Hacemos Ciencia,

Yachay Tech
 Unit
Operations I:
Drying
Prof. Carlos Loyo
E-mail: cloyo@yachaytech.edu.cl
 Drying of Solids
• In general, drying a solid means the removal
of relatively small amounts of water or other
liquid from the solid material to reduce the
content of residual liquid to an acceptably low
value. Drying is usually the final step in a series
of operations, and the product from a dryer is
often ready for final packaging.
• The solids to be dried may be in many
different forms-flakes, granules, crystals,
powders, slabs, or continuous sheets-and may
have widely differing properties.
• This operation involves both mass and energy
transport at the same time.
 Drying of Solids
Drying differs from evaporation (single
component diffusional phenomena) in
that in evaporation the liquid is removed
by boiling, whereas in drying the liquid is
carried away by the air in the form of
vapor, generally at a lower temperature
than boiling.
 CLASSIFICATION OF DRYERS
• There is no simple way of classifying drying
equipment.
• Some dryers are continuous, and some operate
batchwise; some agitate the solids, and some are
essentially unagitated.
• Operation under vacuum may be used to reduce
the drying temperature. Some dryers can handle
almost any kind of material, while others are
severely limited in the type of feed they can accept.
• A major division may be made between
• (1) dryers in which the solid is directly exposed to a hot
gas (usually air) and
• (2) dryers in which heat is transferred to the solid from
an external medium such as condensing steam, usually
through a metal surface with which the solid is in
contact.
 SOLIDS HANDLING IN DRYERS
• Most industrial dryers handle particulate solids during part or all of the drying
cycle, although some dry large individual pieces such as ceramic ware or sheets of
polymer.
1. Gas is blown across the surface of a bed or slab of solids or across one or both
faces of a continuous sheet or film. This process is called cross-circulation drying
(a).
2. Gas is blown through a bed of coarse granular solids that are supported on a
screen. This is known as through-circulation drying. As in cross-circulation drying
the gas velocity is kept low to avoid any entrainment of solid particles (b).
3. Solids are showered downward through a slowly moving gas stream, often with
some undesired entrainment of fine particles in the gas (c).
4. Gas passes through the solids at a velocity sufficient to fluidize the bed.
Inevitably there is some entrainment of finer particles (d).
5. The solids are all entrained in a high-velocity gas stream and are pneumatically
conveyed from a mixing device to a mechanical separator (e).
 PRINCIPLES OF DRYING
• Because of the wide variety of materials that are dried in commercial equipment and the many types of equipment
that are used, there is no single theory of drying that covers all materials and dryer types.
• Variations in shape and size of stock, in moisture equilibria, in the mechanism of flow of moisture through the
solid, and in the method of providing the heat required for the vaporization-all prevent a unified treatment.
• The way in which temperatures vary in a dryer depends on the nature and liquid content of the feedstock, the
temperature of the heating medium, the drying time, and the allowable final temperature of the dry solids. The
pattern of variation, however, is similar from one dryer to another.

The drying time indicated in Fig (a) may be a few seconds or many hours. The
solids may be at Tv for most of the drying cycle or for only a small fraction of it.
The temperature of the heating medium may be constant, as shown, or it
may be programmed to change as drying proceeds.

In a continuous dryer each particle or element of the solid passes through a

cycle on its way from the inlet to the outlet of the dryer. In steady-state
operation the temperature at any given point in a continuous dryer is
constant, but it varies along the length of the dryer.
 SOLIDS HANDLING IN DRYERS
• Fig (b) shows a temperature pattern for an adiabatic
countercurrent dryer.
• The solids inlet and gas outlet are on the left; the gas inlet
and solids outlet are on the right.
• The solids inlet and gas outlet are on the left; the gas inlet
and solids outlet are on the right. Again, the solids are
quickly heated from Tsa to Tv. The vaporization
temperature Tv is again constant since the wet-bulb
temperature does not change. Near the gas inlet the solids
may be heated to well above Tv.
• Hot gas enters the dryer at Thb, usually with low humidity;
it cools, rapidly at first, then more slowly as the
temperature-difference driving force decreases. Its
humidity rises steadily as it picks up more and more of the
vaporized liquid.
 GENERAL PRINCIPLES
• The moisture content of a material is usually expressed in terms of its
water content as a percentage of the mass of the dry material, though
moisture content is sometimes expressed on a wet basis If a material is
exposed to air at a given temperature and humidity, the material will
either lose or gain water until an equilibrium condition is established.
• This equilibrium moisture content varies widely with the moisture
content and the temperature of the air, as shown in Figure. A non-
porous insoluble solid, such as sand, has an equilibrium moisture
content approaching zero for all humidities and temperatures, although
many organic materials, such as wood, textiles, and leather, show wide
variations of equilibrium moisture content.
• Bound moisture. This is water retained so that it exerts a vapour
pressure less than that of free water at the same temperature. Such
water may be retained in small capillaries, adsorbed on surfaces, or as
a solution in cell walls.
• Free moisture. This is water which is in excess of the equilibrium
moisture content.
 GENERAL PRINCIPLES
• The water removed by vaporization is generally carried away by air or hot gases, and the ability of these gases to pick up the
water is determined by their temperature and humidity. In designing dryers using air, the properties of the air–water system
are essential. For the air–water system, the following definitions are of importance:

-> where Pw is the partial pressure of water vapour and P is the total pressure

• Humidity of saturated air H0 . This is the humidity of air when it is saturated with water vapour. The air then is in
equilibrium with water at the given temperature and pressure.
 GENERAL PRINCIPLES
Humid volume, is the volume of unit mass of dry air and its associated vapour. Then, under ideal conditions, at
atmospheric pressure:

Saturated volume is the volume of unit mass of dry air, together with the water vapour required to saturate it.
Humid heat is the heat required to raise unit mass of dry air and associated vapour through 1 degree K at constant
pressure or 1.00 + 1.88H kJ/kg K.
Dew point is the temperature at which condensation will first occur when air is cooled.
Wet bulb temperature. If a stream of air is passed rapidly over a water surface, vaporization occurs, provided the
temperature of the water is above the dew point of the air. The temperature of the water falls and heat flows from the
air to the water. If the surface is sufficiently small for the condition of the air to change inappreciably and if the velocity
is in excess of about 5 m/s, the water reaches the wet bulb temperature θw at equilibrium.
GENERAL PRINCIPLES
 RATE OF DRYING
• In drying, it is necessary to remove free moisture from the surface
and also moisture from the interior of the material.
• The form of the drying rate curve varies with the structure and type
of material, and two typical curves are shown in Figure.
• In curve 1, there are two well-defined zones: AB, where the rate of
drying is constant and BC, where there is a steady fall in the rate of
drying as the moisture content is reduced. The moisture content at
the end of the constant rate period is represented by point B, and
this is known as the critical moisture content.
• Curve 2 shows three stages, DE, EF and FC. The stage DE represents a
constant rate period, and EF and FC are falling rate periods. In this
case, the Section EF is a straight line, however, and only the portion
FC is curved. Section EF is known as the first falling rate period and
the final stage, shown as FC, as the second falling rate period.
 RATE OF DRYING
Constant rate period
During the constant rate period, it is assumed that drying takes place from a saturated surface of the material by diffusion of
the water vapour through a stationary air film into the air stream. GILLILAND has shown that the rates of drying of a variety
of materials in this stage are substantially the same as shown in Table 16.1.
 RATE OF DRYING
In order to calculate the rate of drying under these conditions, the relationships obtained 1 for diffusion of a vapour
from a liquid surface into a gas may be used. The simplest equation of this type is:

where kG is the mass transfer coefficient.

Since the rate of transfer depends on the velocity u of the air stream, raised to a power of about 0.8, then the mass
rate of evaporation is:
This type of equation, used for the rate of
vaporization into an air stream, simply
states that the rate of transfer is equal to
the transfer coefficient multiplied by the
driving force.
 RATE OF DRYING
First falling-rate period
The points B and E represent conditions where the surface is no
longer capable of supplying sufficient free moisture to saturate
the air in contact with it. Under these conditions, the rate of
drying depends on the mechanism by which the moisture from
inside the material is transferred to the surface.

Second falling-rate period

At the conclusion of the first falling rate period, it may be
assumed that the surface is dry, and evaporation takes place
from within the solid and the vapour reaches the surface by
molecular diffusion through the material. The forces controlling
the vapour diffusion determine the final rate
of drying, and these are largely independent of the conditions
outside the material.
 TIME FOR DRYING
If a material is dried by passing hot air over a surface which is initially wet, the rate of drying curve in its simplest form is
represented by BCE, shown in Figure
 TIME FOR DRYING
Constant-rate period
During the period of drying from the initial moisture content w1
to the critical moisture content wc, the rate of drying is
constant, and the time of drying tc is given by:
 TIME FOR DRYING
Falling-rate period
During this period the rate of drying is, approximately, directly
proportional to the free moisture content (w −we), or:
 TIME FOR DRYING
The total time t of drying from w1 to w is given by t = (tc + tf).
 Exercise 1
A wet solid is dried from 25 to 10 per cent moisture under constant drying conditions in 15 ks (4.17 h). If the critical and
the equilibrium moisture contents are 15 and 5 per cent respectively, how long will it take to dry the solid from 30 to 8 per
cent moisture under the same conditions?
 Exercise 2
Strips of material 10 mm thick are dried under constant drying conditions from 28 to 13 per cent moisture in 25 ks
(7 h). If the equilibrium moisture content is 7 per cent, what is the time taken to dry 60 mm planks from 22 to 10
per cent moisture under the same conditions assuming no loss from the edges? All moistures are given on a wet
basis. The relation between E, the ratio of the average free moisture content at time t to the initial free moisture
content, and the parameter J is given by:

It may be noted that J = kt/l2,where k is a constant, t the time in ks and 2l the thickness of the sheet of material in
millimetres.
¡GRACIAS!