Chemical Engineering Science 61 (2006) 5176 – 5181

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Mean residence time and hold-up of solids in rotary kilns

Xiao Yan Liu a,b,∗ , Eckehard Specht a
a Institute of Fluid Dynamics and Thermodynamics, Otto-von-Guericke-University of Magdeburg, Universitaetsplatz 2, 39106 Magdeburg, Germany
b School of Electrical & Information Engineering, Hunan University, 410082 Changsha, China

Received 19 January 2006; received in revised form 28 March 2006; accepted 28 March 2006
Available online 6 April 2006

Abstract
The influence of operational variables on the mean residence time (MRT) and hold-up of the solids in rotary kilns has been investigated by
many researchers. However, their reports on the influence of the feed rate on MRT, for example, are not consistent with one another. In this
study, experiments are conducted on a 400 mm ID pilot kiln with a cylindrical discharge dam. Sand is used as the testing solids. MRT and
the hold-up are measured under various feed rates and rotation speeds. Experimental results indicate that MRT increases slightly with the feed
rate, and that the gradient is smaller at high rotation speeds. The hold-up shows a near-linear increase with the mass of feed per kiln rotation.
The experimental data are then used to test equations provided by different researchers for the prediction of MRT. Comparisons show that,
results of the empirical equation from Sullivan, J.D., Maier, C.G., Ralson, O.C. [1927. Passage of solid particles through rotary cylindrical
kilns. U.S. Bureau of Mines Technical Paper No. 384.] agree well with measurements for the cases of low kiln loadings, while the numerical
model of Saeman, W.C. [1951. Passage of solids through rotary kilns: factors affecting time of passage. Chemical Engineering Progress 47,
508-514.] gives good predictions over the entire range of parameters considered.
䉷 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Transport process; Powder technology; Granular materials; Residence time; Chemical reactors; Rotary kiln

•
1. Introduction variables: feed rate m, rotation speed n and inclination angle

of the kiln; (3) property of the solids: angle of repose ; and
Rotary kilns are widely used in chemical and metallurgical (4) geometry of the dam which is installed at the discharge end
industries. A rotary kiln consists mainly of an inclined cylinder or feed end of the kiln.
that is slowly rotated around its axis by a driven motor. The For rotary kilns without a discharge dam, an equation was fist
solids are fed into the cylinder at the upper end and transported given by Sullivan et al. (1927) to calculate the mean residence
to the lower end due to the inclination and rotation of the time of the solids:
√
cylinder (Fig. 1). During the transport, the height of the solids L 
bed decreases. The mean residence time (MRT) of the solids MRT = 1.77 · · . (1)
D n·

in the kiln is of importance, because during this time the solids √
exchange mass- and heat with the hot medium (for example Accordingly, MRT is proportional to  and the size ratio
with the combustion gas), being dried, calcinated and cooled. L/D, but inversely proportional to the rotation speed n and the
To increase MRT, dams are usually installed at the discharge kiln inclination
. The feed rate exerts no influence on the resid-
end of the kiln. ence time. According to Chatterjee et al. (1983b), however, the
Factors influencing MRT have been investigated by many feed rate definitely influences the residence time and the reside-
researchers (Sullivan et al., 1927; Saeman, 1951; Chatterjee et nce time is never a direct function of the other variables, rather
al., 1983a, b; Sai et al., 1990; Lebas et al., 1995; Spurling, 2000; ⎛ • ⎞0.981

1.054
1.1
Li et al., 2002; Descoins et al., 2005). The variables are: (1) the 0.1026 · L3  ⎝ V ⎠ L
MRT = • · · · ,
dimension of the kiln: diameter D and length L; (2) operational
L ·n
3 D
V
∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +49 391 67 12460; fax: +49 391 67 12762. (2)
•
E-mail address: Xiaoyan.liu@vst.uni-magdeburg.de (X.Y. Liu). where V is the volumetric feed rate.

0009-2509/$ - see front matter 䉷 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.ces.2006.03.054
 X.Y. Liu, E. Specht / Chemical Engineering Science 61 (2006) 5176 – 5181 5177

By solving Eq. (4), the depth profile h(x) of the solids and
thus the kiln hold-up M [kg] can be calculated as
 L
M = S · R 2 · (εx − sin εx · cos εx ) · dx, (7)
0

where S is the bulk density of the solids and x is the local

fill angle of the solids defined as
 
Fig. 1. Sections of the rotary kiln. h (x)
εx = arccos 1 − . (8)
R
For rotary kilns with a discharge dam, MRT is increased With known hold-up M, the mean residence time of the solids
when other parameters are kept constant. Sullivan et al. (1927) in the kiln can be calculated as
gave the flowing formula for the condition where the uniform
M
depth of the solids in the kiln is less than the height of the MRT = • , (9)
discharge dam: m
⎧⎡ •
√ ⎨ where m is the mass feed rate of the solids.
1.77 · L · 
MRT = · EXP ⎣(0.12 · L/D − 3.86) This model [Eq. (4)] and other numerical models, however,

·D·n ⎩
appear in the form of differential equations and are therefore
⎤ ⎫
• ⎬ not convenient for practical uses.
2.5 · V h
+ e2.3−0.32·L/D − 1⎦ ·
dam
· log . Recently, experiments have been conducted by different re-
n·V D − 2 · hdam ⎭ searchers to measure the MRT or hold-up in rotary kilns of dif-
(3) ferent dimensions. However, in their experiments the hold-up
at the feed end or discharge end was kept constant (Li et al.,
This equation differs from Eq. (1) in that an exponential part 2002; Descoins et al., 2005). Consequently, the rotation speed
is introduced, in which the influences of the dam height hdam , and the feed rate had to be varied simultaneously. Therefore,
•
the feed rate V and the volume V of the kiln are considered. the influence of the feed rate and the rotation speed on MRT
The equations discussed above were obtained from experi- cannot be determined. Spurling (2000) investigated the influ-
ments conducted on laboratory kilns. There are also mathemat- ence of the feed rate on MRT, however, the effect of the rotation
ical models available to calculate the depth profile of the solids speed was not studied.
along the kiln length (Saeman, 1951; Abhouzeid and Fuer- In this study, experiments have been conducted on a 400 mm
stenau, 1980; Spurling, 2000 as examples). The model from ID rotary kiln to measure the hold-up and MRT. The influence of
Saeman (1951) was frequently used. According to it, the lo- both the feed rate and the rotation speed has been investigated.
cal depth h(x) of the solids in the axial direction of the kiln This kiln has a larger dimension than those laboratory kilns used
is described by the following differential equation (see also by other authors and it has dams at both ends. In the following
Spurling, 2000): part, the experimental methods are described and the results
discussed. The empirical equations and mathematical models
dh 3 · tan  •  2 −3/2 dR
i tan
discussed above are tested by the experimental data.
= · V · Ri − (h − Ri )2 + − ,
dx 4··n dx cos 
(4)
2. Experimental
where Ri is the local radius of the kiln. For the cylindrical
part, Ri is constant and thus dRi /dx = 0. For non-cylindrical 2.1. Laboratory rotary kiln
parts such as a conical discharge dam, Ri varies with x and
dRi /dx  = 0. The photo and the schematic diagram of the rotary kiln used
The initial condition h(x = 0) at the discharge end of the kiln in the experiments are shown in Figs. 2 and 3, respectively. The
is needed to solve the differential equation [Eq. (4)]. This was rotating cylinder consists of a steel shell mounted with refrac-
given as (Spurling, 2000) tory bricks on the inner wall. The main part of the cylinder has
an inner diameter of 400 mm and a length of 4635 mm, giving
• for kilns without a discharge dam: a L/D ratio of 11.6. At both ends, the inner diameter is de-
creased to 350 mm. This construction avoids the back-spillage
h(x = 0) = d, (5) of the solids at the inlet and serves as a discharge dam at the
outlet. The dimensions of this special construction are given
• for kilns with a discharge dam:
in the figure. The cylinder can be tilted at an angle between
h(x = 0) = d + hdam , (6) −5◦ and 5◦ and the rotation speed is adjustable between 0
and 10 rpm. The solids are fed continuously into the kiln by a
where d is the particle diameter of the solids. loss-in-weight feeder. The feed rate can be adjusted between
5178 X.Y. Liu, E. Specht / Chemical Engineering Science 61 (2006) 5176 – 5181
Fig. 2. Photo of the laboratory rotary kiln.
Fig. 3. Schematic diagram of the laboratory rotary kiln.
1.55 and 990 kg/h. At the inlet, the solids are put into the ro-
tating cylinder and transported to the outlet where they are
then collected in a container. All experiments are conducted at
room temperature with sand as testing solids (particle diame-
ter d = 0.366 mm, bulk density s = 1370 kg/m3 and dynamic
angle of repose  = 33◦ ).
2.2. Experimental procedure
For all trials the inclination angle of the kiln
is fixed at 3◦ .
Variables are the rotation speed (n = 1 ∼ 2.5 rpm) and the feed
•
rate (m =60 ∼ 150 kg/h). The values have to be confined in
such ranges to ensure that the solids motion stays in the rolling
mode, as it is in most industrial plants. Equations predicting
the rolling motion can be found elsewhere in Liu et al. (2005).
The following procedure is used to determine the mean res-
idence time of the solids in the kiln. It is similar to the method
used by Lebas et al. (1995) and Descoins et al. (2005).
Step 1: Identification of the steady state of the solids flow.
• the rotation of the kiln and the feeder are switched on and
set to the desired values.
• the mass flow rate of the solids at the outlet is determined
by weighting the mass of the solids that are collected in the
container with a time interval of about 10 min.
• the steady state of the solids flow is reached when the mass
flow rate at the outlet remains constant and its value is equal
to the feed rate.
• at the steady state the rotation of the kiln and the feeder are
stopped.
Step 2: Measurement of the kiln hold-up.
• an empty container is placed at the outlet, and the rotation of
the kiln is restarted so that the remaining solids in the kiln
flow out.
• after the kiln is emptied, the total mass of the solids in the
container (kiln hold-up M) is measured. The measuring error
is ±0.5 kg.
Step 3: Determination of the mean residence time of the
solids MRT by dividing the kiln hold-up M with the mass feed
•
rate m [Eq. (9)].
Step 4: Checking the back-spillage of the solids at the feed
end of the kiln.
At low rotation speeds and high feed rates, the solids may
overflow (back-spillage) at the feed end of the kiln before the
steady state is reached. To clarify the experimental conditions,
the feed end is opened to check whether or not a back-spillage
has occurred. Of the ten trials carried out, there are only three
cases of back-spillage. The mass of the back-spillage is then
measured. For the calculation of MRT, this mass should not be
considered because it stays out of the rotating part of the kiln.
3. Experimental results and discussions
Table 1 summarizes the experimental results under various
rotation speeds and feed rates. In the following sections, the
effect of each variable on the kiln hold-up and MRT will be
discussed and the predicted values of MRT by different authors
will be compared with experimental data.
3.1. Kiln hold-up
As can be seen from Table 1, an increase of the feed rate
leads to a higher hold-up when the rotation speed is kept con-
stant. If the rotation speed is increased and the feed rate is kept
constant, the solids can be transported faster out of the kiln and
thus the hold-up becomes lower. This agrees with experimental
observations reported in the literature.
It will be interesting to know the co-effect of the feed rate
•
m and the rotation speed n on the hold-up M. For this, a new
•
variable defined as m /n (mass of feed per kiln rotation) is
introduced. It is found that M increases approximately linearly
•
with m /n (Fig. 4) with a relation of
•
M = 56 · m /n − 6.2. (10)
For comparison, calculated values of M based on Eq. (4) are
also represented in the figure. It can be seen that the discrep-
ancy between the measurements and the calculations is rela-
•
tively small. The error becomes bigger at higher values of m /n,
•
reaching its maximum of 10% at m /n = 1.6. This new variable
 X.Y. Liu, E. Specht / Chemical Engineering Science 61 (2006) 5176 – 5181 5179

Table 1
A list of the experimental data and results

Rotation Feed rate Back-spillage Kiln hold-up kiln loading Experimental Calculated value of MRT (min) and errora (%) by
•
speed m (kg/h) (kg) M (kg) f (%) value of
n (rpm) MRT (min)

Eq. (1) Eq. (2) Eq. (3) Eq. (4)

60.3 0 18.4 2.2 18.3 16.6 (−10%) 10.3 (−44%) 19.0 (4%) 19.3 (6%)
2.5 90.3 0 27.8 3.4 18.5 16.6 (−10%) 10.2 (−45%) 18.4 (0%) 19.2 (4%)
120.4 0 38.3 4.7 19.1 16.6 (−13%) 10.2 (−47%) 18.1 (−5%) 19.1 (0%)
149.5 0 48.6 5.9 19.5 16.6 (−15%) 10.1 (−48%) 17.8 (−9%) 19.2 (−2%)

59.9 0 30.5 3.7 30.6 27.6 (10%) 17.0 (−44%) 30.5 (0%) 31.9 (4%)
1.5 91.0 0 49.0 6.0 32.3 27.6 (15%) 16.9 (−48%) 29.6 (−8%) 32.0 (−1%)
118.7 1.8 66.3 8.1 33.5 27.6 (18%) 16.8 (−50%) 29.0 (−13%) 32.2 (−4%)
147.7 11.9 88.3 10.8 35.9 27.6 (23%) 16.7 (−53%) 28.5 (−20%) 32.5 (−10%)

1 59.8 0 50.0 6.1 50.2 41.4 (17%) 25.3 (−50%) 44.4 (−11%) 47.9 (−4%)
87.2 12.4 74.9 9.1 51.5 41.4 (20%) 25.1 (−51%) 43.2 (−16%) 48.4 (−6%)
a The error is defined as [(calculated MRT − experimental MRT)/experimental MRT] × 100%.

Fig. 4. The kiln hold-up M in dependence on the mass of feed per rotation
•
m /n.
•
m /n could be used later for the scale-up of hold-up in rotary
kilns (Abhouzeid and Fuerstenau, 1980).
3.2. Mean residence time of the solids (MRT)
In Fig. 5 MRT is represented in dependence of the rotation
speed for different feed rates. It is apparent that the rotation
•
speed n exerts more influence on MRT than the feed rate m.
As n is increased 2.5 times (from 1 to 2.5 rpm), MRT drops
rapidly by 64% from 50 to 18 min. In contrast, MRT shows
•
only a slight increase with m. For example, at n = 2.5 rpm the
•
deviation of MRTs is less than 7% when m varies between 60
and 150 kg/h. This can be explained by combing Eqs. (9) and
(10) which gives
•
MRT = 56/n − 6.2/ m .
•
Fig. 5. Effect of the rotation speed n and feed rate m on the mean residence
time MRT.
From this equation it can be seen that MRT decreases linearly
•
with n with a slope of 56, while increases linearly with m with
a much lower slope of 6.2. Consequently, the influence of the
feed rate on the mean residence time is less striking than that
of the rotation speed.
4. Prediction of MRT
As discussed in the first section, several equations are avail-
able to predict the mean residence time. For comparisons, the
calculated values based on Eqs. (1)–(4) and the corresponding
errors are given in Table 1 and compared to the measured val-
ues in Fig. 6.
The calculated values using Eq. (1) are lower than the mea-
(11) surements. This is because Eq. (1) is limited for rotary kilns
5180 X.Y. Liu, E. Specht / Chemical Engineering Science 61 (2006) 5176 – 5181

kiln inclination, feed rate, rotation speed and properties of the

solids. This experimental study was undertaken to understand
the influence of feed rate and rotation speed on MRT. The kiln
used in the experiments has dams at both ends and it has a
larger dimension than lab kilns used by other researchers. From
the experiments it was observed that:

(1) The kiln hold-up increases nearly linearly with the mass
•
of feed per kiln rotation m /n.
(2) The rotation speed exerted a more pronounced effect on
MRT than the feed rate. A rapid increase of MRT can be
achieved by decreasing the rotation speed.
(3) With an increasing feed rate, MRT shows a slight increase,
and the gradient is negligibly small at high rotation speeds.

Equations for the prediction of MRT provided by different

Fig. 6. Comparison of predicted and measured values of MRT in dependence
researchers were tested by the experimental data. A comparison
• of the predicted values with the measured ones indicated that,
on the feed rate m. Symbols are measured values; solid lines represent predic-
tions by Eq. (4) from Saeman (1951); dashed lines and dotted lines represent the mathematical model from Saeman (1951) agrees well with
predictions by Eqs. (3) and (1) from Sullivan et al. (1927), respectively. experiments over the entire range of parameters considered,
with a maximal error level of 10%. For cases where the kiln
loading is very low (e.g. f < 6%), the simple empirical equation
without a discharge dam. The kiln used in the experiment has a given by Sullivan et al., 1927 [Eq. (3)] also gives satisfactory
discharge dam with a height of 25 mm, which results in higher results, with a small error between −10% and +4%. However,
values of MRT. However, the error is not remarkable (maxi- at higher kiln loadings (e.g. f > 10%) which occur at high
mum 23%), since the dam height covers only 6% of the kiln feed rates and low rotation speeds, the discrepancy between the
diameter. As already discussed above, the influence of the feed predicted and measured values exceeds 20%.
rate is not considered in Eq. (1). Consequently, the calculated
values of MRT remain constant at a certain rotation speed, as Notation
shown in Fig. 6.
In Eq. (2), effect of the feed rate on MRT is considered.
However, the calculated results show that MRT remains nearly D kiln diameter, m
constant with the feed rate (Table 1). Moreover, Eq. (2) gives a f kiln loading defined as M/(V · S ) × 100%, %
much lower value of MRT than the measurement, with an error hdam height of the dam, m
level of more than 40%. One possible explanation is that the h(x) the local depth of the solids in the axial direction, m
constants in Eq. (2) were determined on the basis of limited L kiln length, m
•
experimental trials carried out by those authors (Chatterjee et m mass feed rate, kg/min or kg/h
al., 1983a, b) and could not be expanded to other kilns with M kiln hold-up, kg
different dam constructions, since the dimension of the dam is MRT mean residence time of the solids, min
not included in this equation as an influencing parameter. n rotation speed of the kiln, rpm in Eqs. (1)–(3); rps
In Eq. (3) the influence of the dam height is considered. For in Eq. (4)
all trials the discrepancy between the calculated and measured R radius of the cylinder, m
values is confined in the range of −20% and +4% (Table 1). Ri local radius of the kiln, m
For cases where the kiln loading is small (f < 6%), the error V volume of the kiln, m3
•
is less than 10%. According to Eq. (3), however, MRT shows V volumetric feed rate, m3 / min in Eq. (2); m3 /h in
a very slight decrease with the feed rate (Fig. 6). Eq. (3); m3 /s in Eq. (4)
A more accurate calculation of MRT is enabled by using the
mathematical model provided by Saeman (1951) [Eq. (4)]. With Greek letters
this model, the magnitude of MRT as well as its dependence
inclination of the kiln to horizontal, ◦
on the feed rate can be well predicted (Fig. 6). For all the 10 εx local fill angle of solids, radian
trials conducted in this study, the prediction error varies in a  dynamic angle of repose of the solids, ◦
small range of −10% ∼ +6%. S bulk density of the solids, kg/m3

5. Conclusions References
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