9.

5 rate of drying curves

9.5a intrudction and experimental methods
1 introducion
In the drying of various types of process materials from one moisture content to another, it is
usually desired to estimed the size of dryer needed, the various operating conditions of
humidity and temperature for the airused and the time needed to perform the amount of
drying required as discussed in section 9.4 equilibrium moisture contents of vorious materials
cannot be predicted and must be determined experimentally. Similary since our knowledge of
the basic mechanisms of rate of drying is equite in complete, it is necessary in most cases to
obatain some experimental measurements of drying rates.
2 experimental determination of rate of drying
To Experimentally determination the rate drying for a given material, a sample is usually
placed on a tray. If it is a solid material it should fill the tray so that only the top surface is
exposed to the drying air stream. By suspending the tray from a balance in a cabinet or duct
through which the air is flowing, the loss in weight of moisture during drying can be
determined at different intervals without interrupting the operation.
In doing batch drying experiments, certain precautions be observed to obtain usable data
under conditions that closely resemble those to be used in the large- scale operations. The
sample should not be too small in weight and sholud be supported in a tray or frame similar
to the large-scale one. The ratio of drying to nondrying surface (insulated surface) and the
bed depth should be similiar. The velocity, humidity, temperature, and direction of the air
should be the same and constant to simulate dying under constant dry conditions
9.5 b rate of drying curves for constant drying conditions
1. conversion of data to rate of drying curve
Data obtained from a batch drying experiment are ussually obtained as W total weight of the
wet solid (dy solid plus moisture) at diffrerent time t hours in the drying period these data can
be converted to rate of drying data in the following ways. First, the data are recalculated. If
W is the weight of the wet solid in kg total water plus dry solid and Ws is the weight of the
dry solid in kg.
Xs= W-Ws/WS
For the given constant drying conditions the equilibium moisture content X* kg equilibrium
moisture/kg dry solid is determinwd. Then the free moisture content X in kg free water/kg
dry solid is calculated for each value of X
X= Xt X*

using the data calculated from eq 9.5-2 a plot of free moisture content x versus time in h is
made as in figure 9.5-1a. To obtain the rate of drying curve from this plot, the slopes of the
tangents drawn to the curve in fig 9.5-1a can be measured, which give values of dx/dt at
given values of t. The rate R is clculated for each point by

where R is Drying rate in kg H2O/h. m2, Ls .....the drying rate curve is then obtained by
plotting R versus the moisture content as in fig 9.51b
another methid to obtain the rate of drying curve is to first calculated the weight loss .....
this rate R is the average over the priod 1.68 to 2.04 h and sholud be plotted at the average
concentraion X=(3.50 + 0.325)/2 = 0.338

2. plot of rate of drying curve

In fig 9.5 the rate of drying curve for constant drying conditions is shown. At zero time the
initial free moisture constent is shown at point A. in the beginning the solid is usually At a
coolder temperature than its ultimate temperature, and the evaporation rate will increase.
Eventually at point B the surface temperature rises to its equilibrium value. Alternatively, if
the solid is quite hot to start with the rate may start at point A. This initial unsteady-state
adjustment period is usually quite short and it is often ignored in the analysis of times of
drying.
Dari point B ke C pada gambar 9.5-1a the line is straight, and hance the slope and rate are
constant during the period. This constant rate of drying period is shown as line BC in fig 9.51b
At point c on both plots the drying rate starts to decrease in the falling rate period until it
reaches point d. In this first falling rate period the rate shown as line CD in fig 9.5-1b is often
linear
At point D the rate of drying falls even more rapidly until is reaches point E, where the
equilibrium moisture content is X* and X= X*-X*=O. In some materials being dried, the
region CD may be missing completely o it may coctitute all of the falling-rate period.