Journal of Food Engineering 41 (1999) 229234

www.elsevier.com/locate/jfoodeng

The drying of alpeorujo, a waste product of the olive oil mill industry
R. Arjona *, A. Garca, P. Ollero
Chemical and Environmental Engineering Department, University of Seville, Camino de los Descubrimientos s/n, 41092 Seville, Spain

Abstract
Alpeorujo is a waste product of the olive oil mill industry that still has a signicant oil content. Before extracting the remaining oil
with hexane, the moisture content of the wet waste product has to be reduced from approximately 65% to about 8%. To develop
standards for dryer design and operation, an extensive study was carried out at laboratory scale. A drying tunnel was built to
calculate drying curves, volatile emissions, ignition temperatures, and solids degradation at high temperatures while drying under
several dierent operating conditions. The results of this experimental work allowed us to develop a useful drying model for de-
signing new dryers and for assessing the behaviour of existing ones. 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Drying; Olive cake; Alpeorujo; Olive oil

1. Introduction the vegetation water give the alpeorujo sludge a doughy

Up until the nineties, the olive oil production process
was based on the so-called ``three-phase system'', which
produced three streams: pure olive oil, a watery liquid
called alpechn and a solid cake called orujo or olive
cake. The alpechn contained soluble organic matter and
ne solids and was extremely hazardous to the envi-
ronment because of its high biochemical oxygen demand
(BOD). The olive cake had a variable oil content of
around 3% that could be economically recovered in oil
extracting plants after moisture content had been re-
duced to 8%.
To eliminate the alpechn, a new process technology
with only two euent streams (olive oil and alpeorujo)
has emerged. The wet solid stream or alpeorujo contains
all the substances that in the three-phase system were
contained in the alpechn and in the olive cake.
The characteristics of alpeorujo are obviously very
dierent from those of olive cake. It is a thick sludge
that contains pieces of pit and pulp of the olive fruit as
well as vegetation water. It has a moisture content of
around 65%, while olive cake only had around 4045%.
This greater moisture, together with the sugars and ne
solids that in the three-phase system were contained in
*
Corresponding author.
0260-8774/99/$ - see front matter 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 2 6 0 - 8 7 7 4 ( 9 9 ) 0 0 1 0 4 - 1
consistency and makes transport, storage, and handling
dicult it cannot be piled and must be kept in large
ponds.
In any case, the main problems associated with the
processing of alpeorujo during oil extraction occur in
the dryers. These dryers were designed for three-phase
olive cake, made up of loose particles of pit and pulp
with a homogeneous moisture distribution that can
easily be piled up and fed through rotary dryers.
On the other hand, the high moisture content of
alpeorujo demands much more energy, and the sugars
present in it make it sticky and dicult to dry. Alp-
eorujo tends to stick to the dryers walls, particularly to
the initial part of the trommel where the gases are hot,
obstructing the gas stream and increasing re risk.
To develop suitable standards for alpeorujo dryer
design and operation, the drying process was studied at
laboratory scale and the drying rate was determined
with respect to operating conditions (temperature and
air velocity) and agglomerate size. The volatile release
and the production of distilled liquids during drying
were also determined.
This is the rst step to propose a model of alpeorujo
drying similar to those applied to other solids (Blasi,
1997; Melaanen & Grnli, 1997; Melaanen, 1996;
Nasrallah & Perre, 1988; Saastamoinen & Richard,
1996; Saastamoinen, 1995; Saastamoinen & Impola,
1995), which is useful to analyse the process that takes
place in the rotary dryers.
230 R. Arjona et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 41 (1999) 229234
Fig. 1. Drying tunnel.
2. Materials and methods
The laboratory dryer (Fig. 1) is a 2.5 m long, 0.15 m
square tunnel with a refractory lining. The sample hangs
from a stem connected to a balance that is placed over
the tunnel. The sample weight is continuously recorded
by a computer at scanning times chosen by the operator.
The drying air is introduced into the tunnel with a
blower and its ow is measured by a turbine owmeter
and controlled by a buttery valve. The air is heated by
four adjustable electrical resistances, and the air tem-
perature in the tunnel is measured by two thermocou-
ples, one placed near the sample (the drying air
temperature decrease due to heat losses between the
measuring position and the sample point is less than
0.3C when the air temperature is 350C) and the other
at the tunnel inlet. An additional thermocouple may be
inserted into the sample core to measure its internal
temperature.
The alpeorujo sample is placed in a basket made of
galvanized steel mesh with an 18 mm opening that does
not obstruct the airsolid contact. The baskets are cyl-
inders with 18.0, 28.6, 34.4, and 40.1 mm diameters and
72.0 mm high. The alpeorujo sample is put into the
basket immediately before the start of the drying ex-
periment to avoid sample alterations caused by ambient
airsolid interaction.
With this experimental facility, it is possible to re-
produce the operating conditions existing in industrial
trommels used to dry alpeorujo, i.e. air ows between
1000 and 10 000 kg h1 m2 and temperatures up to
600C.
3. Drying experiments
To analyse the drying process (drying rate vs. mois-
ture content) under dierent operating conditions, a
factorial design of experiments was carried out with air
temperature, drying air velocity, and sample geometry
as variables. The six temperature levels (50C, 100C,
200C, 250C, 300C, 350C), two velocity levels (2, 3 m/
s) and four sample sizes used in this factorial design
cover the wide range of conditions actually present in
industrial alpeorujo dryers.
Two additional sets of experiments were carried out.
The rst experiments were conducted with high moisture
samples obtained adding water till the moisture was as
high as 76%. The target of these experiences was to
determine if a constant drying rate period exists at these
high moisture contents. The other set of additional ex-
periments had the objective of studying sample core
behaviour during the drying process and was carried out
by inserting a thermocouple into the sample core to
measure its internal temperature.
The alpeorujo sample used in each experiment was
previously analysed to ascertain its initial moisture,
volatile and dry solid contents. The volatile emissions
during drying were found by measuring the dierence
between initial and nal volatile contents, except in
those cases in which the sample was burnt.
4. Results of drying experiments
Before presenting the drying curves, it is of interest to
show some general observations extracted from the ex-
periments:
The surface of the alpeorujo darkens in a few sec-
onds.
Samples dried at temperatures of 100C or above,
harden during drying.
Samples dried at temperatures of 100C or above
shrink during drying. Shrinkage is greater at higher
temperatures.
The samples dried at 250C or above are pyrolysed
and produce liquid compounds that ow away from
the sample falling on the inner surface of the tunnel.
The samples with a diameter of 28.6 mm or greater
burn at a gas temperature of 300C, but only when
the weight loss is greater than the mass of water ini-
tially in the sample. Combustion begins in internal
pores and never near the surface. At gas temperatures
of 350C or above, all the samples burn, regardless of
their size.
Three types of plots are used in this paper to show the
experimental results: drying curves (apparent moisture
content on a dry basis versus drying time), drying rate
curves (drying rate expressed as apparent moisture loss
per unit mass of dry solid per unit time versus apparent
moisture content on a wet basis), and temperature
curves (temperature of the solid versus apparent mois-
ture content on a wet basis). The term ``apparent
moisture content'' is employed instead of ``moisture
content'' because it comprises both water and volatile
release.
Fig. 2 shows the drying curves for the four experi-
ments conducted at 250C with 18.0 and 28.6 mm2 di-
ameter samples (P and G in the legend) and air velocities
of 2 and 3 m/s (2 and 3 in the legend). As could be ex-
pected, the small samples dried at high drying air ve-
locity need less time to achieve a specied moisture
content than large samples dried at low drying air ve-
locity. These curves are typical curves, but the nal
apparent moisture content is less than zero due to the
 R. Arjona et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 41 (1999) 229234
Fig. 2. Experiments run at 250C.
emissions of volatile matter that had been weighted as
moisture.
Fig. 3 shows the drying rate curves for an 18.0 mm
diameter sample and 2 m/s air velocity. The temperature
ranges from 50C to 350C. These curves were obtained
by numerically dierentiating the moisture content vs.
time data. They clearly show that the drying process is
not controlled by a single mechanism throughout. There
exists a warm-up period in each case but there is no
constant-rate period. This last observation was explicitly
proven by carrying out some drying experiments using
samples to which water had been added to obtain a 76%
(w.b.) moisture content. No constant-rate period was
found even at this high humidity. Two falling-rate pe-
riods can also be seen in each curve. The 350C curve
presents an apparent increasing-rate period due to a
quick weight loss from sample burning. As mentioned
before, negative moisture contents are due to pyrolysing
processes.
The sample temperature-moisture content curves
were obtained by inserting a thermocouple in the sample
core, taking care not to alter the weight measurement.
Fig. 4 shows the temperature and the drying rate curves
for a drying experiment carried out at 250C. Four
dierent periods can be distinguished: an initial in-
creasing-temperature period that matches the warm-up
period of the drying rate curve, a constant-temperature
period at 100C that coincides approximately with the
rst falling-rate period, another rising-temperature pe-
riod that ends when the weight loss equalizes the initial
moisture content, and a nal period in which the tem-
perature of the sample slowly draws closer to the air
temperature.
Fig. 3. Drying rate at dierent temperatures.
231
Fig. 4. Temperature curve for sample dried at 250C.
Fig. 5. Volatile emissions.
At temperatures above 200C, volatile release and
moisture evaporation take place. In order to character-
ize the release of volatiles and their eect on the drying
process measurements, the amount of volatiles emitted
in each drying test were calculated by nding the dif-
ference between the volatile content of the sample before
and after the test. Fig. 5 shows volatile release (%) vs.
temperature curves obtained in the drying tunnel as well
as in an electric furnace operating at the same temper-
atures for periods of 7 and 30 min. The samples that
were placed in the furnace had previously been dried at
105C. It is clearly seen that the devolatilization equi-
librium at each temperature is reached after 30 min of
residence time in the furnace except at high temperatures
(>700C) where only 7 min are necessary. Volatile re-
lease in the tunnel dryer seems to be exactly the same as
during the 30 min residence time furnace tests. The
discrepancy appearing at 300C is due to sample pyro-
lysis, which produces distilled liquid products measured
as volatile release in the lab-dryer while in the furnace
they remain with the sample on the pan, thus causing no
weight loss. At temperatures above 300C, the samples
dried in the tunnel burn, so there is no data on their
volatile release.
5. Drying process analysis
The analysis of the drying process was carried out
with respect to the major variables: drying temperature,
air velocity, and sample size.
Fig. 6 shows a parametric set of drying rate versus
temperature plots with the apparent moisture content as
the parameter for an 18.0 mm diameter sample dried
232 R. Arjona et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 41 (1999) 229234
Fig. 6. Drying rate vs. temperature.
with 2 m/s velocity air. The drying rate increases almost
linearly with the temperature at any moisture content.
However, at high moisture contents the drying rate is
more sensitive to temperature than when moisture
content is lower. This fact suggests that at low moisture
contents, internal mass and heat transfer are limiting
factors that increase the global resistance, while at high
moisture contents this resistance is signicantly lower.
Fig. 7 shows a parametric set of drying rate versus
sample size plots for an operating temperature of 250C
with apparent moisture content as the parameter. As
can be seen, the drying rate increases almost linearly
with the inverse of the sample diameter. As in other
mass and heat transfer processes, this result shows that
the drying rate per unit mass of solid is proportional to
the specic surface (external surface per unit sample
volume).
Fig. 8 shows the comparison between the maximum
experimental drying rate, which corresponds to the end
of the warm-up period, and the maximum theoretical
drying rate. This drying rate is calculated assuming that
free liquid moisture covers the whole sample surface,
Fig. 7. Drying rate vs. sample size (250C).
Fig. 8. Experimental drying rate vs. theoretical drying rate.
which is at the wet air temperature, and by using well-
established correlations (Jakob, 1959; Pitts & Sissom,
1997) for the heat transfer coecient. The radiant heat
received by the sample from the inner walls is less than
6% of the convection heat in the experiments run at
350C with an air velocity of 2 m/s and it is not taken
into account (under this conditions the radiant heat is
proportionately greater than under other conditions).
Both drying rates start to dier at temperatures above
200C. At these temperatures the drying rate is so high
that part of the solid surface dries before reaching the
end of the warm-up period.
The inuence of the air velocity on the drying rate is
clearly dierent at high (>100C) and low drying tem-
peratures. Fig. 9 shows the drying rate curves of two
samples dried at 50C but at two dierent air velocities
(2 and 3 m/s). Both curves dier only in the warm-up
and the rst falling-rate periods. This fact may be ex-
plained taking into account that the drying of surface
moisture, which still exists during both drying periods, is
controlled by convective heat and mass transfer between
the bulk air and the solid surface. On the other hand, the
rest of the drying process at these low temperatures is
controlled by internal liquid and vapour diusion to-
ward the solid external surface, a mechanism not af-
fected by air velocity. Fig. 10 shows the drying rate
curves of two samples dried at 250C but, as before, at
two dierent air velocities (2 and 3 m/s). At this high
temperature, the drying rate curves dier in the course
of the whole drying process except when the moisture
content is very low. A possible explanation of this fact is
that convective heat transfer to the solid surface plays a
signicant role until the end of the drying process. The
internal moisture ows as vapour through the pores at a
ow rate that depends on the heat transfer rate. When
the moisture content is very low, the migration of the
bound water controls the drying process and the inu-
ence of air velocity is negligible.
6. A qualitative drying description
The previous experimental study helps to develop a
qualitative drying process description for the alpeorujo
Fig. 9. Experiments run at 50C.
 R. Arjona et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 41 (1999) 229234
Fig. 10. Experiments run at 250C.
samples. According to this model, the drying process
may have four dierent phases or periods. However, the
number and the characteristics of these periods are dif-
ferent, depending on the drying temperature. Figs. 11
and 12 show drying curves taken as representative of
low and high temperature behaviour.
6.1. Phase I (warm-up period)
Initially, the entire surface is wet or saturated and the
heat transferred to the solid is greater than the heat lost
by evaporation. Therefore, the solid temperature rises
and the drying rate grows rapidly due to higher vapour
pressures. However, as the solid surface becomes un-
saturated, the drying rate reaches a maximum and starts
to decrease although the solid temperature is still in-
creasing. There is no constant-rate period at the wet-
bulb temperature because the capillary suction does not
drive enough moisture to the surface. At low tempera-
Fig. 11. Drying process phases (50C).
Fig. 12. Drying process phases (300C).
233
tures (<200C), however, a very short constant-rate
period may exist because, as stated before, the maximum
theoretical drying rate, calculated assuming liquid sur-
face coverage at the wet-bulb temperature, coincides
with the experimental maximum drying rate.
6.2. Phase II (rst falling-rate period)
At low temperatures, the sample surface is unsatu-
rated but free water still exists in direct contact with the
drying air and there is a continuous liquid state within
the porous body (funicular state (Strumillo & Kudra,
1986)). As the solid dries, the saturated portion of the
surface diminishes and therefore the drying rate de-
creases too. At high temperatures, however, this period
does not exist because it is included in phase I.
6.3. Phase III (second falling-rate period)
The solid surface is now completely dry at any tem-
perature. At low temperatures, the internal moisture
diuses as liquid and vapour toward the solid surface.
During this phase the surface is dry and there is no
continuous liquid state within the porous body because
the moisture is interspersed with gas bubbles (pendular
state (Strumillo & Kudra, 1986)).
At high temperatures, however, the liquid boils at
approximately 100C in the interior of the large cavities
or pores formed between the pieces of pits. As the drying
proceeds, the boiling front moves into the interior of the
solid leaving behind a solid in the hygroscopic range.
Therefore, two main zones may be distinguished (Fig.
13): a shrinking core and a partially dried shell of
growing thickness. The moisture ows as vapour
through the interstitial spaces between the pits and pulp
particles toward the solid external surface. The resis-
tance to vapour ow is very low and therefore the
pressure at the boiling front is the atmospheric pressure.
The moisture content of the solid in the outside shell
(hygroscopic range) depends on the solid temperature
that increases from 100C at the drying front to the
surface temperature.
Fig. 13. Drying front.
234 R. Arjona et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 41 (1999) 229234
6.4. Phase IV
This phase exists only if the drying process takes
place at temperatures over 200C. The drying rate in this
period decreases less than expected or it could even be
approximately constant. This is because the sample
surface is hot enough to lose volatile compounds that
are measured as moisture loss.
This qualitative description is coincident, in its major
considerations, with mathematical models developed
to simulate biomass drying processes. (Blasi, 1997;
Melaanen & Grnli, 1997; Nasrallah & Perre, 1988;
Saastamoinen, 1995). In these models, a shrinking
evaporation front is considered and the internal mois-
ture mass transfer through the solid takes place as va-
pour as well as liquid. They also distinguish between
high and low temperature drying behaviour.
7. Conclusions
A qualitative description of the alpeorujo drying
process was developed that describes the characteristics
of the dierent periods that make up the whole process.
In addition, a set of useful quantitative data on drying
rates at dierent operating conditions was obtained. The
experimental results show that a constant-rate drying
period, which has traditionally been taken into account
for designing alpeorujo dryers, does not exist. The op-
erating conditions size, temperature, and moisture
content at which the alpeorujo could ignite and cause a
re in an industrial dryer were also determined. The loss
of volatile matter during the drying process, which
modies the composition of the product and may aect
the quality of the oil to be extracted, was evaluated.
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