DRYING

Prepared by
ALVIN R. CAPARANGA
ChE-Chm, Mapua Institute of Tech.

DRYING generally refers to the removal of

small amounts of volatile liquid, usually
water, from solids by evaporation into gas
stream.

TERMS / DEFINITIONS
MOISTURE CONTENT
the amount of water in solid;

usually expressed (on a dry basis) as kg water

per kg of moisture-free (bone-dry) solid.

EQUILIBRIUM MOISTURE CONTENT (X*)

X* the definite amount of moisture attained (or
remaining) in a solid after long exposure to an
excess amount of air after which no further
drying (or removal of water) will take place.
X* depends on humidity and temperature of the
air the solid is in contact with.

BOUND WATER
Bound water is the moisture content of a solid
material that is in equilibrium with air having
100% RH.
Bound water exerts a vapor pressure less than
that of liquid water at the same temperature.
Substances containing bound water are often
called hygroscopic materials.

UNBOUND WATER
If a material contains more water than indicated
by intersection with the 100%RH-line, the water in
excess is called unbound moisture, which can
exert pressure as high as the its vapor pressure
at the same temperature.

FREE MOISTURE CONTENT (X)

Free-moisture content, X, is the moisture

content of a solid material above the equilibrium
moisture content, X*.

TOTAL MOISTURE CONTENT (Xt)

the total amount of moisture in the solid
bound + unbound water
X + X*
Note: Bound water is not equal to equilibrium
moisture in the same manner as free moisture is not
equal to unbound water.

W Ws kg total H 2 O
Xt
Ws
kg dry solid
X Xt X

Rate of Drying for ConstantDrying Conditions (R)

Ls dX
R
A d
Ls = weight of dry solid

A = area of exposed surface

= time

Typical drying curve for constant drying conditions

Rate of drying curve versus free moisture content

CRP Constant-rate period; FRP Falling-rate period

CRP

FRP

Critical free-moisture
content

Xc

Drying at CONSTANT-RATE PERIOD

Ls dX
R
A d

Ls
X1 X 2

AR
Since R = RC and X2 = XC:

Ls
0 d A

X1

dX
X R
2

Ls
X1 X C
C
AR C

The equations for predicting constant-rate drying are given: 9.6-7 to

9.6-11 (Geankoplis, 4ed).

Predicting Rc

Combined CONVECTION, RADIATION, and

CONDUCTION Heat Transfer in CRP

Total heat transfer:

Q = QC + QR + QK

QC = hC(T TS)A

convection

QR = hR(TR TS)A

radiation

QK = UK(T TS)A

conduction

(hC U K )(T TS ) h R (TR TS )

Q
_
Rc

k y M B (HS H)
S
AS
_

Drying at FALLING-RATE PERIOD

Ls
F d
A
0

X1

dX
X R
2

1/R
Solve by graphical integration.

SPECIAL CASES OF FALLING-RATE REGION

1. Rate is a linear function of X:

dR adX
R2

LS dR
F
aA R1 R
LS R 1
F
ln
aA R 2

R = aX +b

R1 R 2
a
X1 X 2
LS X1 X 2 R 1
F
ln
A R1 R 2 R 2

2. Rate is a linear function of X thru origin:

dR adX
R2

LS dR
F
aA R1 R
LS R 1
F
ln
aA R 2

R = aX

R1 R 2 R1 R C
a

X1 X 2 X1 X C
LS
RC
F
X C ln
AR C
R2
LS
XC
F
X C ln
AR C
X2

Total time for drying:

total C F
tot

LS
LC X C X 2 X C
X1 X C

ln
AR C
A R C R 2 X2

PROBLEM 1
30 kg of wet solid material which contained 5 kg water
was dried for a total of 4.5 hours until the moisture
content fell to 0.02 kg / kg dry solid. The equilibrium
moisture of the material at constant conditions used was
known to be 0.008 kg / kg dry solid. If the critical
moisture content is 0.12 kg / kg solid, calculate the time
needed to dry the same material from an initial of 40 kg
(20% moisture) to 34 kg (5.88 % moisture).