ABSTRACT

Drying is defined as a mass transfer process that involving the removal of water or
another solvent by evaporation process from a solid, semi-solid or liquid. The objectives of this
experiment are to remove the water content in the chosen tropical fruit, to dry the fruit in order
to reduce its weight prior to its extraction process, to compare the drying process between tray
dryer and oven and also to determine the relationship between drying rate and the moisture of
content after drying process. In this experiment, the fruit used is carrots. The mass of the trays
were taken and then the carrots were spread out onto the trays, and the total weight was
recorded. The time taken for the samples to dry, temperature, humidity, mass of samples and
flow speed are recorded during the experiment. The moisture content and the drying rate was
then calculated using the results obtained and graphs were plotted to give a better understanding
of the experiment. The experiment was considered a success.

INTRODUCTION
Drying is defined as a mass transfer process that involving the removal of water or
another solvent by evaporation process from a solid, semi-solid or liquid. Mechanical methods
for separating a liquid from a solid are not considered in thermal drying. When a wet solid is
subjected to thermal drying, two processes occur simultaneously; first is the transfer of energy,
mostly as heat from the surrounding environment to evaporate the surface moisture, and second
is the transfer of internal moisture to the surface of the solid and its subsequent evaporation
due to the first process.
The term "drying" is a relative one, and simply means that there is a further reduction
in the moisture content from some initial level provided by mechanical dewatering to some
acceptable lower level. For example, a moisture content of 10-20% by volume would normally
allow particles to flow freely, yet suppress dust formation. The necessity for drying may be to
make a product suitable for sale (e.g. paint pigments), or for subsequent processing.
Adiabatic dryers are the type where the solids are dried by direct contact with gases,
usually forced air. With these dryers, moisture is on the surface of the solid. Non-adiabatic
dryers involve situations where a dryer does not use heated air or other gases to provide the
energy required for the drying process. Dryer can be categorised based on the mechanisms of
heat transfer as follows:

Direct (convection heat transfer)

Indirect or in contact (conduction heat transfer)

Radiant ( heat transfer through radiation)

Dielectric or microwave drying

There are several type of drying equipment that can be used for drying propose in

industry such as vacuum-shelf indirect dryers, continuous tunnel dryers, rotary dryers, drum
dryers, spray dryers and tray dryers. In this experiment, the equipment used is tray dryer. Tray
dryers are used for removing water from material which can be lumpy solid or a pasty solid.
Spreading uniformly solid on a metal tray which has depth 10 mm to 100mm is put in cabinet
of dryer. Water is removed by fan which recirculates heated air over the surface of the trays.
Air is heated by electrical energy and 10-20 % of air in cabinet is fresh air, remaining is
recirculating air.
This dryer type operates by passing hot air over the surface of a wet solid that is spread
over trays arranged in racks. Tray dryers are the simplest and least-expensive dryer type. This
type is most widely used in the food and pharmaceutical industries. The chief advantage of tray
dryers, apart from their low initial cost, is their versatility. With the exception of dusty solids,
materials of almost any other physical form may be dried. Drying times are typically long
(usually 12 to 48 h).

The tray dryer is designed to dry granules, powders, food material and chemicals. The
machine is mostly used by the pharmaceutical industry, chemical industry, food processing
industry, paint industry and textile industry. It is available in various sizes as per your
requirement and need. There are so many tray dryer manufacturing industries.
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OBJECTIVES

To remove the water content in carrot.

To dry the carrot in order to reduce its weight prior to its extraction process.

To compare the drying process between tray dryer and oven.

To determine the relationship between drying rate and the moisture of content after
drying process.

THEORY
Drying occurs with the help of evaporation by supplying heat to the wet feedstock.
There are two options for medium of heat transfer that is through convection by direct driers
or conduction by contact or indirect driers. The removal of water from drying is to inhibit the
growth of microorganisms and therefore the food is well preserved besides reducing the weight
and bulk of food for cheaper transport and storage. When carried out correctly, any alteration
of nutritional quality, colour, flavour and texture of rehydrated foods will not be affected too
much.
Heat transfer and mass transfer are critical aspects in drying processes. Heat is
transferred to the product to evaporate liquid, and mass is being transferred as a vapor into the
gas. The drying rate is determined by the set of factors that affect heat and mass transfer. Solids
drying is generally understood to follow two distinct drying zones, known as the constant-rate
period and the falling-rate period. The two zones are demarcated by a break point called the
critical moisture content.
In a typical graph of moisture content versus drying rate and moisture content versus
time (Figure 2), section AB represents the constant-rate period. In that zone, moisture is

Figure 2
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considered to be evaporating from a saturated surface at a rate governed by diffusion from the
surface through the stationary air film that is in contact with it. This period depends on the air
temperature, humidity and speed of moisture to the surface, which in turn determine the
temperature of the saturated surface. During the constant rate period, liquid must be transported
to the surface at a rate sufficient to maintain saturation.

At the end of the constant rate period, (point B, Figure 2), a break in the drying curve
occurs. This point is called the critical moisture content, and a linear fall in the drying rate
occurs with further drying. This section, segment BC, is called the first falling-rate period. As
drying proceeds, moisture reaches the surface at a decreasing rate and the mechanism that
controls its transfer will influence the rate of drying. Since the surface is no longer saturated, it
will tend to rise above the wet bulb temperature. This section, represented by segment CD in
Figure 2 is called the second falling-rate period, and is controlled by vapor diffusion.
Movement of liquid may occur by diffusion under the concentration gradient created by the
depletion of water at the surface. The gradient can be caused by evaporation, or as a result of
capillary forces, or through a cycle of vaporization and condensation, or by osmotic effects.
In this kind of drying, one of the important parameters is wet bulb temperature. When
gas coming from outside and a lot of water contacts each other, saturation is achieved. The
adiabatic saturation temperature is the steady state temperature in such situation. If small
amount water and a gas inlet is contacted under adiabatic conditions, a temperature which is
nonequlibrium and steady state is reached. This temperature is called wet bulb temperature. In
adiabatic saturation, temperature and humidity of gas are changed but in this situation,
temperature and humidity of gas are not changed because of small amount of water.
In measuring wet bulb temperature, thermometer which is shown in figure 3 is covered
with wet cloth which called wick. Air at dry bulb temperature T and humidity H comes and
evaporates some water on wick. Due to this evaporation, temperature T is seen as T w on
thermometer. The difference in T and T w is due to latent heat of evaporation.

Figure 3: Wet bulb temperature

If making a heat balance on wick is wanted, amount of heat lost by vaporization is:
q=MA NA w A

(1)

Where q is amount of heat lost by vaporization (W, J/s), MA is molecular weight of water, NA
is mol of water evaporating/ s.m2, w is latent heat of vaporization at Tw (J/kg H2O) and A is
surface area (m2).
Then the flux is:
NA= ky (yw-y)

(2)

Where ky is mass transfer coefficient (mol/s.m2), yw is mole fraction of water vapor in the gas
at the surface and y is mole fraction of water vapor in the gas.
There is a relation between humidty H and y which is:
y= (H/MA) / (1/MB + H/MA)

(3)

Where MA is molecular weight of water and MB is molecular weight of air. Since H is small,
then [1]:
y= HMB/MA

(4)

Substituting Eq. (4) into Eq. (2) and after substituting into Eq. (1)
q= MB ky w (HW - H) A

(5)

Rate of convective heat transfer from T to T w is:

5

q= h (T - Tw) A

(6)

Substituting Eq. (5) into Eq. (6) gives:

(H HW) / (T Tw) = - (h/ MB ky) / w

(7)

(h / MB ky) is called psychrometric ratio. In addition the adiabatic saturation lines can be also
used for wet bulb lines with reasonable accuracy but for only water vapor. Therefore, humidity
of air water vapor mixture measure can be done by using wet bulb determination
Knowledge about the basic mechanisms of rates of drying, obtaining some experimental
measurements of drying rates is necessary in most cases. Therefore, data of loss in weight of
moisture during drying at different time intervals should be taken without interrupting the
operation. In addition data should be converted to rate of drying curves.
Xt= (W Ws) / Ws

(8)

Where Xt is moisture content (kg total water/kg dry solid), W is weight of the wet solid and W s
is weight of dry solid in kg.
Other important parameter for drying process is the drying rates, v (min-1);
=

1 2
2 1

PROCEDURE
For tray dryer:
1. Drying plates were removed from the support frame.
2. The scale was tared to zero.
3. Drying plates were inserted individually into the support frame. The weight of the
individuals drying plates on the digital scale were read and noted.
4. Material to be dried was spread in a thin layer on the drying plates.
5. Drying plates were inserted in the support frame and the total weight was recorded.
6. The fan was switched on and the speed was determined.
7. The flow speed was measured with manual anemometer and the value was recorded.
8. The heating level was switched on and set up.
9. The drying experiment was started and time was measured by using a stopwatch.
10. Temperature and humidity were recorded in 10 minutes interval until total time reached
1.0 hours.
11. The heater was switched off but fan was let on to cool down the channel.
12. After 15 minutes, the drying plates were removed.
13. The Tray Drier Training Unit was shut down.
For microwave:
1. The oven was switched on and left until the temperature reach 50C.
2. The initial weight of carrot that will be dried using oven was measured.
3. After the temperature reached 50C, the weighted carrot is then placed in the oven for
1 hours.
4. After 1 hour, the carrot is then take out from the oven, and the weight of dried carrots
were measured using weighing balance and recorded.

APPARATUS AND MATERIALS

Material

Apparatus

208.7 g of carrot

Tray dryer Training Unit CE 130

Anemometer
Weighing balance
Stopwatch
Oven unit

Figure 4: Tray dryer unit

Figure 5: Oven unit

RESULTS
For Tray dryer
Weight of trays: 1389.6 g
Initial weight of carrot: 102.9

Time

Humidity (%rF)

Temperatures (C)

(min)

Mass of

Anemometer (m/s)

sample (kg)
I

II

II

10

7.5

6.6

47.2

46.8

0.0517

1.15

20

7.5

6.6

47.4

46.9

0.046

1.76

30

7.5

6.6

47.5

46.9

0.0413

1.72

40

7.5

6.6

47.6

47.1

0.0375

1.81

50

7.5

6.6

47.5

47.1

0.0356

1.73

60

7.5

6.6

47.6

47.2

0.0331

1.81

Time (min)

Mass of sample (kg)

Moisture content, X

Drying rate (min^-1)

0.1029

2.1088

0.1547

10

0.0517

0.5619

0.0172

20

0.046

0.3897

0.0142

30

0.0413

0.2477

0.0115

40

0.0375

0.1329

0.0057

50

0.0356

0.0755

0.0076

60

0.0331

Moisture content versus Time

2.5

Moisture Content, x

1.5

0.5

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

60

70

Time (min)

Figure 6: Graph moisture content versus time

Drying rate versus Time

0.18
0.16
0.14

Drying rate

0.12
0.1
0.08
0.06

0.04
0.02
0
0

10

20

30

40

50

Time

Figure 7: Graph drying rate versus time

For oven
Initial mass of carrots (kg)

0.1058

Final mass of carrots (kg)

0.06808
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SAMPLE CALCULATIONS

Moisture content, x calculated using the following formula:

Moisture content, xi

massi massfinal
massfinal

Example:
Moisture Content 1, x1 =

0.10290.0331
0.0331

= 2.1088
Moisture Content 2, x2 =

0.0570.0331
0.0331

= 0.5619
After calculated the moisture content, the drying rate calculated using the following formula:
Drying Rate, v

x
t

Example:
Drying Rate, v

=
=

x1 x2
t

2.1088 0.5619
10

= 0.5147

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DISCUSSION
Drying is a mass transfer process resulting in the removal of water moisture or moisture
from another solvent, by evaporation from a solid, semi-solid or liquid to end in a solid state.
To achieve this, there must be a source of heat, and a sink of the vapor thus produced. In the
most common case, a gas stream, e.g., air, applies the heat by convection and carries away the
vapor as humidity.
In this experiment, carrots are used because the moisture contents of carrots is less
compared to the other fruit, therefore it is requires short period of drying process. In this
experiment there are two equipment that are used in order to learn the drying process which
are tray dryer and oven.
Tray dryer is designed to dry granules, powders, food material and chemicals. The
machine is mostly used by the pharmaceutical industry, chemical industry, food processing
industry, paint industry and textile industry. This dryer type operates by passing hot air over
the surface of a wet solid that is spread over trays arranged in racks. Tray dryers are the simplest
and least-expensive dryer type.
Hot air oven is electrical devices that are used in sterilization by supplying the dry heat.
Generally, they can be operated from 50 to 300 C, using a thermostat to control the
temperature. Their double walled insulation keeps the heat in conserves energy, the inner layer
being a poor conductor and outer layer being metallic. The principle of operation is based on a
fine gravity air convection in an electrically heated chamber of the unit. A two jacket design of
the chamber and an automatic control unit ensure a homogenous temperature profile in the
chamber, precise course of processes and short recovery time (return to the preset temperature)
after door opening. This line of drying ovens is characterized by its economical operation. It is
suitable for simple process of drying and heating of common materials. The units work
noiseless.
From the result obtained from the experiment, it show that the mass loss of carrot that
are being dried using hot air oven is differ to the mass of carrot that are being dried using tray
dryer. The mass loss of carrots that are being dried using tray dryer is greater compared to hot
air oven. This is because, tray dryer unit and hot air oven have different working principle.
From the result, it show tray dryer is more efficient compared to hot air oven.
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Based on the graph moisture content versus time, it shows that the moisture content of
the carrots are decreasing with time. The longer the time for the drying process, the more
moisture content will be evaporated. Based on the graph drying rate versus time, the drying
rate is decrease when the time increase. When the time increase, the moisture content will
decreases and it will take shorter time to be dried, so the drying rate will become more faster.
Drying occurs in three different periods, or phases, which can be clearly defined. The
first phase, or initial period, is where sensible heat is transferred to the product and the
contained moisture.
Principles of tray dryer states that during the early stages of drying, the conditions in
the dryer, which is at high humidity and moderate temperature, are ideal for the growth of
microorganisms. The quicker the drying time the better the final microbial quality of the
product.
Two processes occur simultaneously. One of them is the transfer of energy, mostly as
heat from the surrounding environment to evaporate the surface moisture and the other one is
the transfer of internal moisture to the surface of the solid and its subsequent evaporation due
to the first process. The moisture content of dried products is very important, and if it is too
high, moulds and yeasts tend to grow. The moisture content may be checked using scales and
an oven.

CONCLUSION
The experiment was successfully conducted and all the objective for this experiment
were achieved. From this experiment, it can be concluded that the moisture content and drying
rate will decrease when the time increase. A tray dryer is an equipment that are very suitable
in order to determine the rate of a wet substance and also to learn the drying process. A tray
dryer is more efficient to dry moisture content compared to the hot air oven.

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RECOMMENDATIONS
From this experiment, there are some recommendation which can be done to improve the
experiment in future:

Set the tray dryer heating until an appropriate temperature which suits the drying
substance.

In order to increase the drying rate, the air flow and the air temperature should be
increase.

To reduce heat losses and to save energy, the dryer need to be well insulated.

The dryer need a muslin filter over the air inlet in order to reduce the contamination of
the product.

REFERENCES
1)

Solids

Drying:

Basic

and

applications.

Retrieved

from

http://www.chemengonline.com/solids-drying-basics-and-applications/?printmode=1
2) Tray dyer. Retrieved from http://www.pharmainfo.net/book/pharmaceutical-machines/traydryer
3) Geankoplis, C.J. (2014). Transport Processes & Separation Process Principle (includes unit
operations). Pearson Education Limited.

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APPENDICES

Figure 8: Diagram of tray dryer

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Figure 10: Dried carrots

Figure 9: Fresh carrots

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