Powder Technology. I3 (1976) 1S5 - 192
5
0 Elsevier Sequoia S.A., Jkusanne - Printed in the Netherlands
Heat Transfer in a Horizontal Rotary
G_ W. J. WES, A A_ H. DRINKENBURG
Laboratory for Technical Chemistry. Rfhsuni~~ersiteit
(Received March 11, 1975)
SUXIMARY
The heating of carbohydrates (particle size
25 - ZOO pm) has been studied in an industrial
scale horizontal drum reactor. The drum was
9.0 m long and had a diameter of O-6 m.
Strips rvere mounted on the inside wall and
the drum was heated externally by steam.
Solid movement in the drum was observed in
a transparent experimental segment of the
drum- From these experiments it became clear
that the heat transfer between wall and solids
may be described by the penetration model.
En separate experiments the product of the
effective thermal conductivity of the bulk
material and its heat capacity has been
determined. The theoretical heat transfer
coefficients agree quite well with the exper-
imental values verified by heat transfer
measurements in the large-scale drum.
The heat transfer coefficients between wall
and gas phase and between bulk solid and gas
phase have also been measured. The magni-
tude of the heat transfer coefficient between
wall and gas phase indicates a natural convec-
tion mechanism-
1. 1NTRODUCT:ON
The z~te of heat transfer from the wall of
an externally heated rotary drum to its solids
content is governed by three transfer
mechanisms:
(i) the direct heat transfer from drum wall
to solids,
(ii) the heat transfer from drum wall to the
gas phase above the solids, followed by
(iii) the heat transfer between gas phase and
solids.
From other experiments 111 the mechanism
of solid movement is known. If the inside wall
of the drum is provided with strips, a layer of
15.
Drum Reactor
and S. STEMERDISG
Groniqen (The A’etherlonds)
solids stationary with respect to the drum will
esist within the solid segment. Hence a solid
circulation pattern will develop (see Fig_ l)_
Whiist the overall movement of the solids
upon emerging from this wall layer will be to-
wards the lower end, mixing and redistribu-
tion with the bulk solids will occur- Therefore
the solid segment can be considered to be
split up into a wall layer, moving without slip
in respect to the rotating cylinder wall, and a
well-mised bulk layer of solids. It was there-
fore espected that the heat transfer between
wall and solids could be described by an un-
steady-state heat transfer penetration model
and that, gas velocities in the drum being
relatively small, the heat transfer between
wall and air above the solids for larger drum
diameters would for the greater part be
determined by natural convection.
Fig. 1. Circulation pattern in the drum.
27.APPLICATION OF THE PENETRATION
THEORY TO ROTATING DRUMS
In Fig_ 2 some curves are drawn, corre-
sponding to different points on the circum-
ference of the drum, in which the temper-
ature of the solid materM is plotted as a
function of the radial distance from the wall,
y- The temperature of the wall is kept
IS6

constant. The penetration depth, 6 ) is generally travelled by a particle along the circumference
defined as the distance y at which a linearly can be used:
decreasing temperature would reach the value
x=f2rlnR (4)
TS_ x-hen the rate of decrease is equal to that
actually occurring at the wall. in which n is the number of drum revolutions
per second and R is the radius of the drum.
Substituting (4) in (2) gives:

The penetration depth S is then

Qx
Fig. f?. Temperature difference vs. radiai distance s=JiTx= -
from the wall.
(6)
V 2nR
The penetration depth increases from left which should be small compared with the
to right during one cycle. thickness of the non-moving layer at any
At t= f, the contents of the wall layer are point x.
mixed with the bulk material_ A heat balance The local heat transfer coefficient is then

V
shows that 2nR
cY(.x) = - (XPC,)err (‘7)
.x
(1)
The mean value of OLfor the solid segment
for a point moving at the same speed as the iS
drum wall_
The following assumptions are made:
(a) There is only heat conduction in the
d=- l pxdx (8)
-Tr 0”
radial direction, which means that the temp-
crature gradients in the tangential and axial in which x, = 2 ft n R t,, t, being the time
directions are small compared with that in the during which a point on the drum wall is in
radial direction_ contact with the solids.
(b) The penetration depth is large compar- It is easily proved that
ed to the particle diarneter so that an effective
5 = 2 o(x,)
value of the heat diffusion coefficient a =
(~lPC,Lff can be used.
Integration of eqn (1) with appropriate
3. EXPERIMENTAL
boundary and initial conditions
B.C. (1) T = T, 2t y = 0 Experiments were performed in a drum of
(2) T=T, aty=m industrial size_ The details of this equipment
1-C. (3) T=T, aty>O are given in ref. [ 11. The length of the drum
produces the well known error function [ 23 I was 9-O m and its diameter was 0.60 m. Nine
strips, 6 cm wide, were welded over the whole
T=T,,. -(T,-TS)erf length of the drum. The strips, slanted back-
(2)
wards with respect to the direction of rotation
The heat transfer coefficient CYis then given of the drum, made an angle of 45” to the wall.
The temperature of the bulk material and the
by
air above it was measured by thermocouples
Q= V (hP%Lff
nr
(3)
at four distances from the entrance of the
drum, 1.35 m, 2.85 m, 6-30 m and 7-80 m
respectively.
Instead of the parameter f, the distance x The wall temperature was measured at
from the lower edge of the solid segment 4.57 m from the entrance by a thermocouple
placed flush with the wall. Since the drum was
heated by steam, the wall temperature was
taken to be constant along the drum length.
Each of the temperatures was recorded every
46 seconds.

(a) Measurement of the wall to solid heat

transfer coefficient
The esperimental procedure was as follows.
The drum at room temperature was rotated
and charged with dry solid material (potato
starch or yellow destrine) to a degree of
filling between 11 and 23% The drum was
then stopped and steam was passed into the
shell at high pressure. As soon as the desired L60 920- 1360 '6LC
-z [se*1
wall temperature was reached, rotation was
restarted at a predetermined speed (1.6 - Fig_ 3. Uns~ationary heat ~~~~afer t‘rom ~~~11 to sold:
temperature difference as a fun&on or time.
6-5 rpm) and the temperatures were recorded_
During these experiments no air was passed By plotting the esperimentally determined
through the drum. values of T,,. - T, versus time on semi-log
The heat transfer at any given moment can graph paper, &, can be calculated from the
be calculated from the heat balance equation: slope of the resulting straight line. See Fig. 3
for an esample of such a plot.
d Ta d Ts
111,cp.3 - + M, cps - =
dt dt (6) dleasurement of the heat transfer coeffi-
al ‘k, -AI-L (T,,. - T,) + cien t from wall to air
+ a2-k,-AZ-L (T,,. - T,) The heat transfer from wall to air was
(10)
measured in an empty drum. _i\irwas
in which M, is the mass of air present in the introduced continuously at one side of the
drum and MS is the mass of solid material. As drum_ Xir flow rates of 95 kg/hour and
is esplained in detail in Appendix 1, not only 155 kg/hour were used. The rotational speed
the drum wall, but also the strips mounted on was varied between 1.6 and 6.0 rpm.
the wall, act as heat-transferring surfaces_ Xir temperatures were measured at
Since a temperature gradient exists in the strip, different positions in several cross-sections of
the effectiveness of the strip depends on the the drum. Temperature differences (due to
heat transfer rate. Appendix 1 will give the natural convection) were found to occur over
theoretical considerations. Here we will the cross-section but were averaged out in the
introduce the letter A for the wall area plus calculation. Using the average air temper-
the effective transfer area of the strips per atures, a graph of T,L - T, versus length is
unit length. k,A, and k2A2 are the effective drawn on semi-log graph paper. The graph is
heat transfer areas for wall to solid and 3vall extrapolated to each end of the drum (see
to air respectively, and correspondingly GI and Fig. 4). The esperimental points appear to
Zz are the average heat transfer coefficients- be well approsimated by a straight line.
Since iLZ=is very small compared to M,, Therefore Za was calculated by:
while the cP are of the same order of magni-
EzA, L-ATI, = Q, - Cpa (Tc - Tin) (13)
tude, as are d T,/dt and d TJdt, the first term
can be neglected. The transfer term between in which AT,, is the logarithmic mean
wall and air can also be neglected, as will be temperature difference_ Ti, is the temper-
justified later. Therefore ature of the air before it enters the drum and
T, is the air temperature upon leaving the
d T.
Ms cps--Cl-kl-Al-L(T,-TS)
dC
(11) drum.
If T,=, is taken as the value of the internal
Zl-k,-AIL temperature extrapolated to zero length,
T,-TT,
In t (12) then:
TW-E =- MS+,
 + potato StBrCh v. Itpercent
0 potato stzrch V- 157percent
P potzto starch V=ZlLpercent
x yellow &rtrine V= 157perccnt
ALL mcisture contents lower
I than 3 percent

i ‘ 6 e 10
0 2
--LenQhof :he drumi~

f:g. -L Stationary heat transfer from wall to air: Fig. 5. Wall to solid heat transfer us. square root of
temperature difference as a function of axial distance the rotational speed.
in the drum.

T, - T,=,
aT,, = (14) TABLE 1
In TX,--T,=,
T, - T, Product V k,_.l-l,%exq 4 th
S) Cm) (J/m- s ‘C) (J/m2 s “C)
The temperature profile has been checked
Potato 11.0 0.63 97 Jn 105 xfrl
theoretically using Miyauchi and Ver=meulen’s starch
theory ]3]_ The error made by taking aTi, as Potato 15.7 0.72 101 X/n 99 &
the average temperature difference was found starch
to be less than 3%. Potato 23.1: 0.89 10’: drz 91 dn
starch
Yellow 15.7 0.72 104 & ss\/n
(c) Measurement of the gas to solid heat dextrine
transfer coefficient
These measurements were also made in the n in k-pm_
steady-state_ The heated drum was partially
filled with solid, and cold air was passed into found with the degree of filling as the para-
the drum_ The temperatures of the solid and meter Only three lines are drawn in the
air were measured_ A heat balance over the figure, since two sets of experimental condi-
solid segment can be set up: tions, namely yellow dextrine and potato
(15)
starch, for the same degree of filling of 15.7%
k,-Al-Zl-(T,. - T&Al = As-E3- (T, - T,) Al
gave very similar results. The value of El can
in which As is the surface area between solid be calculated from the experimental data,
segment and air per unit length of the drum once the value of klAl is known (see
and Es is its corresponding heat transfer Appendix 1).
coefficient. When the theoretical values of the heat
transfer coefficient are calculated according
to the data given in Appendix 2 for hpcp, it is
Lf_RESULTS found that the penetration theory predicts a
fairly accurate value for Q, see Table 1.
(a) Wall to solid heat transfer coefficient In Fig. 6 the same experimental results are
The product of the heat transfer coefficient plotted in a different way, viz. Gl kl Al versus
and the effective heat transfer surface, V_ Also shown is a separate set of experiments
Z,-k,-A,,isgiveninFig. 5asafunctionof carried out for a speed of 3 rpm in which the
the square root of the rotational speed II. In degree of filling was varied over a range of
accordance with the theory, a straight line was 10 - 24%_
 IS9

TABLE 3
Heat transfer between solids and air

+ I points from flgure 5 155 kg/hour 95 kg/hour

0 : pointsobtzined wcth n=3 rpm
Rotational Zlk1rl1 1.35 m 2.85 m 1.35 m 2.85 m
speed (J/ms zsAg E3&43 c&4, z&-13
(mm) “C)
1.59 94 42 33 44 36
3.0 130 38 33 36 32
4.0 150 42 40 40 3s
5.0 168 16 13 -14 43
6.5 191 61 51 56 49

If the data OP Table 3 are p!otted against

5 10 15 20 25
the square root of the drum speed, it is found
-v per cent
that a more or less hnear relationship esists
Fig. 6. Wall to solid heat transfer UC degree of filling.
for higher drum speeds, indicating a kind of
penetration mechanism for the heat transfer
(6) Heat transfer from wall to air to the downflowing solids.
Table 2 summarizes the experimental When these values are compared with that
results. Since at any given cross-section the air of E2k2A,, approsimately 10 J/m s “C, it
temperature variation with spatial position appears that
and with rotational speed was small, it was
considered reasonable to use the average of all
temperature measurements taken at that It may be concluded that if cold air is
section. introduced to the drum, the heating of the air
takes place mainly in an indirect way, namely
TABLE 2 through the intermediate heating of the solids
Heat transfer between wall and air by the wall and the subsequent heating of the
air by the solids.
Distance from TW 1_5 kg air/hour 25 kg air/hour
entrance (“C) Ta in “C T,in”C
(m)
CONCLUSION
1.35 133 83 101
2.85 133 99 108
4.57 133 109 115.5 (1) The heat transfer between drum wall
6.30 . 133 114.5 121 and potato starch or yellow destrine in rotat-
7.80 133 119.5 125 ing drums provided with sufficient strips is
Jlms “C 15.4 14.8
very well described by the penetration theory.
z2-42
The applicability of this theory has been
z2 J/m%“C 5.1 4.9 confirmed by the fact that at constant degree
of filling the heat transfer coefficient is
It appears that the value of Ze is near 5 J/m2 proportional to the square root of the rota-
s “C, the value frequently used as a rule of tional drum speed. The absolute values of the
thumb for natural convection_ heat transfer coefficient are also well predict-
ed by the theory:

V0 PC,
(c) Heat transfer from solids to air
Lff
Only the values from the thermocouples in E-1 = 2 *a
the first two cross-sections of the drum were 1L L,

used for the calculation (distance from air Values of about 250 J/m2 s “C were found
entrance: 1.35 m and 2.85 m respectively). for a rotational speed of 6 rpm.
Table 3 gives the experimentally determin- (2) The values of Xeff for potato starch and
ed data for asAs_ Also given are the values of yellow dextrine have been experimentally
ElkxAl. determined and were found to lie in the range
190

0.090 - 0.102 J/m s “C, depending upon the L length of the drum (m j
temperature (see -Appendix 2)_ 1 distance from the drum entrance (m)
(3) The heat transfer from drum w-all to air M mass (kg)
is governed by natural convection_ The heat n rotational drum speed (s- r )
lransfer coefficient is approximately 5 J/m’ R radius of the drum (m)
s “C and is independent of the rotational speed Q mass flow rate (kg s ‘)
and air flow rate in the range of normal oper- T temperature (“C)
ating conditions. t time (5)
(4) In rotating drums filled for more than V degree of filling (-)
10% with potato starch or yellow destrine, it X distance around the drum circumference
can be stated that (m)
Y radial distance from the wall (m)
?!!?,_4, :- Gz?-l:t > cr&&4~
Cold air entering the dn:r;. is mainly heated by Subscripts
heat transfer from the solids_ a of the air
b of the block
eff effective value
k of the contact plane
_-ICKSO\VLEDGEXIENTS
S of the solid
in of the air before entering the drum
The authors sincerely thank the Koninklijke
e of the air upon leaving the drum
Scholten-Honig Research B-1’. who made this
\\- of the wall
investigation possible by giving the use of
their premises and who gave valuable technical
and financial assistance_
REFERENCES

G. W. J. Wes. A. A. H. Drinkenburg and S_

LIST OF SYMBOLS Sternerding. 13 (1916) 177.
H. S. Carslaw and J. C. Jaeger, Conduction of Heat
in Solids, Oxford Univ. Press, London, 1959.
mean heat transfer coefficient between T. hliyauchi and T. Vermeulen. Ind. Eng. Chem_. 2
drum wall and solid product (J/m’ .s “C) (2) (1963) 113.
mean heat transfer coefficient between D. D. Roth, G. T. Tsao and E_ B. Lancaster, Die
drum wall and air (J/m” s “C) St?irke, Verlag Chemie GmbH, Weinheim. 1970,
p_ 40.
mean heat transfer coefficient between
J. F. Davidson and D_ Harrison, Fluidisation,
product and air (J/m’ s ‘C) Academic Press. New York, 1972, p_ 48i.
penetration depth (m)
thermal conductivity (J/m s “C)
density (kg/m’ )
heat diffusion coefficient ( m2 Is) APPENDIX 1
heat transfer surface between solids
and air per unit length of the drum Estimation of the effective heat transfer areas
(m) per unit length, hIAl and k2A2
heat capacity (J/kg %) A good approximation to kl, the fraction
width of the strip (m) of the drum circumference occupied by the
effective heat transfer surface between solid segment, is found by considering the
drum wall and solid per unit length of contacting area between product and air as a
the drum (m) flat plane. The values of kl and k2 (=l - k, )
effective heat transfer surface between then only depend on the degree of filling.
drum wail and air per unit length of
L-4
the drum (m) r,p*y2
fraction of the drum circumference c
occupied by the solids (-) L
I==-7
y=o zy
fraction of the drum circumference
occupied by the air (-) Fig_ Al_ Effective heat transferring length of a strip.
 191

The values of Al and A2 are equal to the in air: 6 cm (with Z - 10 J/m”

drum circumference, ZsR, plus the sum of the “C s)
effective heat transfer lengths of the strips in potato starch: 2.5 cm (with (Y - 150 J/
present. n-L* “C s)
Generally there will be a temperature dif- Since both sides contribute to the total
ference between strip and environment that is heat transfer, the effective heat transfer area
the highest at the wall, and therefore the per strip and per unit length of the drum is,
efficiency of the strip will diminish with for strips in air, 12 X 10-a ma/m and, for
increasing strip width. strips in potato starch, 5 X 10-a m*/m.
The efficiency of a strip is governed by the Therefore in our case A1 will be
rate of heat transfer by conduction in the
2rR + 9 X 5 X lo-* = 2.35 m”/m
strip in relation to the magnitude of heat
transfer from strip to environment_ The temp- and so A2 will be 3.0 m’/m.
erature profile of the strip, in the steady-state,
can be calculated from the following differen-
tial equation (see Fig_ Al) APPENDIX 2

d2T 2~
+~_e - (Tc-T)=O (14 Determination of the effective value of h PC,,
dy2 The effective value of X pc, of potato
T is the temperature of the strip at a distance starch cannot be found in the literature. Some
y from the wall taken to be constant over the data are given for the heat conductivity coef-
strip cross-section and T, is the environment ficient, h,, of corn starch grains [4) _
temperature. e is the strip thickness, & the Relations are also given between hCfr and X,
mean heat transfer coefficient from strip to [4, 5]_ The spread in theoretical values of
environment, and X the thermal conductivity . cffr however, is quite large. Since, also, the
‘i
of the strip. value of X, for corn starch need not neces-
Integration of eqn. (la) gives: sarily be the same as that ftir potato starch, it
T= _4 .&.2 was decided to measure (h pc,),rr directly for
i- B ,&I + T,
potato starch_ The following method was
where used:
2a A block of polycarbonate was brought to a
\
, 1.2 = -+ - (lb!
X-e uniform temperature and was plunged into a
fluidized bed of potato starch, upon which
The values of the constants A and B are
the air flow to the bed was immediateIy shut
found from the appropriate boundary condi-
down so that a packed bed of uniform temp-
tions:
erature existed around the polycarbonate
(l)Aty=O,T=T,
block. In both media heat is then transported
(2) At y = d, (aTlay), =d = 0, virtually no only by unsteady-state heat conduction.
heat leaving through the end_ Although the temperatures of the poly-
Although the assumption of steady-state carbonate block and the packed bed of
conditions is not completely valid when potato starch tend to equalize, and are there-
calculating the temperature profile, deviations fore time-dependent, the temperature of the
are small under normal operating conditions. interface is not a function of time but
Equation (lb) results in a temperature remains at a certain value as long as the two
profile along the strip. Integrating this temp- phases can be considered as two semi-infinite
erature profile will give an expression for the media. This is generally true when the
effective length deff of the strip. penetration depths of heat in the block and in
the bed are small compared with the block
(T- Tel dy = d&T, - T-e) diameter and with the bed diameter respect-
0 ively_
For a strip with a thickness of 0.4 cm From the penetration theory it is found
and a strip width of 6 cm, the following that in this case there exists an unique relation
effective strip lengths are found: between the temperature of the block, Tbr
192

T A B L E A2-

Product Moisture Ts Tk Tb T k -- T b (~. pCp}block {A pCp}be d (pCp }bed ~'eff

content (¢C) (;C) (~C) (jFm-4~C -2 ( j 2 m - 4 ¢ C -2 (j.m-3 (a-m-loc- 1
(wt.%) Ts - - Tk
see- 1 X 106) sec- 1 X 104) ~C-Ix 106)sec -I)

Potato ~5 20.2 60.3 83.5 0.578 0.388 13.0 1.20 0.108

starch 4 0 °C 4 0 °C
Potato < 1 26.0 84.2 114.7 0.524 0.429 11.8 1.24 0.095
starch 5 5 =C 55 °C
Potato ~5 82.2 -t5.5 22.0 0.640 0.336 13.8 1.27 0.108
starch 64 ~C 64 °C
Potato -: 1 119.2 -59.8 22_3 0.632 0.346 13_8 1.36 0.102
~tarch 89 ~C 89 ~C
Yellow < I 122.2 58.8 20.0 0.612 0.343 12.9 1.37 0.094
dextrine 90 °C 90 °C
Yellow < I 129.8 63.0 23.1 0.597 0.348 12.5 1.39 0.090
dextrine 96 °C 9 6 °C

t h a t o f t h e b e d , Ts a n d t h e t e m p e r a t u r e on recorded as a function of time. The bed and

the contact plane, Tk- inner block temperatures were also measured.
Experiments were performed at different
temperatures, and with the inner block temp-
T k -- T s (;k p C p ) b l o c k erature in some cases higher and in others
Some deviations from theory may be expect- lower than that of the bed. The results are
e d s i n c e X pep is c o n s i d e r e d t o b e a c o n s t a n t given in Table A2.
instead of temperature-dependent, but by When these experimental effective thermal
keeping the difference in temperature be- conductivities of potato starch and yellow
tween block and bed small this deviation can dextrine are compared with those calculated
be made negligible. from the literature values for corn starch, we
The temperature of the contact plane was find that t~e experimental values are approx-
measured by a coiled thermocouple and imately 30% higher.