Experiment No.

3
DRYING
1. Objective:
To determine the critical and equilibrium moisture contents of the wet solid being dried.
2. Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs):
The students shall be able to:
2.1 understand the operations of tray drier.
2.2 draw the drying curve and drying rate curve for a wet solid being dried with air of fixed humidity and
temperature.
3. Discussion:
Drying is the process by which volatile materials usually water are evaporated from a material to yield a solid
product. Drying is a heat and mass transfer processes. Heat is necessary to evaporate water. The latent heat of
evaporation of water is about 2500 J/g, which means that the driving process requires a significant amount of
energy. Simultaneous, the evaporating material must leave the driving material by diffusion and/or convection.
Heat transfer and mass transfer is not the only concern when one is designing or operating a dryer. The
product quality such as color, particle density, hardness, texture, flavor is also very strongly transformation
occurring in the dryer.
Batch drying is bringing a whole bulk of solid to dry at the same time. Several trays in the compartment should
be identified and weighed before being placed in the drying cabinet. The trays should be weighed at the start and
at predetermined intervals. At the same time, wet and dry bulb reading over the product should be taken. Continue
these procedures until the product obtains a constant weight or is satisfactory dried in order to establish a totally
dry weight. Temperature should be high enough to keep the relative humidity in the surrounding
air at 5 percent or less.
Drying operations involve the removal of free moisture, hygroscopic moisture, or a combination of both. Free
moisture occurs when actual liquid water is used to mix or wash the product prior to drying. Hygroscopic drying is
held within the material. This moisture will take up or dispel water in relation to the relative humidity of the air
mixture to which it is exposed. When in equilibrium with air at 100% relative humidity, the material will be
hygroscopically saturated. Any hygroscopic material containing free moisture must be hygroscopically saturated.
The removal of free moisture is a surface evaporation function and follows the calculation shown in the sample
computations. The surface water temperature should be assumed to be the wet bulb temperature of the
surrounding mixture. Ait velocity is critical to the drying speed.
The removal of hygroscopic moisture depends on the relative humidity differences between that of the product
equilibrium condition and that of the surrounding air. Velocity of the air over the product has a little or no bearing
on the drying speed. Each material has a different physical from that determines how it holds or gives up moisture.
Many of the newer materials lack published data on their drying rates, selecting appropriate air drying must be
done experimentally.

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4. Resources:
Equipment: Tray Drier
Sieve Shakers
2 - sling Psychrometer
8 Thermometers
Analytical Balance
Oven
Stopwatch
Container

Materials: Sand (approximately 500 microns)

Water

5. Procedure:
1. Weigh accurately an empty tray using a top loading balance.
2. Fill the four trays with sand preferably of uniform size to a depth of 10 mm. Make sure that the
surface is even.
3. Weigh and record the mass of the tray and sand.
4. Saturate the sand with water. Avoid any spillage.
5. Load the tray on the weighing scale installed in the equipment.
6. Record the mass of the wet sand before drying commences.
7. Open the inlet valve for steam to preheat the equipment. Simultaneously, the outlet valve should
also be opened even during the experiment to remove all condensed
8. water.
9. Preheat the equipment for 10 minutes.
10. Place thermometers on all the holes seen in the equipment. This is to record the temperatures on
the different sections of the equipment.
11. Measure the moisture content of the sand at a given time. Use 2 minutes as experimental time
interval. Moisture content of the sand at certain time is obtained by:

12. Plot the drying curve relating the moisture content as a function of time.
13. Determine the critical and equlibrium and equilibrium moisture content of the sand by plotting the
rate of drying of the sand as a function of moisture content. The drying rate is computed by taking
the value of the moisture content of the sand per unit change in time. The critical moisture content
is the point before the falling rate period starts or when there is insufficient water on the surface of
the sand to maintain a continuous film of water.
14. Calculate the bound water by taking the difference of the mass of the bone dried sand and mass
of the sand after drying.
15. Calculate the unbound water by determining the amount of water in excess and can be removed
by drying.
16. Measure the conditions of entering, outgoing and preheated air.

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6. Data and Results:

Course:
Group No:
Group Members:

Expeiment No:
Section:
Date Performed:
Date Submitted:
Instructor:

Weight of Sand as a Function of Time

Time (min)

Wt. of Wet Sand

(grams)

Time (min)

Wt. of Wet Sand

(grams)

Condition of Entering Air

Time
(min)

Dry Bulb
Temperature
(0C)

Wet Bulb
Temperature
(0C)

17

Time
(min)

Dry Bulb
Temperature
(0C)

Wet Bulb
Temperature
(0C)

Condition of Outgoing Air

Time
(min)

Dry Bulb
Temperature
(0C)

Wet Bulb
Temperature
(0C)

Temperature of Preheated Air (Drying)

Time
(min)
Point 1
Point 2
Point 3
Point 4
Point 5
Point 6
Point 7
Point 8
Time
(min)
Point 1
Point 2
Point 3
Point 4
Point 5
Point 6
Point 7
Point 8

Weight of Sand (Bone Dry Solid): ___________

Critical Moisture Content:
___________
Equilibrium Moisture Content:
___________
Bound Water:
___________
Unbound Water:
___________
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Time
(min)

Dry Bulb
Temperature
(0C)

Wet Bulb
Temperature
(0C)

Drying Curve:

Rate of Drying Curve:

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7. Calculations:

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8. Concusion:

9. Questions/Problems:
1. How does particle size influence the equilibrium and critical moisture contents?
2. What is the heat transfer mechanism involves when a granular solid material contained in a metal tray with
insulated edges and bottom is placed inside a batch drier?
3. What is the effect of increasing the absolute humidity of the air on the value of the drying rate constant?
4. Calculate the amount of water removed from 2000 kg/h of feed to be dried from 110% (d.b.) to 5% (w.b.).
5. Wet solid are to be dried from 40% to 10% in 5 hours under constant drying conditions. The critical
moisture content is 20% and the equilibrium moisture content is 7%. All moisture contents are on a dry
basis. Determine the time needed to dry from 15% to 5% free moisture under the same drying condition.
10. Answers:

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11. Further Readings:

Cao, E. (2010). Heat transfer in process engineering. Boston: McGraw-Hill Professional.
Cussler, E. L. (2009). Diffusion: mass transfer in fluid systems (3rd ed. United Kingdom: Cambridge University
Press.
Koenig, D. (2009). Practical control engineering: a guide for engineers, managers and practitioners. New York:
McGraw-Hill Professional.
Mann, U. (2009). Principles of chemical reactor analysis and design. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons.
Johnson, W. (2009). Practical heating technology. Australia: Delmar Cengage Learning.

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12. Assessment (Rubric for Laboratory Performance):

BEGINNER
1

CRITERIA

ACCEPTABLE
2

PROFICIENT
3

I. Laboratory Skills
Manipulative
Skills

Members do not
demonstrate needed
skills.

Experimental
Set-up

Members are unable to

set-up the materials.

Process Skills

Members do not
demonstrate targeted
process skills.

Safety
Precautions

Members do not follow

safety precautions.

Members occasionally
demonstrate needed
skills.
Members are able to
set-up the materials with
supervision.
Members occasionally
demonstrate targeted
process skills.
Members follow safety
precautions most of the
time.

Members always
demonstrate needed
skills.
Members are able to
set-up the material with
minimum supervision.
Members always
demonstrate targeted
process skills.
Members follow safety
precautions at all times.

II. Work Habits

Time
Management /
Conduct of
Experiment

Members do not finish

on time with incomplete
data.

Cooperative
and
Teamwork

Members do not know

their tasks and have no
defined responsibilities.
Group conflicts have to
be settled by the
teacher.

Neatness and
Orderliness
Ability to do
independent
work

Members finish on time

with incomplete data.

Members have defined

responsibilities most of
the time. Group conflicts
are cooperatively
managed most of the
time.
Clean and orderly
workplace with
Messy workplace during
occasional mess during
and after the experiment.
and after the
experiment.
Members require
Members require
supervision by the
occasional supervision
teacher.
by the teacher.

Other Comments / Observations:

Members finish ahead of

time with complete data
and time to revise data.
Members are on tasks
and have defined
responsibilities at all
times. Group conflicts
are cooperatively
managed at all times.
Clean and orderly
workplace at all times
during and after the
experiment.
Members do not need to
be supervised by the
teacher.
TOTAL SCORE

RATING = ( TotalScore ) x 100%

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SCORE