CHAPTER 2

HUMIDIFICATION AND DRYING PROCESS

DRYING
 INTRODUCTION TO DRYING PROCESS

Removal of water from process materials and other

substances.
Drying : also refer to the removal of other organic liquids,
such as benzene or organic solvents, from solid.
Drying vs evaporation:

Drying : removal of relatively small amounts of water from material

(water is usually removed as a vapor by air)
VS
Evaporation : Removal of relatively large amounts of water from
material
 Water vapor

Wet solid Drying process Dried solid

 Ex: Maintaining free-
flowing nature of salt.

Ex: Drying of gaseous fuels or benzene

prior to chlorination
 Batch: material is inserted into the drying
equipment and dying proceeds for a given
period of time.
GENERAL METHODS
OF DRYING Continuous: material is continuously added to
the dryer and dried material is continuously
removed.
According to the physical conditions used to add
heat and remove water vapor:
a)Heat is added by direct contact with heated air at
atmospheric pressure, water vapor formed is
DRYING removed by the air.
PROCESSES b)In vacuum drying, heat is added indirectly by
contact with a metal wall or radiation.
c)In freeze-drying, water is sublimed from the
frozen material.
Moisture content: water content as percentage of the mass
of the dry material.
If a material is exposed to air at given temperature and
humidity, the material will either lose or gain water until
equilibrium condition is established.

Figure 1 Equilibrium moisture content of a solid as a function of relative humidity at 293 K

 EQUIPMENT FOR DRYING

1) Tray or Shelf Dryer 2) Vacuum-shelf Indirect Dryers

3) Continuous Tunnel Dryers 4) Rotary Dryers
5) Drum Dryers 6) Spray Dryers
PRINCIPLES OF DRYING

Temperature patterns in dryers

Temperature vary in a dryer depends on the nature and liquid content
of the feedstock, temperature of heating medium, drying time, allowable
final temperature of the dry solids.
i)In batch dryer (with heating medium at constant temperature)
T of the wet solids rises rather quickly from its
initial value Tsa to the initial vaporization
temperature, Tv.
Drying occur at Tv initially, then T of the wet
solids gradually rises as a zone of dry solids
forms near the surface.
Final stage: the solids T rises rapidly to higher
value Tsb.
ii) Continuous countercurrent adiabatic dryer

The solids may be at Tv for most of drying

cycle or only a small fraction of it.
T of heating medium is constant.
The solids quickly heated from Tsa to Tv.
Hot gas enters the dryer at Thb.
Industrial Application Important factors (how material will behave in material, how material
will be dried):
Bulk density
Specific heat
Flowability

Co-current/Parallel flow
Rotary dryer Drying air flow in the same direction as the material flow
Puts the wettest material in contact with the hottest combustion
gases, resulting in quick initial drying.
Causes rapid cooling rapid cooling of the drying air, which results in a
cooler surface temperature of the dryer shell compared to a counter
current dryer.
Easier to control the temperature of the dried material
Co-current dryers work best with materials that have high
external/surface moisture such as glass. These materials require
immediate heat to efficiently dry the material, while minimizing the
opportunity for overheating.
Co-current:
Drying air flows in the opposite direction of the material
the wettest material comes in contact with the coolest drying air
material will come in contact with the hottest drying air at the
discharge end of the dryer, at its most dehydrated state
Counter current method provides increased thermal efficiency for
materials that need to be heated to high temperatures
Some mineral and ore processing applications require the material
to be heated up to several hundred degrees.
Beneficial for materials that have internal moisture retention and
require higher heat and a longer drying cycle to draw out the
moisture.
PHASE EQUILIBRIA

When a wet solid is brought into contact with air of lower humidity
than that corresponding to the moisture content of the solid, the solid
tends to lose moisture and dry to equilibrium with the air. When the air
is more humid than the solid in equilibrium with it, the solid absorbs
moisture from the air until equilibrium is attained.
EQUILIBRIUM MOISTURE AND FREE MOISTURE

Air entering dryer is seldom completely dry but contains some

moisture and definite relative humidity.
For air of definite humidity: moisture content of the solid leaving the
dryer cannot be less than the equilibrium moisture content
corresponding to the humidity of the entering air.
The portion of the water in the wet solid that cannot be removed by
the inlet air, because of the humidity of the latter is known as
equilibrium moisture.
Free water (X) : difference between the total water content (XT) of the
solid and the equilibrium moisture content (X*), X is:
X XT X *
EQUILIBRIUM MOISTURE AND FREE MOISTURE

Bound water: Moisture contents less than the equilibrium moisture

content of a solid at 100% relative humidity.
Unbound water: Moisture contents greater than this value.
 RATE-OF-DRYING CURVES
Rate of Drying Curves for Constant-Drying Conditions
How to plot rate-of-drying curves

Conversion of data to rate-of-drying curve: Data obtained from batch drying

experiment (W total weight of the wet solid (dry solid plus moisture) at
different times t hours in the drying period).
Where, W Ws Kg total water (Ib total water)
W = total weight of the wet solid Xt
Ws = total weight of the dry solid Ws Kg dry solid (Ib dry solid)

X* = equilibrium moisture content

(kg equilibrium moisture/kg dry solid)
X Xt X *

X = free moisture content

(kg free water/kg dry solid)
 LS dx
Tangent: R
A dt
 A) DRYING IN THE CONSTANT RATE PERIOD

Surface of solid initially very wet and a continuous

film of water exists on the drying surface. Basically,
water is unbound water and acts as if the solid
were not present. The rate of evaporation under
the given air conditions is independent of the solid
and is essentially the same as the rate from a liquid
free liquid surface.
A) Method using Rate-of-Drying Curve for Constant-Rate Period

Drying rate, R (kg H2O/h.m2) is defined as

LS dx
R
A dt

Integration over the time interval for drying from X1 at t1 = 0 to X2 at t2 = t gives:

t 2 t LS x1 dX
t t1 0 dt x2
A R
If drying takes place within the constant-rate period, so that both X1 and X2 are
greater than the critical moisture content Xc, thus R = constant = Rc.
LS LS = kg of dry solid used
t X1 X 2 A = exposed surface area for drying
ARC
 EXAMPLE 1

A solid whose drying curve is represented by Fig. 1 is

to be dried from a free moisture content X1 = 0.38 kg
H2O/kg dry solid to X2 = 0.25 kg H2O/kg dry solid.
Estimate the time required.
 SOLUTION 1

From graph

For X1 = 0.38, t1 = 1.28 h

For X2 = 0.25, t2 = 3.08 h

Thus, time required is t = t2 - t1

= 3.08 1.28
= 1.80 h

Figure 1 Typical drying rate curve for constant drying

conditions, plot of data as free moisture versus time
By using rate of drying curve vs
free moisture content
LS
t X1 X 2
ARC
Ls/A = 21.5 kg/m2

From graph, Rc = 1.51 kg H2O/h.m2

Thus, t = (21.5/1.51) * (0.38-0.25)

= 1.85 h ~ 1.80 h
B) Method using Predicted Transfer Coefficient for Constant-rate
Period
Constant-rate period: the surface of the grains of solid in contact with the
drying air flow remain completely wetted. Rate of evaporation of moisture
under a given set of air condition is independent of type of solid and the same
as the rate of evaporation from a free liquid surface under the same condition.
However, surface roughness may increase the rate of evaporation.

Drying: mass transfer of water vapor from the saturated surface of material
through an air film to the bulk gas phase/environment. Rate of water removal
(drying) is controlled by the rate of heat transfer to the evaporating surface.

At steady-state: rate of mass transfer balances the rate of heat transfer.

Derivation of equation for drying (by assuming only heat transfer to the solid
surface by convection from the hot gas to the surface of the solid and mass
transfer from surface to the hot gas).
 Yw, Tw, Hw
gas NA
T, H, y q

Moisture to surface

Figure 3 Heat and mass transfer in constant-rate drying

 The rate of convective heat transfer, q from the gas at T C to the surface
of the solid at Tw C, where (T-Tw) C = (T-Tw)k is:

q = h (T-Tw)A
(Eq. 1)

Equation of flux of water vapor from the surface :

NA = ky (yw-y) (Eq. 2)
HM B MB
y NA ky (H w H )
MA
Substitute into Eq.2, MA (Eq. 3)

The amount of heat needed to vaporize NA kg mol/s.m2 (Ib mol/h.f2) water,

neglecting the small sensible q
heat
M changes
N AA A W

(Eq. 4)
Equating Eq. 1 and Eq. 2, and substituting Eq. 3 for NA, yield:

q h(T TW )
RC k y M B ( H W H ) (Eq. 5)
AW W

More reliable to use, less error

(error in determining interface
temperature)

h
Rc (kg H2O/h.m ) =
2 (T TWC
) (3600) (SI)
W
 How to predict Rc?? Heat transfer coefficient must be known!

A) Air flowing parallel to the drying surface (rough surface which could
create turbulence) [For air temperature 45-150 C; mass velocity G of
2450 29 300 kg / h.m2 (500 6000 Ibm / h. ft2) or a velocity of
0.61 7.6 m/s (2-25 ft/s)

h 0.0204G 0.8 (SI)

h 0.0128G 0.8 (ENGLISH)

 B) When air flows perpendicular to the surface for a G of 3900-19 500
kg / h. m2 or a velocity of 0.9-4.6 m/s (3-15 ft / s),

h 1.17G 0.37 (SI)

h 0.37G 0.37 (ENGLISH)

To estimate the time of drying during the constant-rate period (substitute

Eq. 5 into t LS X 1 X 2 :
ARC

LS W ( X 1 X 2 ) LS ( X 1 X 2 )
t
Ah(T TW ) Ak y M B ( H W H )
Other alternative:
EXAMPLE 2 PREDICTION OF CONSTANT-RATE DRYING
For humidity = 0.010, dry bulb of 65.6 C, using humidity chart : Tw =
28.9 and Hw = 0.026

Humid volume, vH: (2.83 x 10-4 + 4.56 x 10-3 H) T = 0.974 m3/kg

DA 1.0 0.010
p 1.037 kg / m3
0.974
m 3600 s 1.037 kg
G vp 6.1 22770 kg / h .m 2

s 1hr m3
h 0.0204G 0.8 0.0204 227700.8 62.45W / m 2 .K
Thus,
h 62.45
Rc (T TW ) (65.6 28.9)(3600) 3.39kg / h.m 2
W 2433 1000
Total evaporation
rate:
Rc A 3 . 39 ( 0. 457 0 .457 ) 0. 708 kgH 2 O / h
 Effect of gas humidity

Effect of air velocity Experimental effect of

process variables

Effect of Process Variables on Constant-Rate Period

Effect of thickness
Effect of gas temperature
of solid being dried
 QUIZ 1

Air at 70 C and 101.325 k Pa enters a direct-heat dryer with a

humidity of 0.03 kg H2O / kg dry air. Determine (a) saturation
humidity, Hs; (b) % relative humidity, HR; (c) percentage humidity, HP;
(e) humid volume, vH; (f) humid heat, Cs; and (g) Total enthalpy, Hy.
Typical isotherm for equilibrium-
moisture content of a solid
B) DRYING IN THE FALLING-RATE PERIOD
Point C : critical free moisture content Xc
(insufficient water on the surface to maintain
a continuous film of water, entire surface no
longer wetted.

Wetted area continually decreases in this

first-falling rate period until the surface
completely dry, at point D.

Point D : Second-falling rate period begins at

this point when surface is completely dried.
Heat for the evaporation is transferred
through the solid to the zone of vaporization.

* In some cases no sharp discontinuity occurs at

point D (change from partially wetted to complete
dried is so gradual, no distinct change is detectable)
CALCULATION METHODS FOR FALLING-RATE DRYING PERIOD

A)Method using Numerical Integration

Generally, time of drying for any region between X1 and X2 is:

LS X 1 dx
t X2
A R

In falling-rate period, R varies, thus above Eq. can be integrated by

plotting 1/R vs X and determining area under the curve (a) or
numerical integration by using spreadsheet (b).
EXAMPLE 3 NUMERICAL INTEGRATION IN FALLING-RATE PERIOD

A batch of wet solid whose drying-rate curve is represented by Fig. below is to

be dried from a free moisture content of X1 = 0.38 kg H2O / kg dry solid to X2 =
0.04 kg H2O / kg dry solid. The weight of the dry solid is Ls = 399 kg dry solid
and A = 18.58 m2 of top drying surface. Calculate the time for drying. Note that
Ls/A = 399 / 18.58 = 21.5 kg/m2.
 Drying occurs in the constant-rate
SOLUTION 3 and falling rate periods.

For the constant-rate period:

X1 = 0.38 and X2 = Xc = 0.195

Use Eq.
LS
t X1 X 2
ARC
399(0.38 0.195)
t 2.63h
(18.58)(1.51)

Critical free moisture

content, Xc = 0.195 kg
H2O/kg dry solid
 Region A:
0.663 0.826
h( avg ) * (0.195 0.15) 0.0335
2

Region E Region B:
0.826 1.11
h( avg ) * (0.15 0.1) 0.0484
2
Region C:
Region D
1.11 1.41
h( avg ) * (0.1 0.065) 0.0441
2

Region C
Region D:
Region B
1.41 2.7
Region A h( avg ) * (0.065 0.050) 0.0309
2
Region E:
2.7 3.7
h( avg ) * (0.05 0.04) 0.032
2

Total area = 0.1889

Using Eq : t LS XX 1 dx
A 2
R
399
t (0.1889) 4.06h
18.58

Finally, the total time can be calculated:

Drying time during constant-rate period + Drying time during falling-

rate period:

= 2.63 + 4.06

= 6.69 h