CHBE 401 - Papermaking

Drying
Pulp and Paper Centre,
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
University of British Columbia
Introduction

 Types of water in web

 Free water
• Water held in pores, in between fibres, and in lumen

• Held in place by capillary forces

• 35-70% consistency is free water

 Imbibed water
• Water held in the swollen cell walls

• Makes up the “fibre saturation point”

• Web consistencies between 70% and 90% are imbibed

 Chemically bound water

• Water bound to cellulose. Zero vapour pressure
Fibre Bonding

 Water removal induces strong

surface tension forces

 Leads to
 hydrogen bonding

 Fibre straightening

 Lumen collapse
Fibre bonding

 As water is removed
strength increases due to
improved bonding.
Drying process

 Heat transfer to web

 Mass transfer of vapour from the web

Drying process

 Stage 1
 Warm up stage

 Stage 2
 Constant drying rate stage
 Heat and mass transfer are not rate controlling steps

 Stage 3
 Falling rate stage
 Not sufficient water to completely fill the web
 Water in contact with roll evaporates and diffuses
outward … complex heat and mass trnasfer
 Corresponds with removal of free to imbibed water
Drying process
Dryer configuration
Dryer configuration

 Reverse section to reduce 2-sidedness of paper

Other types of dryers

 Yankee dryer:
 8mm diameter roll

 jets of hot air blow on paper

 used for tissue.

Other types of dryers

 Flakt dryer
 Hot air blown as paper passes through a number of tiers

 Unconstrained drying

 Lower temperature drying: inhibits darkening,

embrittlement of paper
Heat transfer
Heat transfer

 Condensate shape
inside cylinder changes
significantly as a
function of amount and Rimming Speed, VR
−0.026
VR R
0.2  υ 
cylinder speed (1) = 9.1    3 
( δg ) δ  δ ⋅g
1 1


2 2 2

 Some estimates of the

Condensate Thickness, δ
− 12
thickness have been δ V0  2gR 
(2) = =1 − 2 sin ϕ 
δ V  V0 

made
V condensate velocity
V0 cylinder velocity
δ local condensate thickness
δ average condensate thickness
Heat transfer
Heat transfer

 Correlations for mass transfer coefficient

Heat transfer calculations
 Tappi TIS 0404-07

 Assumes constant
drying rate

 Gets drying rate form

experimental
measurements