Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila

College of Engineering and Technology

Chemical Engineering Department

SPRAY DRYER

DESIGN DESCRIPTION

Spray drying is a method of producing a dry powder from a liquid or slurry by rapidly
drying with a hot gas. In a spray dryer a liquid or slurry solution is sprayed into a hot gas
stream in the form of mist of fine droplets. This is achieved with the use of special
nozzles called atomizers. The atomization of the feed creates very large surface area,
followed by intense contact with hot air. Due to this, rapid evaporation occurs from the
surface of each particle or droplet in the spray. (Perry, 2008). The water is rapidly
vaporized from the droplets, leaving particles of dry solid which are separated from the
gas stream. (Genkoplis, 2012)

Depending on the process needs, drop sizes from 10 to 500 µm can be achieved
with spray dying. The most common applications are in the 100 to 200 µm diameter
range. The dry powder is free-flowing. (Mujumdar, 2007).

DESIGN SELECTION

Spray Dryer is selected because the fine powders generated from it have uniform
particle size. The major and most successful applications of spray dryers are for
slurries which cannot be dewatered mechanically. It is ideal for heat-sensitive materials
and cannot be exposed to high temperature atmospheres short drying periods. Among
the types of spray dryers, centrifugal-disk dryer is used which is particularly
advantageous for atomizing suspensions and pastes that erode and plug nozzles. The
FS1.5 rotary atomizer was selected (Table12-41, Pg. 12-92 of Perry, 8th ed.).

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 Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila
College of Engineering and Technology
Chemical Engineering Department

DESIGN PARTS AND ACCESSORIES

Figure 1. Isometric View of Spray Dryer, Parts and Accessories

Figure 2. Schematic Diagram of Spray Dryer, Parts and Accessories

Centrifugal Fan
The centrifugal fan along with its electrical motor drive assembly, is the one that
provides the required drying air for the spray dryer.
Heating Coils
The heating coils provides the heat to increase the temperature of the drying air
which is required to vaporize the feed droplets in the spray dryer. The heating coils are
heated by steam which passes inside the coils.
Feed Inlet
The slurry feed is pumped from the evaporator through a pipeline that is directly
connected to the feed inlet of the spray dryer. The slurry feed enters from to the spray
dryer via the feed inlet and passes through the atomizer.
Atomizer

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 Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila
College of Engineering and Technology
Chemical Engineering Department

The wet slurry feed is pumped to an atomizer which disperses the feed into
smaller droplets/particles creating a large surface area resulting to rapid drying time.
This is also the main feature that distinguishes the spray dryer from other types of dryer.
Motor Drive for Atomizer
The atomizer is powered by a motor drive which is placed on top section of the
spray dryer.
Drying Air Inlet
The hot drying air enters the drying chamber through the drying air inlet. The hot
air is supplied by a centrifugal fan which passes to a series of steam heated coils to
impart heat to the air.
Drying Chamber
This is the section of the spray dryer where the atomization of the feed and the
intense contact of the droplets to the hot drying gas occurs. The drying chamber must
provide enough space for the drying air to circulate and induce drying of the droplets.
Product Outlet: Ball Valve
The product is discharged in the bottom of the spray dryer through the product
outlet, which is controlled by a ball valve.
Drying Air Outlet
This is where the drying air containing the moisture removed from the droplets
escapes outside the drying chamber. The air goes to a bag filter prior to its discharge to
the atmosphere, to further purify the air to be discharged.
Bag Filter
This is an emission control accessory incorporated to the spray dryer. Its main
function is to purify the air prior to its release to the environment.

DATA AND ASSUMPTIONS

1. The mass of the entering feed is 467 kg/batch (From material balance, Pg. 215).
2. Diphenolic acid leaving the dryer is 355 kg/batch (From material balance, Pg. 215)
3. Initial moisture content of feed is 32% w/w.
4. Final moisture of diphenolic acid leaving the spray dryer is assumed to be 10%.
5. The density of the feed slurry is 1226 kg/m3.
6. Drying air enters at 150OC (423 K) and leaves at 81OC (354 K). (Initial temp from
material balance, Pg 210; Final Temp. calculated by interpolation of values given
from Table 12-43, Pg. 12-96 of Perry 8th ed.).

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 Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila
College of Engineering and Technology
Chemical Engineering Department

7. The densities of air at 150ºC and 81 ºC are 0.867 kg/m 3 and 1.024 kg/m3 respectively.
(From Geankoplis, Table A.3-3, Pg. 971).
8. The kinematic viscosity of air at 150ºC is 1.495x10 -5m2/s (From Geankoplis, Table
A.3-3, Pg. 971).

DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS

1. Drying air is concurrent to the feed, to prevent degradation of product due to high
temperature and provide product with low final temperature.
2. The material to be handled is diphenolic acid slurry from the evaporator.
3. The material of construction is stainless steel.
4. The insulation material is calcium silicate.
5. For FS1.5 Rotary Atomizer: (From Table 12-41, Pg. 12-92 of Perry 8th ed.)

 The speed range is 10,000 rpm to 30,000 rpm. Taking the average; 20,000 rpm,
shall be used in the design.
 Atomizer wheel diameter is 90 mm ≈ 0.3 ft.
 Maximum feed rate is 0.52 t/hr.

6. The mean particle size produced after drying is 100μm. (From Mass Transfer
Operations by Alapati Suryanarayana, Page 572).
7. The drying air is driven by a centrifugal fan:
 Suction Pressure = 741.7 mmHg (Geankoplis, Pg. 150)
 The pressure increase induced by the fan is 1.2% (From Chemical Process
Equipment: Selection and Design 3rd Ed., Pg. 130)
 The efficiency of the fan is 80% (Geankoplis, Pg. 150)

DESIGN REQUIREMENTS

1. Spraying Time d. Height of the Drying Chamber

2. Mass Flow Rate 6. Wall thickness
3. Drying Air Requirement 7. Insulation Thickness
4. Operating Air Velocity 8. Power Consumption of Rotary
5. Chamber Dimension
Atomizer
a. Column Area
9. Power Consumption of Centrifugal
b. Column Diameter
c. Volume of the Drying Chamber Fan

DESIGN CALCULATIONS

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College of Engineering and Technology
Chemical Engineering Department

1. Spraying Time
The total spraying (feeding) time of the feed depends on the maximum feed rate that the
atomizer can handle. In case of the FS1.5 rotary atomizer, the maximum feed rate is
0.52 t/hr. To calculate for the spraying time:

Use 60 min/batch spraying time.

2. Mass Flow Rate

To determine the actual mass flow rate (mf):

The actual mass flow rate is 7.8 kg/min.

3. Drying Air Requirement (DAR)

The drying air required is dependent on the evaporation rate of water and the moisture
removed per unit mass of air which is determined using the equation below (From Mass
Transfer Operations by Alapati Suryanarayana, Page 574):

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 Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila
College of Engineering and Technology
Chemical Engineering Department

The data for humidity with respect to the temperature of air was gathered from the
humidity chart of Perry, pg. 12-7
At T1 = 150OC, H1 = 0.01 kg water / kg d.a.
At T2 = 81OC, H2 = 0.0305 kg water/ kg d.a.

Drying air requirement is 5,023 kg d.a./h.

4. Operating Air Velocity

The operating air velocity (va) is estimated based on the settling velocity of the droplets
from the atomized feed inside the drying chamber. From Geankoplis, eq. 14.3-9 Page
921:

Where:
Dp = Drop Diameter µ = Viscosity of air at average temperature
ρp = Density of droplet vs = Settling velocity
ρF = Density of air at average temperature g = Acceleration due to gravity

The operating velocity would be twice the settling velocity to provide turbulence and
maximum contact time between droplets and air:

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 Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila
College of Engineering and Technology
Chemical Engineering Department

Use operating velocity of 1.0 m/s.

5. Chamber Dimensions
The calculations for chamber dimensions are based on Mass Transfer Operations by
Suryanarayana, Pages 575-576.

a. Column Area
The column area is based on the mass flow rate of the drying air and its operating
velocity. The column must provide enough space for a given mass flow rate of drying air
to circulate and remove most moisture from the droplets as possible. Thus, the equation
given below is used:

Where:
Ac = Column area
m = mass flowrate of d.a.
= Specific Volume of dry air
= Operating velocity

For safety purposes, we assume 15% safety,

Use Column Area of 2 m2.

b. Column Diameter

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 Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila
College of Engineering and Technology
Chemical Engineering Department

The cylindrical column diameter (Dc) is based on the computed column area which is
computed using the equation:

Use Column Diameter of 2 m.

c. Volume of Drying Chamber

The total volume of the drying chamber, like the column area is based on the mass flow
rate of the entering drying air along with the specific volume of the air; which indicates
the volume of air that can be occupied by the moisture removed, and the air residence
time (T) in the chamber. The chamber volume must provide enough residence time for
the air to be scattered around the chamber providing efficient drying of the droplets. The
volume is computed using the equation:

To compute for the volume of the drying chamber, we need first to determine the
residence time of the drying air needed to complete the drying. The residence time of the
air is calculated based on Mass Transfer Operations by Suryanarayana, Page 576:

Where:
T = residence time of drying air in seconds
x = initial moisture content

x = 0.32 (from material balance, p.215)

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College of Engineering and Technology
Chemical Engineering Department

Computing for the volume of the chamber:

Use Volume of 20 m3.

d. Height of the Drying Chamber

The height of the drying chamber is determined by calculating the height of the
cylindrical and the conical section of the chamber. For the height of the cylindrical
portion, we’ll be using a ratio of H=2D:

For the height of the conical portion, the conical volume is first determined by subtracting
the chamber total volume to the volume of the cylindrical portion of the drying chamber
which is translated into this equation:

The height of the conical portion is then computed using the equation:

For the angle of the conical section (α):

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College of Engineering and Technology
Chemical Engineering Department

The height of the drying chamber is:

Height of the drying chamber is 6 m.

6. Wall Thickness
Wall thickness can be estimated using the formula:

Use 4.6 mm thickness.

7. Insulation Thickness
From energy balance,
Q = 13,729.8 kJ/batch = 13,013.3 BTU/batch
The operating temperature of the steam at the boiler is 200°C and the temperature of the
surrounding is assumed to be at 25 °C,
ΔT = 175°C = 347°F
Using Equation 10.8 from page 294 Unit Operation of Chemical Engineering, 6 th ed, by
McCabe, Smith, and Harriott,

Arranging the equation,

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College of Engineering and Technology
Chemical Engineering Department

Where x is the thickness of layer of insulation,

Use 4 mm insulation thickness.

8. Power Consumption of Rotary Atomizer

The power consumption of the atomizer is computed based on the feed rate of the
solution that is atomized, the rotational speed of the atomizer and the atomizer size in
terms of radius, which is expressed using this equation:

Where:
F = Feed rate of solution in lb/min
N = Rotational speed in rpm
rd= Radius of rotary atomizer in ft
P=power in hp

The power requirement of the atomizer is 1.6 hp, use a standard 2 hp motor (Silla,
pg. 240).

9. Power Consumption of Centrifugal Fan

The power consumption of the centrifugal fan is computed using the mechanical-energy-
balance equation (Geankoplis, Pg. 150). This equation was used since it gives the
power consumption with respect to the pressure head, velocity head, and mass flowrate
of the drying air. To solve for the power consumption, we first assume that the flow is

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College of Engineering and Technology
Chemical Engineering Department

incompressible. The average density of the flowing gas will be used in the mechanical-
energy-balance equation. The density at the suction of the fan (Point 1), is:

The molecular weight of 29 for air, the volume of 22.414 m3/kg mol at 101.3 kPa, and
273.2 K were obtained from Appendix A.1. The other densities are:

Getting the average density:

Since the centrifugal fan has a suction pressure of 741.7 mmHg and a pressure increase
of 3%, then the developed pressure head is:

The developed velocity head for v1 = 0, and operating velocity of 1 m/s is:

Writing the mechanical-energy-balance equation:

Setting z1=0, v1=0, and ∑F=0, and solving for Ws:

Substituting into eq. 3.3-2 of Geankoplis, Pg. 145, and with an efficiency of 80% for the
fan, we compute for the brake kW:

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 Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila
College of Engineering and Technology
Chemical Engineering Department

Solving now for the electric power input, using 90% efficiency of electric motor,
substituting into eq. 3.3-5 of Geankoplis, Pg. 145:

The power requirement of the centrifugal fan is 2.34 hp, use a standard 2.5 hp
motor (Silla, pg. 240).

DESIGN SPECIFICATION

SPRAY DRYER DATA SHEET

Operating Data
Mode of Operation Batch
Number of Units 1
Total Drying Time 60 min/ batch
Compound Moist Diphenolic Acid
Inlet Temperature 130°C
Outlet Temperature 50°C
Feed Initial Moisture Content 32 % w/w
Final Moisture Content 10 % w/w
Final Particle Mean
100μm
Diameter
Inlet temperature 150°C
Outlet Temperature 80.9°C
Drying Air
Inlet Humidity 0.01 kg water/ kg d.a.
Outlet Humidity 0.0305 kg water/ kg d.a.
Technical Data
Atomizer
Proposed Existing

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 Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila
College of Engineering and Technology
Chemical Engineering Department

High speed centrifugal

Atomizer Type FS1.5 rotary atomizer
atomizer
Maximum Feed Rate 0.52 t/hr -
Rotational Speed 20,000 rpm 18,000 rpm
Diameter 90 mm 120mm
Drying Chamber
Capacity 7.8 kg/min -
Drying Air Requirement 5,023 kg d. a. /hr -
Operating Air Velocity 1.0 m/s -
Column Area 2 m2 -
Column Diameter 2m 3m
Column Total Volume 20 m3 -
Column Total Height 6m 3.2 m
Cylinder Height 4m -
Conical Bottom Height 2m -
Conical Bottom Angle 53.13O 55O
Wall Thickness 4.6 mm -
Miscellaneous
Insulation Type and -
Calcium silicate – 4 mm
Thickness
Power Requirement of
2 hp 2.95 hp
Atomizer
Power Requirement of
2.5 hp 2.1 hp
Centrifugal Fan
Materials of Construction Stainless Steel 304 Stainless Steel
Existing Equipment
Supplier TOPTION GROUP CO., LIMITED
5-21501 ROOM, Hecheng, Taibai South Road, Yanta
Supplier Address
District, Xi'an, China
Cost Php 3,200,000
Auxiliaries
Fan Centrifugal Fan
Dryer Exhaust Control Bag Filter
Air Heater Steam-heated Coils

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