EKB 3143:SEPARATION PROCESSES

CHAPTER 6: DRYING

PREPARED BY: ARASU UTTRAN

 DEFINITION
Removal of moisture (either water or other
volatile compounds) from solids, solutions,
slurries and produce solid products.
 APPLICATIONS
• Crystalline particles of inorganic salts and
organic compounds
• Biological materials
• Pharmaceuticals
• Detergents
• Solid catalyst
• Milk
MODES OF HEAT TRANSFER IN DRYING
• Convection from a hot gas in contact with the
material
• Conduction from a hot solid surface in contact
with the material
• Radiation from a hot gas or surface
• Microwave heating
Solid HANDLING in dryers
 CLASSIFICATION OF DRYERS
BATCH CONTINUOUS
• Tray dryers • Tunnel dryers
• Agitated dryers • Direct heat rotary dryers
• Fluidized bed dryers
• Flash dryers
• Spray dryers
• Drum dryers
TRAY DRYERS
TUNNEL DRYERS
DIRECT HEAT ROTARY DRYERS
FLASH DRYERS
SPRAY DRYERS
DRUM DRYERS
 FREEZE DRYING
• Moisture in the feed is first frozen by cooling
and then sublimed by conductive, convection,
and or radiant heating.
• Product of freeze drying are porous and non
shrunken.
• The freeze dry products can be rehydrated
almost perfectly to their original state for
consumption.
 PRINCIPLE of freeze drying
• Place the material to be preserved onto the shelves when it is still
unfrozen.
• The machine runs the compressors to lower the temperature in the
chamber.
• The material is frozen to solid phase , which separates the
water from everything around it, on a molecular level, even though
the water is still present.
• Turns on the vacuum pump to force air out of the chamber, lowering
the atmospheric pressure below 0.06atm.
• The heating units apply a small amount of heat to the shelves,
causing the ice to change phase.
• Since the pressure is so low, the ice turns directly into water
vapor.
• The water vapor flows out of the freeze-drying chamber, past the
freezing coil. The water vapor condenses onto the freezing coil in
solid ice form.
Essential Components of Freeze drying
equipment
• Vacuum chamber (with trays to hold the food
during drying)
• Heater to supply latent heat of sublimation.
• Refrigerator coil for condense the vapors directly
to ice
• Vacuum pump removes non-condensable vapors.
FACTORS that control the water vapor
gradient:
• The pressure in the drying chamber
• The temperature of the vapor condenser.
• The temperature of ice at the sublimation front,
which should be as high as possible, without melting
• The lowest economical chamber pressure is
approximately 13 Pa and the lowest condenser
temperature of ice should be -35 ºC.
 ADVANTAGES
• Very high retention of sensory characteristics and
nutritional qualities and a shelf-life longer than 12
months when correctly packaged.
• Aroma retention up to 80 – 100 %
• The texture of freeze-dried foods is well maintained;
little shrinkage and no case hardening.
• The open porous structure allow a rapid and full re-
hydration, but it is fragile and requires protection
from mechanical damage.
• Only minor changes to proteins, starches or other
carbohydrates
 DISADVANTAGES
• The open porous structure of the food may allow
oxygen to enter and cause oxidative degradation of
lipids (packaging in inert gas necessary).
FOODS (FREEZE DRY)
 REVIEW of phase equilibria
• In most cases, drying is accomplished by vaporizing the
water that is contained in the solid, and to do this the latent
heat of vaporization must be supplied.
• There are, thus, two important process-controlling factors
that enter into the unit operation of drying:

1. Transfer of heat to provide the necessary latent heat of

vaporization.
2. Movement of water or water vapour through the solid
material and then away from it to effect separation of
water from solid stuff.
 PSYCHROMETRY chart
• Calculation involving the properties of moisture-gas-
mixtures for application to drying
 Bubble point
• The bubble point is the point where first bubble
of vapor is formed
• Given that vapor will probably have a different
composition than the liquid, the bubble points
(along with the dew point) at different
compositions are useful data when designing
distillation systems.
• For single component mixtures the bubble point
and the dew point are the same and are referred
to as the boiling point
 Dew point
• The dew point is the temperature to which a given
parcel of air must be cooled, at constant barometric
pressure, for water vapor to condense into water.
• The condensed water is called dew.
• The dew point is a saturation point
 DRY bulb (Td)
• The dry-bulb temperature is the temperature of air
measured by a thermometer freely exposed to the air but
shielded from radiation and moisture.
 WET bulb temperature (Tw)
• This is the temperature indicated by a moistened
thermometer bulb exposed to the air flow.
• The cooling effect is indicated by a "wet bulb temperature"
lower than the "dry bulb temperature" in the air
 Vapor pressure
• Vapor pressure, also known as equilibrium vapor
pressure, is the pressure of a vapor in equilibrium
with its non-vapor phases.
• The equilibrium vapor pressure is an indication of
a liquid's evaporation rate. It relates to the
tendency of molecules and atoms to escape from
a liquid or a solid
• A substance with a high vapor pressure at normal
temperatures is often referred to as volatile.
 Partial pressure
• In a mixture of ideal gases, each gas has a partial
pressure which is the pressure which the gas would
have if it alone occupied the volume.
• The total pressure of a gas mixture is the sum of the
partial pressures of each individual gas in the mixture
 Humidity
• Humidity is the amount of water vapor in the air. In daily
language the term "humidity" is normally taken to mean
relative humidity.
• Relative humidity is defined as the ratio of the partial pressure
of water vapor in a parcel of air to the saturated vapor
pressure of water vapor at a prescribed temperature
 Humidity (H) – unit kg H2O/ kg dry air
- defined in terms of partial pressure of
water pA & total pressure, P

kg H 2O pA kg mol H 2O 18.02 kg H 2O 1
H   
kg dry air P  pA kg mol air kg mol H 2O 28.97 kg air / kg mol air

18.02 pA
H
28.97 P  pA
 Humidity saturation, Hs
• Air is said to be saturated with water vapour at a given temperature
and pressure if its humidity is a maximum under these conditions.
Under conditions of saturation, the partial pressure of the water
vapour in the air is equal to the saturation vapour pressure of water
at that temperature.
18.02 p AS
HS 
28.97 P  pAS

• The total pressure of a gaseous mixture (P), such as air and water
vapour, is made up from the sum of the pressures of its
constituents, which are called the partial pressures.
• Each partial pressure arises from the molecular concentration of
the constituent and the pressure exerted.
 Humidity (%)
• Percentage humidity
H
H P  100
HS
• Percentage relative humidity

pA
H R  100
pAS
 Example 1
The air in a room at 26.7 0C and a pressure of
101.325 kPa and contains water vapor with partial
pressure pA = 2.76 kPa.

Calculate the following :

a)Humidity, H
b)Saturation Humidity, HS
c) Percentage Humidity, HP
d)Percentage relative humidity, HR
 Solution
• Refer steam table, at 26.7 0C, 101.325 kPa,
• pAS (partial pressure of water vapor in saturated air) = 3.5 kPa
• pA = 2.76 kPa, P = 101.325 kPa,

18.02 pA = 0.01742 kg H2O/kg air

H
28.97 P  pA
18.02 p AS
HS  = 0.02226 kg H2O/kg air
28.97 P  pAS
H
H P  100 = 78.3%
HS

H R  100
pA = 78.9%
pAS
 Interpolation formula

For example:
Temperature from experiment: 45oC (not stated in data book)

Temp (oC) Density, ρ (kg/m3)

X1 40 1000 Y1
X 45 ? Y
X2 50 1100 Y2

(45  40)(1100  1000)

y  1000 
50  40
y  1050kg / m 3
Bound, Unbound, Free, Equilibrium
• At HR= 100%, the equilibrium moisture content is called
bound moisture, XB.
• If the wet solid has a total moisture content XT > XB, the
excess XT -XB is called unbound water.
• Substances containing bound moisture, are often called
hygroscopic materials.
 Rate of drying curves

 LS X  LS dX
R 
A t A dt

R = drying rate, kg H2O/h . m2

LS = kg dry solid
A = Exposed surface area for drying, m2
X = weight loss for a t time
DRYING curve
Typical drying RATE CURVE for
CONSTANT drying conditions
 DRYING IN THE CONSTANT-RATE
PERIOD
• RATE OF EVAPORATION is independent of solid (same
as the rate from a free liquid surface).
• Increased roughness of the solid surface, however may
lead to higher rates than from a flat surface
• FOR POROUS SOLIDS, most of the water is supplied
from the interior of solid.
 DRYING IN THE FALLING
RATE PERIOD
• Insufficient water on the surface to maintain a continuous
film of water.
• Wetted area continually decreases in the first falling-rate
period, until completely dry (at Point D).
• The second falling-rate period begins at point D. The
evaporation slowly recedes from the surface.
• Based on Fick’s second law of diffusion, the
time for the falling drying rate period can be
calculated:

d: thickness
4d 2  8( X c  X e  D: diffusion coefficient of water
t  2 ln  2  Xc: critical moisture content
 D   ( X m  X e  Xe: equilibrium moisture content
Xm: average moisture content
 Mass transfer (Convective)
• First water to evaporate is the next to the gas moving across
the surface of the wet solids
• After an initial warming up period, rate of movement of water
rapid enough that surface remains saturated, drying rate
remains constant for a period of time called constant drying
period
• At this period, mass transfer is limited by a gas boundary layer
at the surface of the solids.
 Mass transfer (Convective)
• Mass transfer of water being evaporated at the solid surface
by gas flowing past the surface can be defined in terms of a
mass transfer coefficient, kG:

N w  kG pw Nw: molar flux of water

Δpw: difference in partial pressure of water btw surface
and bulk gas stream

• During the constant drying rate period, the steady state

relationship between heat and mass transfer at the liquid
surface:

q  N w q: heat flux
λ:heat of vaporization of water
 Mass transfer (Convective)
• Combining both equations:

h(T  Ts )
Nw 


• Able to estimate the evaporation rate, if the heat transfer

coefficient and the relevant temperatures are known.
 Example 2
Wet biological solids contained in a tray are dried
by blowing air with 2% relative humidity and at
60oC and atmospheric pressure across the tray.
Estimate the temperature of the surface of the
solids and maximum molar flux of water given h:
100 kcal/m2.h.oC, λ: 539.1 kcal/kg

Answer:
• Ts: 230C
• Molar flux of water: 0.38 kg-mol/m2.h
 Example 3
A nonporous wet cake of biological solids that is 0.5 cm
thick is to be dried by blowing dry air across the top
surface. The initial moisture content is 70 wt% water,
and it is desired to dry the cake to a water content of
5wt%. The diffusion coefficient of water in the cake has
been estimated to be 7x10-6 cm2/s. Estimate how long
the drying will take.
• The initial water content = Xc
• Drying by dry air, Xe=0
• Desired water content=Xm

70
Xc   2.333 g water/ g dry solids
30
5
Xm   0.053 g water/ g dry solids
95

Ans: t:= 14.4h

 TUTORIAL (THEORY)
• List the modes of drying [4M]
• Briefly explain solid handling in drying [8M]
• List the essential components in freeze drying
with aided diagram [9M]
• State the advantages of freeze drying [5M]
• Define bubble point, dew point, wet bulb and
dry bulb [8M]