slurry concentration, inlet drying air temperature and drying air ow rate enhanced the energy efciency of spray drying system. However, the high energy saving was obtained in spray dryers operating at
low slurry feed rate and high slurry concentration.
2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Spray drying is an efcient and versatile method used in various
industries for manufacturing particle agglomerates from the slurry
or liquid feed. In recent years, this method has been increasingly
employed for the preparation of high-value particles, such as
agglomerates of nanoparticles [1] or agglomerates of controlled
porous structure [2]. Lately, alumina-based ceramic composites
such as zirconia dispersed in alumina matrix have been developed
for orthopedic applications [3]. These composite materials were
utilized for the production of femoral heads due to their biocompatibility, good wettability, low friction, strong wear resistance,
high fracture toughness and high strength. The forming of ceramic
parts is currently carried out by dry pressing of agglomerated powder. This technique is the most economic one, but it requires a
powder of good owability [4]. Spray drying is frequently used
for manufacturing of particle agglomerates of superior owability.
A typical spray drying process consists of atomization of liquid
feed into a spray of ne droplets, contact of drying air with
droplets, drying of droplets with formation of solid particle
agglomerates and separation of solid product from exhaust gas
[5]. The spray drying process consumes a large amount of energy
for water evaporation. The specic heat consumption was reported
to be close to 4900 kilojoule per kilogram of evaporated water in
drying of skim milk in a pilot-scale multi-stage spray dryer [6].
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: golmanboris@gmail.com (B. Golman).
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.enconman.2014.09.012
0196-8904/ 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Several different approaches have been proposed for minimization

of energy consumption in spray drying, such as recovery of exhaust
air heat in a heat exchanger, recirculation of exhaust drying air,
combination of spray dryer with a uid bed dryer [7]. The recirculation of exhaust gas in spray drying of conventional products, such
as drying of milk and other food products, may require additional
energy consumption on dehydration of exhaust air as the large
amount of water evaporates during drying of dilute slurry. However, due to the use of concentrated slurry and the small size of
nal product agglomerates, in spray drying of advanced materials,
such as alumina, hydroxyapatite and other ceramic materials,
there is a possibility to implement the partial recovery of exhaust
air without dehydrating the exhaust air. Furthermore, supply of
excess amount of energy to the dryer and dilution of exhaust air
with feed air could be used for control the moisture balance in
the dryer. Thus, the present study explores the possibility of energy
saving in drying of advanced ceramic material utilizing the partial
recovery of exhaust air without using the dehydration unit.
The detailed analysis on effects of process parameters on energy
recovery is crucial for the design of energy utilization system in
spray drying. Nevertheless, there are only a limited number of publications that presented a comprehensive analysis on the effect of
process parameters on energy efciency of spray drying system
with recirculation of exhaust air. For example, Velic et al. [8] developed a mathematical model and presented a computer program to
show the possibility of energy saving of the spray drying process
with recirculation of drying air. However, their model required
a-priori knowledge of the temperature of air leaving a dryer. In

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B. Golman, W. Julklang / Energy Conversion and Management 88 (2014) 641649

Nomenclature
Cp
ES
h
m
Q
RR
T
W
X
Y

specic heat capacity (J kg1 K1)

energy saving (%)
specic enthalpy (J kg1)
mass ow rate (kg s1)
amount of heat in unit time (J s1)
recirculation ratio (%)
temperature (K)
weight percentage of water on wet basis (%)
mass fraction of water on dry basis (kg kg1)
humidity on dry basis (kg kg1)

Greek symbols
gR
energy efciency (%)
k
latent heat of water (J kg1)
Subscripts
a
dry air
aa
atomizing air
crit
critical
d
dry base
da
drying air

addition, they studied effects of limited number of parameters.

For instance, when analyzing evaporation efciency the temperature of hot air was varied, while other process parameters were
kept constant. Similarly, when analyzing fuel saving the recirculation rate was set as a parameter, while other parameters were
xed at one level. Toneli et al. [9] used a response surface methodology to study the effect of the inlet air temperature, the air and
feed ow rates and the recirculation ratio on the thermal efciency
of spray drying system with exhaust air recirculation employing a
mathematical model of spray dryer. However, their simulation
were based on Kojima and Park [10] model that did not account
for the detailed heat balances over a spray dryer system containing
drying air recirculation sub-system. They assumed knowledge of
exhaust air temperature similar to Velics model. Moreover, they
did not study the effect of slurry feed concentration on the thermal
efciency and their range of process parameters investigated corresponded to the laboratory scale spray drying process. Therefore,
there is a need for studies that focus on the analysis on the effect of
various process parameters on the efciency of energy recovery in
the industrial spray drying process using a model that takes into
account the heat and mass balances for all phases including drying
air, solids and moisture.
In this work, model simulations are used to explore the possibilities in energy recovery of the spray drying process through the
recirculation of exhaust air. The model includes the detail heat
and mass balances and iteratively evaluates the temperature of
exhaust air and the humidity of drying air at the dryer inlet. The
drying of alumina-based ceramic composite slurry is investigated
as an example of low volume industrial-scale production of
advanced materials by spray drying. The objective of this study is
to evaluate the inuences of process parameters, such as inlet
drying air temperature and its ow rate, and the slurry feed
concentration and its ow rate, on the energy efciency and energy
saving in spray drying process for various values of the recirculation ratio of exhaust air.
2. Methodology
Fig. 1 illustrates a schematic diagram of co-current spray dryer
with exhaust air recirculation system. A slurry feed and an

dew
ea
fa
h
i
in
j
l
loss
ma
oa
out
p
ra
rec
ref
req
s
sl
v
va

dew point
exhaust air
feed air
wet base
ith stream
inlet
jth phase
liquid
loss
mixed air
ambient air
outlet
solid product
recirculated air
recovered
reference
required
solid
slurry
vapor
vent air

atomizing air are fed to the spray dryer through an atomizer, which
is positioned at the top of the chamber. The atomizing air is used to
generate droplets from the slurry. A drying air is supplied to the
top of the chamber co-currently with the feed stream. The solid
agglomerates formed during drying leave the dryer from the bottom part of the drying chamber together with the exhaust air.
Agglomerates are separated from the air using a cyclone and collected as a product. If necessary, the exhaust air is further cleaned
using a bag lter. The exhaust air is divided into a recirculated air
and a vent air streams according to a specied recirculation ratio.
Thereafter, the recirculated air is mixed with a feed air stream to
maintain the moisture content of the drying air entering the dryer
at the desired level. The humidity and temperatures of all streams
are constantly checked as the dew point temperature to avoid
moisture condensation. The mixed air is heated up to the specied
drying temperature, Tda,out, in an indirect red heater, which is
used in spray drying of advanced materials to prevent contamination of product powder with combustion byproducts.
2.1. Mathematical model
The mathematical model derived on the basis of overall heat
and mass balances in a well-mixed dryer was employed in the
present study to calculate the energy efciency indices for various
values of the process parameters.
The amount of heat supplied to or withdrawn from the spray
drying system in unit time with ith stream, Qi, is computed as a
product of the mass ow rate of that stream specied on a dry
basis, mi,d, and the specic enthalpy of stream dened per unit
mass of dry air or dry solids, hi.
The specic enthalpies of slurry feed and solid product streams
are given by

hi Cps T i  T ref X i  Cpl T i  T ref

and those of drying, atomizing and feed air streams as

hi Cpa T i  T ref Y i  kref Cpv  T i  T ref 

where Cpj is the specic heat capacity of jth phase, Xi is the mass
fraction of water in the ith stream on a dry basis, Yi is the humidity
of ith stream, kref is the latent heat of water vaporization, Ti is the

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B. Golman, W. Julklang / Energy Conversion and Management 88 (2014) 641649

Atomizing air

Drying air
Tda,out, Yda, mda,d

Taa,Yaa, maa,d

Heater
Tda,in

Slurry
Tsl, Xsl, msl,d

Mixed air
Tma, Yma, mma,d

Spray dryer
chamber

Feed air
Tfa, Yfa, mfa,d

M2

Recirculated air
Tra, Yra, mra,d

M1

Exhaust air
Product
Tp, Xp, mp,d

Vent air

Tea, Yea, mea,d

Tva, Yva, mva,d

Ambient air: Toa, Yoa

Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of the spray drying system with exhaust air recirculation.

Table 1
The energy balances of the spray drying system.

Table 2
The mass balances of the spray drying system.

Description

Equation

Description

Overall balance
Heat inputs
Heat by slurry
feed
Heat by feed air
Heat by
atomizing air
Energy for
heating drying
air from Tda,in to
Tda,out
Total heat input
Heat outputs
Solid product
discharge
Vent air from
system
Unaccountable
losses
Total heat output
Balance around
splitting point
M1
Balance around
mixing point M2

Qin = Qout

(4)

Q sl msl;d Cps X sl Cpl T sl  T ref

(5)

Q fa mfa;d Cpa Y fa Cpv T fa  T ref Y fa kref 

Q aa maa;d Cpa Y aa Cpv T aa  T ref Y aa kref 

(6)
(7)

Qda = mda,d (Cpa + YdaCpv)(Tda,outTda,in)

(8)

Equation

Overall balances
Dry solids
msl,d = mp,d
Dry air
mfa,d + maa,d = mva,d
Moisture
msl,dXsl + mfa,dYfa + maa,dYaa = mp,dXp + mva,dYva
Balance around splitting point M1
Dry air
mea,d = mra,d + mva,d, mra,d = mea,d (RR/100)
Moisture
mea,dYea = mra,dYra + mva,dYva, Yea = Yva = Yra
Balance around mixing point M2
Dry air
mma,d = mra,d + mfa,d
Moisture
mda,dYma = mfa,dYfa + mra,dYra

Qin = Qsl + Qfa + Qaa + Qda

(9)

Qp = mp,d (Cps + XpCpl)(TpTref)

(10)

Q v a mv a;d Cpa Y v a Cpv T v a  T ref Y v a kref 

(11)

Qloss
Qout = Qp + Qva + Qloss
mea,dhea = mra,dhra + mva,dhva, Tea = Tra = Tva

(12)
(13)

mfa,dhfa + mra,dhra = mma,dhma

(14)

temperature of ith stream and Tref is the reference temperature

(Tref = 273.15 K).
A more precise equation is used to calculate the specic enthalpies of air streams of high humidity [11]:

hi Cpa T i  T ref Y i  Cpl T dew  T ref kdew Cpv T i  T dew ;

3
where Tdew is the dew point temperature and kdew is the latent heat
of vaporization of water at Tdew.
The energy balances of the spray drying system are summarized
in Table 1. The energy supplied to a heater for heating the drying
air from the inlet temperature Tda,in to the outlet temperature Tda,out is given by Eq. (8). The overall mass balances and the mass

(15)
(16)
(17)
(18)
(19)
(20)
(21)

Table 3
Process variables ranges.
Independent process variables

Units

Low
limit

High
limit

Hold
value

Drying air temperature, Tda

Volumetric ow rate of drying air,
Vda
Slurry feed rate, msl
Slurry water content, Wsl

C
m3/h

160
2500

300
3500

230
3000

kg/h
%

10
20

90
60

50
40

balances around the splitting M1 and mixing M2 points are shown

in Table 2 for dry solid, dry air and moisture.
The humidity of vent air is derived by substitution of Eq. (15)
into Eq. (17) as

Y va

msl;d X sl  X p mfa;d Y fa maa;d Y aa

mv a;d

22

The humidity of mixed air is obtained by substitution of Eq. (19)

into Eq. (21) as

Y ma

mfa;d
mra;d
Y fa
Y va
mda;d
mda;d

and the humidity of the drying air is given by

23

644

Y da Y oa

B. Golman, W. Julklang / Energy Conversion and Management 88 (2014) 641649

msl;d RRX sl  X p
;
mda;d 100  RR

24

where RR is the recirculation ratio.

In this study, we assume that the feed and atomizing air are
supplied to the dryer under ambient conditions, i.e. Yfa = Yaa = Yoa
and mda,d = mma,d.

Using Eqs. (2), (14), (18) and the relationships Tda.in = Tma, the
drying air temperature at the heater inlet is given as






RR
T da;in 100
mda;d Cpa T v a  T fa 1  100
Cpv T v a Y v a  T fa Y fa 1  100

RR
RR


RR
100 maa;d Cpa T v a  T fa Cpv T v a Y v a  T fa Y fa
25

60

60

50

50

40

40

30

R ,[%]

30

R ,[%]

20

20

10

10

0
280
260
240
T
220
da
, [ o 200
C]
180
160

10

20

30

60

50

40

, [kg
m sl

70

80

0
280
260

90

240

da

,[

220

C] 200

/h]

160

l
Ws

25
20

45

]
, [%

60

60

50

50

40

40

R ,[%]

30

30

20

20

10

10
0
3400

0
3400
3200
3000

da ,

[m 3 2800
/h]
2600
10

20

30

40

50

60

, [ kg

70

80

90

3200
3000

da ,

/h ]

m sl

[m 3 2800
/h ]
2600

35
30
25
20

45

40

, [%
Wsl

50

55

60

(d)

(c)

60

60

50

50

40

40

R ,[%]

40

60

(b)

(a)

R ,[%]

30

180

35

55

50

R ,[%]

30

30

20

20

10

10

0
25

0
3400

30

35

sl ,

40

[%

45

50

55
60

10

20

30

40

50

60

, [kg
sl

70

/h]

80

90

180

3200

200

3000

da ,

220
240

[m 3 2800
/h]
2600

Fig. 2. 3D surface plots of energy efciency for RR = 70%.

280
300

(f)

(e)

260

o C]

,[
T da

160

645

B. Golman, W. Julklang / Energy Conversion and Management 88 (2014) 641649

70

70

Qin

Qin

60
50

50

Qreq , Qin [kJ/s]

Qfa , Qda , Qin [kJ/s]

60

Qda
40
30

Qfa

20

40
30
20

Qreq

10

10
0
150

0
170

190

210

230

250

Drying air temperature, Tda,out

270

290

310

80

100

70

Qin

60
50

Qda

Qreq , Qin [kJ/s]

50

40
30
20

Qin

60

Qfa

10

40
30
20

Qreq

10

0
2400

2600

2800

3000

3200

3400

3600

10

20

Drying air flow rate, Vda [m3/h]

26

where gR is the energy efciency and Qreq is the energy required for
evaporation of specied amount of water, which is expressed as

Q req X sl  X p msl;d k

50

60

70

simulation process and output results of simulation. The thermodynamic water properties were implemented using the empirical
correlations [12] as well as the more precise models based on
the IAPWS Industrial Formulation 1997 [13]. The moist air properties were calculated using the experimental-based correlations
[14,15]. The heat capacity of solid as a function of temperature
was evaluated by an empirical correlation [16].
2.2. Study case

27

Qin is calculated by taking into account the reduction in energy consumption for heating of drying air Qda by Eq. (8).
The energy saving is dened as the ratio of energy recovered
from exhaust air to the energy supplied to the spray dryer without
heat recovery:

Q rec
 100%
Q in;S1

40

Fig. 6. Effect of slurry water content on Qreq and Qin.

The energy efciency of spray drying process is dened as the

ratio of the energy required for evaporation of specied amount
of water to the energy supplied to the dryer:

Q req
 100%
Q in

30

Slurry water content, Wsl [%]

Fig. 4. Effect of drying air ow rate on Qfa, Qda and Qin.

ES

60

Fig. 5. Effect of slurry feed rate on Qreq and Qin.

70

gR

40

Slurry feed rate, msl [kg/h]

Fig. 3. Effect of drying air temperature on Qfa, Qda and Qin.

Qfa , Qda , Qin [kJ/s]

20

[oC]

28

where Qrec is the energy recovered from exhaust air, in which

Qrec = Qin,S1Qin, and Qin,S1 is the energy supplied to the dryer without heat recovery, which is calculated by Eq. (9) assuming
Tda,in = Tfa.
The calculation procedure includes an iterative solution of mass
and heat balances. The simulation starts from the estimation of the
inlet drying air humidity, which is adjusted until the mass balance
is satised and the convergence criteria is achieved within a limit
of given tolerance. Then, the heat balance is solved using iteration
loops that evaluate the drying air temperature at the heater inlet
and the exhaust air temperature.
The simulation software was written in Visual Basic for Applications using EXCEL as a graphical front-end to input data, control

The four process parameters were chosen as independent variables: drying air temperature at the inlet of spray dryer (Tda), volumetric ow rate of drying air on a wet basis (Vda), slurry feed rate
(msl) and water content of slurry (Wsl) on a wet basis. The ranges of
parameter values are shown in Table 3. The slurry feed rates were
selected on the basis of the small-scale industrial production rates
of advanced materials [17]. The range of variation of water content
was chosen based on the literature data [18] and our preliminary
experimental study on drying of aluminazirconia composite
slurry in a laboratory-scale spray dryer. Other independent parameters were kept constant; ambient air temperature at 30 C and relative humidity at 70%, the product water content at 3 wt% on a wet
basis. The recirculation ratio was xed at various levels starting
from 5% and up to 80%.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Model validation
To prove that the developed model could be utilized for analysis
of energy recovery in low-volume industrial spray-dryer, the

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B. Golman, W. Julklang / Energy Conversion and Management 88 (2014) 641649

60
60

50

50

40

40

R ,[%]

R ,[%]

30

30
20

20

10

10
160
180
200
220
240

0
3400
3200
3000

Vd

, [m 3 2800
/h]
2600

o C]

260
280
300

,[
a

Td

(a)

0
3400
3200

da

200

3000

, [m

h]

160

220

2800
3/

180

240
260

2600

280
300

T da

o C]

,[

(b)

Fig. 7. Effect of recirculation ratio on response surfaces of energy efciency: (a) RR = 20% and (b) RR = 80%.

results of simulations of the present model were compared with

results calculated by a detail model of spray drying developed in
our earlier work [19]. This detail model is based on the combination of a model for the heat and mass transfer for a single droplet
with a model for the ow of droplets and drying gas, and the heat
and mass transfer in the spray dryer. The temperature and moisture concentration distributions inside the crust and wet core
regions of wet particles were simulated considering both internal
and external mass and heat transfer resistances during the constant and falling drying rate periods. The simulation that utilizes
the detail model requires repeated numerical solutions of droplets
system of partial differential equations with moving boundaries at
every step of solving ordinary differential equations for spray
dryer.
The drying of alumina slurry was simulated in a low-volume
spray dryer with chamber diameter of 2 m and the length of cylindrical part of 2 m (Spray Dryer VERSATILE-SD, size 6.3, GEA Niro
Process Engineering A/S [20]). The slurry droplets were generated
by a rotary atomizer and the product agglomerates were assumed
to be of 50 lm in diameter. The slurry feed rate was set at 90 kg/h,
slurry water content at 60%, drying air feed rate at 2500 m3/h and
drying air temperature at 170 C. The moisture content of the
drying air at the dryer inlet was selected to be the same as the
one calculated by the simplied model for the drying system with
recirculation of exhaust air. This combination of process parameters corresponds to the one of the harshest drying conditions in
the range of parameters that were considered.
The simulated results using our detail model conrmed that the
droplets are dried completely in a short distance from the nozzle
(0.4 m). It was also found that the humidity and temperature of
exhaust air calculated by the current simplied model were almost
identical to those simulated by the detail model, differing by no
more than 2%. Thus, we can expect that the energy efciency and
energy saving calculated by both models should be close to each
other. Therefore, the application of the current simplied model
is justied for the analysis on effect of process parameters on
efciency of energy recovery while tremendously saving computational time.
3.2. Energy efciency
Fig. 2 illustrates 3D surface plots of energy efciency for the
recirculation ratio RR = 70%. The two independent variables were
varied while the other two variables were kept at xed levels as

hold values denoted in Table 3. The results shown in Fig. 2 indicate

that the energy efciency of drying process is improved by
decreasing the drying air temperature (Fig. 2(a), (b) and (f)) and
the drying air ow rate (Fig. 2(c), (d) and (f)). These trends are in
agreement with results published by Toneli et al. [9] for spray drying of green banana biomass.
At a xed volumetric ow rate of drying air at the inlet of the
drying chamber, the air mass ow rate decreases with increasing
temperature of drying air due to the decline of air density. This
causes the humidity of exhaust air to rise at a constant amount
of evaporating water. Furthermore, the humidity of mixed air
increases at a specied value of recirculation ratio due to the rise
of exhaust air humidity and decrease in amount of fresh air supplied to the dryer as mass ow rate of drying air is declined. In
the present case, the total energy input to the dryer, Qin, consists
of three terms; the energy by slurry feed, Qsl, the energy by feed
air, Qfa, and the energy for heating the drying air, Qda. The temperatures of exhaust and mixed air streams as well as the difference
between the drying and mixed air temperatures rise with the drying air temperature. As a result, the larger amount of energy was
consumed to heat the drying air up to the higher temperature
Tda,out by Eq. (8), while the energy supplied to the dryer by slurry
feed does not depend on Tda,out. The energy input by feed air
declined slightly with increasing Tda,out due to the lower feed air
ow rate, as illustrated in Fig. 3. These results were obtained from
simulations that were carried out by varying Tda,out and keeping
other process parameters at hold levels. The total energy input to
the dryer rose, however, with drying air temperature owing to
increase in consumption of energy for heating drying air. Thus,
the energy efciency declined at higher drying air temperature
due to growing total energy input to the dryer at constant energy
required for water evaporation.
The increase of ow rate of drying air results in decrease of
humidities of exhaust and mixed air streams as the larger volume
of air is available to accommodate the xed amount of evaporating
water. An exhaust air become hotter at higher ow rate of drying
air since more energy is available for drying. As a result, the temperature of mixed air, Tda,in, rises and the temperature difference,
DT = Tda,outTda,in, declines at a constant drying air temperature,
Tda,out. On the other hand, as illustrated in Fig. 4, the large amount
of energy, Qda, was required for heating the drying air supplied at
high ow rate in spite of decreasing temperature difference. The
energy input by feed air, Qfa, is proportional to the mass ow rate
of drying air. Thus, the larger total amount of energy was supplied

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B. Golman, W. Julklang / Energy Conversion and Management 88 (2014) 641649

80

80

60

ES, [%]

ES, [%]

60

40

40

20

20

0
280
260
240

da

220

50

200
,[ o
180
C]

40
30
160

70

60

g
, [k

80

55

90

280

45

260

40

240

/h]

35

220

,[o
C]

da

m sl

20
10

30

200

25

180

, [%

sl

20

160

(a)

(b)

80

80

60

60

ES, [%]

ES, [%]

60

50

40

20

40

20

0
3400
3200
3000
V
2800
da
, [m
3/
2600
h]

10

20

30

40

50

70

60

, [k
m sl

g/h

80

0
2600

90

2800

da

35

3000

, [m

25

20

40
3200

30

/h]

45
50

3400

55

Ws

l,

[%

60

(c)

(d)

80
80

60

40

ES, [%]

20

20

25
20

90

80

70

60

50

, [k
m sl

40
g/h]

10

3000

/h ]

20

30

280

260

, [m

45
W 40
sl , [ 35
%
30
]

3400
3200

50

2800
240

220

Tda , o
[ C]

(e)

200

2600
180

160

(f)
Fig. 8. 3D surface plots of energy saving for RR = 70%.

da

0
55

40

ES, [%]

60

B. Golman, W. Julklang / Energy Conversion and Management 88 (2014) 641649

200

Qin , Qin,s1 , Qrec [kJ/s]

to the spray drying system at higher ow rate of drying air as both

Qfa and Qda increased at constant energy input with slurry feed.
Therefore, the energy efciency decreased with drying air ow rate
due to an increase in the total energy input at a xed energy
required for evaporation. The highest energy efciency in the present range of variation of process parameters was obtained using
drying air at 160 C supplied to the spray dryer at 2500 m3/h.
With increasing slurry feed rate and slurry water content the
energy efciency rose, as shown in Fig. 2(e). A large amount of
energy is consumed for evaporating a large amount of water supplied to the dryer at high slurry feed rate or with slurry feed of
low solid content. This results in the higher moisture contents
and low temperatures of the exhaust and mixed air streams. Thus,
more energy was used in the heater for heating the drying air up to
the specied temperature Tda,out. The enhancements of the energy
input by slurry feed and the energy for heating a drying air yielded
in an increase in the total energy input to the dryer, Qin. However,
the energy required for water evaporation, Qreq, rose more steeply
than Qin, as shown in Figs. 5 and 6. As a result, the energy efciency
enhanced with an increase in the ow rate and water content of
the slurry.
The increase in the recirculation ratio results in signicant
enhancement of the energy efciency. gR rose from 10% for
RR = 20% to about 35% for RR = 80%, as shown in Fig. 7. At high
recirculation ratio, less feed air was supplied to the system. As a
result, the temperature of mixed air was high and, thus, less energy
was required to heat mixed air up to the specied drying
temperature.

170

Qin,s1

140

Qrec

110

80

Qin
50
150

170

190

230

250

270

290

310

Fig. 9. Effect of drying air temperature on Qin, Qin,s1 and Qrec.

200

170

Qin,s1
140

Qrec

110

80

Qin

50
2400

2600

2800

3.3. Energy saving

3000

3200

3400

3600

Drying air flow rate, Vda [m3/h]

Fig. 10. Effect of drying air ow rate on Qin, Qin,s1 and Qrec.

200

Qin,s1
Qin , Qin,s1 , Qrec [kJ/s]

170

140

Qrec
110

80

Qin
50
0

20

40

60

80

100

Slurry feed rate, msl [kg/h]

Fig. 11. Effect of slurry feed rate on Qin, Qin,s1 and Qrec.

200

Qin , Qin,s1 , Qrec [kJ/s]

The surface plots of energy saving are shown in Fig. 8 for

RR = 70%. Fig. 8(a)(d) and (f) illustrates that the energy saving
increased slightly with temperature and ow rate of drying air.
The total energy input to the dryer without heat recovery, Qin,s1,
rose signicantly with increasing temperature of drying air, as
shown in Fig. 9. The large amount of energy is consumed for
heating drying air from the feed air temperature up to the required
drying air temperature. Consequently, this process contributes to
the increase of total energy input to the dryer without heat recovery. The total energy input to the dryer with heat recovery, Qin, also
increased with Tda,out, but not as much as Qin,s1, since Qin is
determined by the difference between the drying air and mixed
air temperatures, Tda,outTda,in. The temperature of mixed air is
higher than that of the feed air and it also rises with Tda,out. The
energy recovered from exhaust air, which is dened as the difference between the total energy inputs to the dryers without and
with heat recovery, increased with Tda,out, as shown in Fig. 9.
Fig. 10 illustrates the variations of the energy recovered and the
total energy inputs to dryers with and without heat recovery as
functions of drying air ow rate. The trends are similar to those
shown in Fig. 9 for variety of drying air temperatures. As a result,
the energy saving only slightly increased with temperature and
ow rate of drying air, as the gain in the recovered energy is balanced with increment of the total heat input to the dryer without
heat recovery.
The enhancement of the ow rate and water content of the
slurry yielded to the marginal increase of the total energy input
to the dryer without heat recovery. This is due to the minor contribution of the energy input by slurry feed to Qin,s1, as shown in
Figs. 11 and 12. However, the total energy input to the dryer with
heat recovery rose with ow rate and water content of slurry. The
more water is evaporated the lower is the temperature and the
higher is the humidity of exhaust drying air at xed drying air
temperature at the dryer inlet. Therefore, more energy is
consumed to heat the mixed air stream up to the inlet drying air

210

Drying air temperature, Tda,out [oC]

Qin , Qin,s1 , Qrec [kJ/s]

648

Qin,s1

170

140

Qrec
110

80

Qin

50
10

20

30

40

50

60

Slurry water content, Wsl [%]

Fig. 12. Effect of slurry water content on Qin, Qin,s1 and Qrec.

70

649

B. Golman, W. Julklang / Energy Conversion and Management 88 (2014) 641649

80

80

60

ES, [%]

ES, [%]

60

40

40

20

20

0
2600
2800

da

3000

, [m

3200
3

/h]

180
3400

300
280
260
240
220
o C]
,[
200
T da

160

(a)

0
2600

300
280

2800

260

V 3000
da , [
m 3 3200
/h]
3400

240
220
o

200
180
160

T da

,[

C]

(b)

Fig. 13. Effect of recirculation ratio on response surfaces of energy saving: (a) RR = 20% and (b) RR = 80%.

temperature. The trends of Qin,s1 and Qin leads to decline in the

recovered energy. As a result, the energy saving decreased with
an increase in the ow rate and water content of the slurry, as
conrmed in Fig. 8(a)(e).
The results shown in Fig. 13 indicate that with increase in recirculation ratio the energy saving signicantly rises due to the more
efcient utilization of exhaust air energy.
4. Conclusions
In the present study, the heat recovery by partial recirculation
of exhaust drying gas was analyzed with the aim to decrease the
energy consumption in spray drying process. The effects of process
parameters were explored on efciency of energy recovery using
the developed mathematical model. Simulations were performed
by varying the drying inlet air temperature, volumetric ow rate
of drying air, slurry feed rate and slurry concentration.
This study conrmed that to improve the energy efciency of
spray drying process, recirculation ratio of exhaust air and slurry
feed rate should be increased. On the other hand, slurry concentration, inlet drying air temperature and drying air ow rate should be
decreased. To ensure the high energy saving in spray drying
process, we should operate the drying system at low slurry feed
rate, high slurry concentration and high recirculation ratio of
exhaust air.
Acknowledgement
The authors would like to thank the National Research Council
of Thailand for their funding of this research.
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