Fundamental Principles of Drying

RDF

vapor-lock
Through/impingement
drying
Casehardening
R, kg/m h
2

Textbook DRC

SHD

0
0 X* X crit X, kg water/kg dry solid

Prof Arun S Mujumdar

ME Department, NUS
 INTRODUCTION
Significance of Drying

Fundamentals/ Classification/
Terminology Selection Criteria Selected Topics
Novel Dryers
Moist Solid Drying of Particulates
Trends
Thermodynamics Drying of
Steam drying
Types of Moisture Suspensions, Solids
Fluid bed drying
Drying Kinetics and Semi-Solids
Textbook Drying of Continuous
Unusual Sheets
Others

Dr. Sakamon Devahastin

Food Eng., KMUTT
http://www.geocities.com/sakamon
DRYING...

Removal of a liquid from a solid/semi-solid/liquid to

produce solid product by thermal energy input causing
phase change (liquid-vapor; solid-vapor)

Needed for the purposes of preservation and storage

reduction in cost of transportation, etc.

Most common and diverse operation with over 100

types of dryers in industrial use

Competes with distillation as the most energy-intensive

operation
FACTOIDS ON DRYING

Product size may range from microns to tens of

centimeters

Product porosity may range from zero to 99.9%

Drying time ranges from 0.25 sec to five months

Production capacities may range from 0.1 kg/h to

100 t/h

Product speeds range from zero to 2000 m/min

Operating pressure may range from fraction of

millibar to 25 atm
Some Unusual Facts about Drying

Freeze drying proposed as alternative to taxidermy to

preserve pets; also to dispose of carcasses

Drying enhances vitamin D content of shiitake

mushrooms by 4 orders-of-magnitude over that of
fresh ones

Drying kills HIV virus - reason why mosquitos cannot

transmit HIV; unlike dengue virus, which replicates in
mosquitos

Over $200 billion worth pharmaceuticals are

freeze-dried annually
DRYING

Energy Moisture

Drying material

Basic Principles of Drying

 Drying particle

Energy input Moisture out

by: by:
Conduction Internal diffusion
Convection (liquid/vapor)
Radiation Capillarity
Microwave/radio frequency fields Surface diffusion
or Knudsen diffusion
Combinations of above or
concurrently or sequentially Combinations of above

Schematic diagram of various heat transfer modes and moisture

transport mechanisms in drying
In Drying...
What you see "is not" what you get!
Phenomena in quality alteration
Aroma loss - selective evaporation

Phase changes - glass transitions, crystallization,

collapse, shrinkage

Migration of solutes, salts, etc.

Microbiological reactions - development of

micro-organisms

Biochemical reactions - enzymatic browning, lipid

oxidation, vitamin oxidation, protein denaturation,
etc.
Why is drying of solids so complex?

Over 200 types of dryers in industrial use

Diverse products - physical, chemical properties

vary widely for feeds and products

Involves transient momentum, heat and mass

transport through porous media, with phase
change, with/without chemical/biochemical rxns

No universal drying theory exists

Minor changes of MC result in large changes in

physical properties
Some basic definitions

R.H.

bound moisture
1.0

unbound moisture
T = CONST.

0.5
free moisture

X*, Equilibrium moisture content

0
0 MOISTURE CONTENT, X

Various types of moisture contents

Some basic definitions

Typical sorption isotherms

Some basic definitions
WATER ACTIVITY ( aw):

Partial pressure of water over wet solid

aw =
Equilibrium vapor pressure of water at same temp.

State of water in bio-product:

- Free water - intra-cellular water; nutrients and dissolved

solids needed for living cells

- Bound water - water built into cells or biopolymer structures

Needs additional energy to break "bonds" with solid. Bound
water also resists freezing

For safe storage, bio-products must be dried to appropriate

levels and stored under appropriate conditions
Some basic definitions
a
w
1.0
cheese, sausages, candy
0.9
0.8
Intermediate moisture foods (IMF)
0.7 e.g. syrups
0.6
0.5
0.4
Dry foods
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
0 1.0 2.0 3.0
Dry basis water content

Water activity versus moisture content plot for different

types of food
Some basic definitions

Lipid oxidation

Relative
activity Browning reaction

r e i sotherm
Moist
u
lds a st ria
es Mo Ye c te
0 Enzym Ba
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Water activity, a
w

Deterioration rates as a function of water activity for food systems

Drying kinetics

X dX/dt = constant

X (d.b.) = mass of water/

mass of dry solid

X (w.b.) = mass of water/

mass of wet solid

time

Typical drying curve

Drying kinetics
(Internal heat/mass (External heat/mass
transfer rate controlling) transfer rate controlling)
Falling rate period Constant rate drying

et e
y w ac
R, Drying rate, Surface w et particle

all rf
rti su
kg/h m2 Initial

pa icle
transient

rt
Pa
y
ce e
dr
rfa icl
su Part

X* Xc
X, Moisture content, kg w ater/kg dry solid

Typical textbook batch drying rate curve under

constant drying conditions
Approximate critical moisture contents for various materials

Material Critical moisture content

(kg water/kg dry solid)
Salt crystals, rock salt, sand, wool 0.05 - 0.10
Brick clay, kaolin, crushed sand 0.10 - 0.20
Pigments, paper, soil, worsted wool fabric 0.20 - 0.40
Several foods, copper carbonate, sludges 0.40 - 0.80
Chrome leather, vegetables, fruits, gelatin, gels > 0.80
Drying kinetics
(Internal heat/mass (External heat/mass
transfer rate controlling) transfer rate controlling)
Falling rate period Constant rate drying

et e
y w ac
R, Drying rate, Surface w et particle

all rf
rti su
kg/h m2 Initial

pa icle
transient

rt
Pa
y
ce e
dr
rfa icl
su Part

X* Xc
X, Moisture content, kg w ater/kg dry solid

Typical textbook batch drying rate curve under

constant drying conditions
 Unusual Drying Rate Curves
RDF

vapor-lock
Through/impingement
drying
R, kg/m h

Casehardening
2

Textbook DRC

SHD

0
0 X* X crit X, kg water/kg dry solid
 Unusual Drying Rate Curves*
Crystallization Reasons for non-textbook shapes

Melting Physical structure

boundary heating

skinning

volumetric heating
Puffing
shrinkage
SHS air
precipitation
hi temp.

glass transition change of physical

structure low temp.
change of mass

* Constant drying conditions

TRENDS IN ACADEMIC RESEARCH
Little effort at microscopic math modeling and/or
experimentation - return on effort is very long term, e.g.,
development of 3-D network models, fractals, transport
phenomena including physical/chemical transformations,
etc.

Most research focussed on specific product - equipment

combinations - difficult to extrapolate to other systems

Optimization of dryers for energy and quality with

model-based control

Application of CFD's to complex systems

Hybrid dryers - mixed mode heat transfer

TRENDS IN INDUSTRIAL R&D (1)
Intense activity in patenting (~ 250+ per year in USA)

Mostly product-specific R&D; largely proprietary

Little interaction with academia

Largely empirical

Incremental innovation - mostly evolutionary

modifications to well-known technologies

Examples of innovation in spray drying

- Use of new atomizers, e.g., ultrasonic
- Use of low rpm disk atomizers
- Built-in filter (within dryer chamber)
TRENDS IN INDUSTRIAL R&D (2)
Examples of evolutionary changes
Rotary Dryers
- Injecting drying air into "rolling bed of particles" instead
of axial flow - two-fold enhancement in drying rates

Flash Dryers
- Use of pulse combustion exhaust to disperse/dry pasty
materials
- Use of inert particles to dry slurries
- Superheated steam as drying medium

Heat pump Dryers

- Non-adiabatic; two-stage dryers
- Two-stage heat pumps, etc.
SOME INDUSTRIAL DRYING PROBLEMS*

How to model drying of structured soft

tissue/toweling?

How to model/eliminate odor problem in drying of

toweling paper?

How to enhance drying rate for a drum dryer?

How to obtain mono-sized particles from a

suspension?

How to choose optimal dryer design for a "chip"

product?
(CONT'D)
 Section II
Classification and Selection
of Industrial Dryers
Classification of dryers
Criterion Types
Mode of operation Batch
Continuous*
Heat input-type Convection*, conduction, radiation,
electromagnetic fields, combination of heat
transfer modes
Intermittent or continuous*
Adiabatic or non-adiabatic
State of material in dryer Stationary
Moving, agitated, dispersed
Operating pressure Vacuum*
Atmospheric
Drying medium Air*
(convection) Superheated steam
Flue gases
Drying temperature Below boiling temperature*
Above boiling temperature
Below freezing point
Relative motionbetween Co-current
drying medium and drying Counter-current
solids Mixed flow
Number of stages Single*
Multi-stage
Residence time Short (< 1 minute)
Medium (1– 60 minutes)
Long (> 60 minutes)
* Most common in practice
 Classification of dryers

Convective dryers Conductive dryers IR

FBD Drum
Rotary Paddle
Spray Vacuum
Flash
etc.

Electromagnetic energy absorbed

selectively by water (volumetric
heating)
What do you need to know to select a suitable
dryer?
Dryer throughput; mode of feedstock production
(batch/continuous)

Physical, chemical and biochemical properties of wet feed

as well as desired product specifications

Upstream and downstream processing operations

MC of the feed and product

Drying kinetics; moist solid sorption isotherms

Quality parameters

Safety aspects - fire and explosion hazards; toxicity

 Specify feed and
product characteristics Dryer Selection: Basic Steps

Preliminary selection
of dryer/operating
conditions

Bench-scale testing to
v alidate selection/chosen
conditions

Compare options
Choose "Best"

No
- Pilot scale tests
- Quality tests OK?
- Economic ev aluation

Yes

To fabricator/v endor
SELECTION OF DRYERS: Bio-materials
Over 500 types possible - selection critical!!

Highly heat-sensitive; sometimes hazardous; high

value products

Emission control and product collection are

important issues

Dewater to optimal level - then dry thermally

Low temperature; low pressure; drying with

dehumidified gas are popular alternatives

With nonaqueous solvents, important to recover

solvent; use inert carrier, e.g., N
2