Mapa Institute of Technology

School of Chemical Engineering, Chemistry, Biological Engineering,

and Materials Science and Engineering
Chemical Engineering Laboratory 2
Experiment No. 1

Drying
Arias, Joshua Daniele L.
CHE151-1L/B, School of Chemical Engineering, Chemistry, Biological Engineering, and Materials Science and Engineering, Mapa
Institute of Technology, Intramuros

3. Results and Discussion

Drying is said to be a mass transfer process of removing solvents by evaporation. In this
experiment, the type of drying used is air drying. This process is primarily affected by temperature,
humidity, density of the solvent, the area of contact, and the moisture content of the sample being dried.
The sample system of the experiment is sand and water. Since the process is drying, the
equilibrium moisture content of the sample is supposed to be considered. But since sand is a nonporous
insoluble solid, its equilibrium moisture content is very small, thus, can be omitted from computations.
Since the equilibrium moisture content is already neglected, the primary factors that affect the
drying rate of the system are its free moisture content, time of contact, and the temperature. But since
the equipment is assumed to be running as an isothermal process, the temperature all throughout the
experiment is constant at 45C. The effect of drying to the free moisture content of the sand per unit
time is presented below.

Free moisture vs. Time

0.2
0.18
0.16
0.14
0.12
0.1
0.08
0.06
0.04
0.02
0

Free Moisture

Time (h)

Figure 2.2 Moisture Removal per unit time

CHE151-1L/B41
Experiment No. 1

Based from Figure 2.2, the free moisture or the water in the sand sample is constantly decreasing
with respect to time. This result is to be expected since the type of drying used is application of
convective energy in evaporating the moisture of the sand. Based from the principle of convective
drying, the application of hot air to the sand heats up the solid, thus speeding up the diffusion of water
from the interior of the sand to the sands surface. This process causes the evaporation of water through
the sands surface. Since the drying is continuously done in 10-minute intervals, the process of
convective drying repeats itself over again. This principle explains why the free moisture is indirectly
proportional to the time elapsed while drying.
But since Figure 2.2 shows that still after 2.33 hours, there is still water remaining in the sand.
Looking back, the moisture content of the wet sand is 17% of the mass of the dry sand. Since drying is
dependent on the moisture content of the sand, we can conclude that the higher the moisture content of a
sample the longer is its drying time to completely evaporate all the moisture. But drying is also
dependent on the area of contact of air to the sand, thus, the higher the area of contact the faster is the
sands drying time. But since the experiment is limited to only one sample, the effects of moisture
content and area to drying is not completely presented.
Convective drying uses heated air as a driving force for heat transfer that accelerates drying. The
rate of drying is thus affected by how air interacts with the sample. These factors are the moisture
content of the sample, the area of contact of air to the sample, and the rate of how water is being
removed from the sample per unit time.
Table 3.1. Time, Free Moisture Content and dX/dt
Time (t) (min)
Free Moisture (X) (kgH2O/kgdrysand)
10
0.169575305
20
0.161303339
30
0.152123474
40
0.14375063
50
0.133461112
60
0.125088268
70
0.117018057
80
0.108947846
90
0.100474125
100
0.091798648
110
0.082013518
120
0.073741551
130
0.06526783
140
0.049127408

dX/dt (kg/min)
-0.001008776
-0.000827197
-0.000917986
-0.000837284
-0.001028952
-0.000837284
-0.000807021
-0.000807021
-0.000847372
-0.000867548
-0.000978513
-0.000827197
-0.000847372
-0.001614042

Table 3.1 shows the rate of moisture removal per 10-minute drying intervals. The negative sign
of the values given in the dX/dt column represents the removal of moisture from the sample. The rate of
water removal is significant in determining the drying rate of the system since it is the driving force of
the equation. The rate of water removal dictates how fast drying is taking place in the system. The
moisture content and the area of contact are still factors to consider but most of the time they are
constant, thus, making the rate of water removal the dependent variable.

CHE151-1L/B41
Experiment No. 1

Figure 2.3 Drying Curve

Rate vs. Free moisture

0.9
0.8
0.7
Rate

0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.04

0.06

0.08

0.1

0.12

0.14

0.16

0.18

Free Moisture

Based from Figure 2.3, the rate of drying versus the free moisture of the sand is inconsistent.
Based from the values obtained, the constant drying period cannot be distinguished. The stock
temperature of the air tray dryer did not reach the wet bulb temperature of the wet sand, thus stability is
not met. This could be the result of massive lags in the movement of mass and heat that resulted to
massive deviations.
The falling rate of the drying curve is also indistinguishable due to erroneous data gathered from
the air tray dryer. The falling rate period starts when the surface temperature of the sand rises, thus, the
drying rate decreases rapidly. This rapid decrease in drying rate is not seen in the graph due to the
constant removal of the tray from the oven for weighing. This activity cools down the surface
temperature of the sand, thus, an increase in drying rate will be again observed when the tray is returned
CHE151-1L/B41
Experiment No. 1
3

back to the oven for another 10-minute drying. In the falling rate period, the drying rate is governed by a
mass-transfer limited process. This mass-transfer limited process is the rate of removal of moisture from
the sand. Since this mass-transfer limited process is halted, the falling-rate period of the system is not
obtained.
Figure 2.2 and 2.3 shows critical errors and inconsistencies due to both equipment defects and
human errors. These errors contributed significant changes in the principle of the second law of
thermodynamics. Thus, the changes lead to erroneous data which provided deviating results from the
expected outcome.

4. Conclusion
Only the first objective of the experiment is completely discussed and achieved. The drying
behavior of the wet sand was evaluated using the air tray dryer. By determining the weight of the tray
with wet sand continuously with a 10-minute interval, the free moisture content of the wet sand per unit
time was determined. Based from the data gathered, the graph of the rate of water removal was obtained.
The graph showed a lot of factors affecting the rate of water removal from the sand. These factors are
temperature, moisture content, area of contact, humidity, and the flow rate of air through the dryer. From
the evaluation of the graph, it is concluded that mass of moisture in the sample is directly proportional to
the drying time and the area exposed to air is indirectly proportional to the drying time. In simple terms,
the higher the moisture content the longer its drying time and the larger the area of contact the faster the
samples drying time.
For the second objective, the parts of the drying curve of the sand-water system was not entirely
interpreted. Since the plotted rate of drying versus free moisture content produced a fluctuating graph,
the parts of the drying curve are indistinguishable. These results are due to both human and equipment
error. Changes from the controlled environment of the air tray dryer contributed to the deviations of the
results from the expected results of the experiment.

CHE151-1L/B41
Experiment No. 1

References:

Geankoplis, C.J. Transport Processes and Unit Operations. Third Edition. Prentice-Hall
International, Inc. (1993) 520-521, 533-540.
Green, D.W., Perry, R.H. Perrys Chemical Engineers Handbook 8 th Edition. McGraw-Hill
Companies. United States of America. (2008). 12-40 12-46.
Genskow, L.R.; Beimesch,W.E.; Hecht, J.P.; Kemp,I.C.; Langrish,T.; Schwartzbach, C.; Smith,
(F).L. (2007). Chemical Engineers' Handbook. Mc Graw Hill Professional. pp. Chapter 12
(Evaporative Cooling and Solids Drying).
Gutierrez, C. L., & De Guzman, M. R. (2005). Chemical Engineering Laboratory Manual Part 2

CHE151-1L/B41
Experiment No. 1

Appendix
Table 2.1. Time and Free moisture
Time (min)
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
110
120
130
140

CHE151-1L/B41
Experiment No. 1

Free Moisture (X) (kgH2O/kgdry sand)

0.169575305
0.161303339
0.152123474
0.14375063
0.133461112
0.125088268
0.117018057
0.108947846
0.100474125
0.091798648
0.082013518
0.073741551
0.06526783
0.049127408

Free moisture vs. Time

0.2
0.15
0.1
0.05
0

Free Moisture

Time (min)

Figure 2.2 Moisture removal per unit time

Table 2.2. Free Moisture and Drying Rate per unit time
Time (t) (min)
Free Moisture (X) (kgH2O/kgdrysand)
10
0.169575305
20
0.161303339
30
0.152123474
40
0.14375063
50
0.133461112
60
0.125088268
70
0.117018057
80
0.108947846
90
0.100474125
100
0.091798648
110
0.082013518
120
0.073741551
130
0.06526783
140
0.049127408

CHE151-1L/B41
Experiment No. 1

Drying Rate (R) (kg H2O/hr- m2)

0.49958368
0.409658618
0.454621149
0.414654455
0.509575354
0.414654455
0.399666944
0.399666944
0.419650291
0.429641965
0.48459617
0.409658618
0.419650291
0.799333888

Rate vs. Free moisture

0.9
0.8
0.7
Rate

0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.04

0.06

0.08

0.1

0.12

0.14

0.16

0.18

Free Moisture

Figure 2.3 Drying Curve

CHE151-1L/B41
Experiment No. 1