INTRODUCTION

Drying is a methods used to remove water or other liquids from a solution, suspension, or other
solid-liquid mixture to form a solid with desired water content. Tray drying is a batch drying
process. In this drying process, hot air is passed over the surface of a wet solid in trays arranged
in racks. Heat transfer occurs via convection where hot air is continuously circulated so that
moisture from the solid can be removed to a desired level. The higher the temperature of the
drying air, the higher the amount of moisture absorbed by it. (Geankoplis, 2003)

Tray dryer is widely used in food and agricultural industry due to its low capital cost and
capability of drying various types of solids. Since its a batch operation, it is suitable to dry
pharmaceutical products that are produced in small quantities. Air that is heated using steam or
electrical energy is circulated inside the dryer using the aid of a fan. Although the structure of the
tray dryer is simple, it only requires a small amount of fresh air to dry the solids. About 80% of
air used to remove moisture from the solid is the circulated air from the dryer itself. Solids take
from 12 to 48 hours to dry completely in tray dryers.

Figure 1: Schematic diagram of a tray dryer. (Geankoplis, 2003)

In constant rate period, moisture evaporates from the saturated solid surface to the surrounding
dry air. The duration of this period depends on the air temperature, humidity and how fast
moisture rises to the solid surface. The point at which the drying period changes from a constant
to a falling rate is the critical moisture content. The first falling rate period is the time taken for
the total moisture on the solid surface to be completely evaporated. Second falling rate
period begins when the solid surface is completely dry and moisture that is trapped inside the
solid structure evaporates. (Drying Curve, n.d.)

Figure 2: Graph of drying rate versus time and drying rate versus water content
The efficiency of a tray dryer can be improved by improving the design of the tray dryer. The
design must ensure that top and the bottom parts of the materials dry simultaneously. Air
circulation and temperature must be kept uniform. To accommodate a high amount of solids,
trays should be kept on trolleys that can be rolled in and out of the chamber. Care must be taken
while handling of the materials to ensure minimal looses of the materials during loading and
unloading process.

OBJECTIVES

To understand the mechanism of tray dryer better, two experiments are carried out to:

Study the effect of air temperature on the drying rate of a wet solid in air at a fixed velocity.
(Experiment A).
Study the effect of air velocity on the drying rate of wet solid in air of fixed temperature and
humidity. (Experiment B)

Engineering, C. (2017, June 16). Solids Drying: Basics and Applications - Chemical
Engineering. Retrieved July 22, 2017, from http://www.chemengonline.com/solids-drying-
basics-and-applications/?printmode=1

Geankoplis, C. J. (2003). Transport processes & separation process principles (Includes unit
operations) (4th ed.). Essex, England: Pearson

Drying Curve. (n.d.). Retrieved July 22, 2017, from

http://moisturecontrol.weebly.com/drying-curve.html

Pharmaceutical Machinery. (n.d.). Retrieved July 22, 2017, from

http://www.pharmaceuticalmachinery.in/pharmaceutical_processing_machineries.htm#tra
y_dryer_pharmaceutical_machine