Topic 1: Drying Technologies

Drying Concepts and Definition:

Solid drying is normally associated with the removal of water, but in general drying is the separation of
LIQUID from a solid.

Separation is carried out either

1. Mechanically through centrifugal separation process.
2. Thermally through hot air may be blown through the medium to be dried.

The potential for energy conservation is much greater in thermal drying processes.

Moisture Content, MC
𝑊𝑚𝑜𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒
𝑀𝐶 =
𝑊𝑔𝑟𝑜𝑠𝑠
Wet and dry basis moisture content
1. Wet basis (wb) moisture content, X
• Is equal to mass fraction of water in a mixture or solution

2. Dry basis (db) moisture content, X*

• Is the moisture content based on dry mass of the mixture or solution. Dry basis moisture
content can be higher than 1.0 or 100%

The relationship between the two-moisture content is given by

𝑋∗
𝑋=
1 + 𝑋∗

𝑋
𝑋∗ =
1−𝑋

Meanwhile, wet basis (wb) moisture content, X, can be calculated as:

𝑊 − 𝐵𝐷 𝑀 + 𝐵𝐷 − 𝐵𝐷 𝑴 𝑤𝑒𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑚𝑜𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒
𝑋= = = 𝒙 𝟏𝟎𝟎% =
𝑊 𝑀 + 𝐵𝐷 𝑴 + 𝑩𝑫 𝐺𝑟𝑜𝑠𝑠 𝑊𝑒𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡

Where:
M = Moisture
BD = Bone Dry Weight
W = Weight of the wet material
= M + BD; BD= W-M
𝑤𝑒𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑚𝑜𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒
=
𝐺𝑟𝑜𝑠𝑠 𝑊𝑒𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡

Furthermore, for the dry basis (db) moisture content, X* (either >100% or < 100%)

𝑊 − 𝐵𝐷 𝑀 + 𝐵𝐷 − 𝐵𝐷 𝑴
𝑋∗ = = = 𝒙 𝟏𝟎𝟎%
𝐵𝐷 𝐵𝐷 𝑩𝑫
Solving for the BD for the wet basis moisture content (BDwb)
𝑊 − 𝐵𝐷
𝑋=
𝑊
𝑋𝑊 = 𝑊 − 𝐵𝐷
𝑩𝑫 = 𝑾 − 𝑿𝑾 = 𝑾(𝟏 − 𝑿)

Solving for the BD for the dry basis water content (BDdb)
𝑊 − 𝐵𝐷
𝑋∗ =
𝐵𝐷
𝑋 ∗ 𝐵𝐷 = 𝑊 − 𝐵𝐷
𝑋 ∗ 𝐵𝐷 + 𝐵𝐷 = 𝑊
𝐵𝐷(𝑋 ∗ + 1) = 𝑊
𝑾
𝑩𝑫 = ∗
𝑿 +𝟏

Regain:
𝑊𝑒𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑚𝑜𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑀
𝑅𝑒𝑔𝑎𝑖𝑛 = =
𝐵𝑜𝑛𝑒 − 𝐷𝑟𝑦 𝑤𝑒𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝐵𝐷

Sample Problem No. 1:

Materials enter a dryer containing 60% H2O and leave with 5% water. Find the weight of H2O removed
based on each (a) pound of original product; (b) pound of final product; (c) pound of bone-dry material.

Solution:
Conventional Drying:

3 Humid Air

Fresh Air Heated Air Drying

Heater Wet Feed
Chamber
1 2 Let
ma = mass of fresh air, in kg/s
Dried x = amount of wet feed
Product y = amount of dried product

Moisture removed from materials = moisture absorbed by air.

𝑥 − 𝑦 = 𝑚𝑎 (𝜔3 − 𝜔2 )
Using mass balance:
Dry air mass balance: ma2 = ma3=ma
Water mass balance: mw2=ma2𝜔2 =ma3𝜔3
mw= 𝑚𝑎 (𝜔3 − 𝜔2 )
by definition:
W = Weight of the wet material
= M + BD; BD= W-M

Thus, the weight of moisture = moisture removed by dried product (x-y): W=x+y, that becomes:
𝑀 + 𝐵𝐷 − 𝐵𝐷 = 𝑚𝑎 (𝜔3 − 𝜔2 )
𝑴 = 𝒎𝒂 (𝝎𝟑 − 𝝎𝟐 ) Mass of moisture or water

Psychrometric processes in Drying:

3
3’
Legend:

3* Process 3 : Isothermal Dryer

Process 3’ : Adiabatic Dryer
1 2 Process 3* : non-adiabatic
Dryer
𝑻𝑫𝑩

𝐻𝑒𝑎𝑡 𝑆𝑢𝑝𝑝𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝐻𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟 = 𝑚𝑎 (ℎ2 − ℎ1 )

ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑡 𝑎𝑏𝑠𝑜𝑟𝑏𝑒𝑑 𝑏𝑦 𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑙𝑠

𝐸𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑑𝑟𝑦𝑒𝑟 =
𝐻𝑒𝑎𝑡 𝑠𝑢𝑝𝑝𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑑

𝐺𝑟𝑜𝑠𝑠 𝑤𝑒𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 = 𝐵𝑜𝑛𝑒 − 𝑑𝑟𝑦 𝑤𝑒𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 + 𝑤𝑒𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑚𝑜𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒

Drying Methods and Types of Dryer:

There are three methods of drying system based on heat transfer:

1. Direct or convection drying
2. Indirect drying
3. Infrared or radiant heat drying

Types of dryers, based on the movement of materials

1. Continuous dryer
2. Batch Dryer

Source of heat for dryers:

1. Oil fired
2. Electrical heated
3. Steam heated

Classification of dryers:
1. Rotary dryer
2. Tower dryer
3. Hearth dyer
4. Centrifugal dryer
5. Tray dryer
6. Infrared ray dryer

Illustrative Examples on the classification of dryers:

Lifting Flights

Humid Gas Rotary motion

Hot Gas Fuel

(Wet Feed)

Dried Product

Illustrative Example of a Rotary Dryer

 Wet Feed
Hot Air &
Hot Air Wet Feed

Dried Product
Illustrative Example of Industrial Tower Dryer

𝐴𝑚𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑡 𝑜𝑓 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑡 𝑎𝑏𝑠𝑜𝑟𝑏𝑒𝑑 𝑏𝑦 𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑙𝑠

𝐸𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑑𝑟𝑦𝑒𝑟 =
𝐴𝑚𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑡 𝑜𝑓 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑡 𝑠𝑢𝑝𝑝𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑑

Amount of heat absorbed =heat required for evaporation of the moisture+

heat absorbed by materials+
heat absorbed by the remaining moisture

Sample Problem No. 2:

A rotary dryer produces 20 metric tons per hour of dried sand containing 0.5% moisture from a wet feed
containing 10% moisture, temperature of wet sand is 30oC and that of dried sand is 115oC. Fuel used per
hour of bunker oil is 275 liters with an HHV of 39,000 BTU/liter. Specific heat of sand is 0.21 BTU/Ib-oF.
Neglecting radiation loss, calculate the efficiency of the sand dryer.

Solution: