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Chemical Engineering and Processing 46 (2007) 1324–1331

Thin-layer drying of porous materials: Selection of the

appropriate mathematical model and relationships
between thin-layer models parameters
Aleksandra Sander ∗
Faculty of Chemical Engineering and Technology, University of Zagreb, Croatia
Received 5 July 2006; received in revised form 19 September 2006; accepted 2 November 2006
Available online 10 November 2006

Abstract
Experimental investigation of the drying kinetics of various types of materials was carried out in laboratory-scale dryers under different conditions
of temperature, microwave heating power and pressure. Leather samples (mechanically and vacuum-dewatered bull napa and wet blue cutting),
paperboards (grafopack, testliner), wood (alder, birch, willow) and two pharmaceutical powders (chlorpropamide and hydrochlorotiazide) were
dried in a microwave dryer. Thin clay slabs, Al–Ni catalyst and chlorpropamide were dried in a convection dryer, while chlorpropamide and
ketoprofen were dried in a vacuum dryer. In order to compare drying kinetics, experimentally obtained data, X = f(t), were correlated with the
Lewis “thin-layer” equation, the modified Page equation and Fick’s second law. The drying constant, effective diffusion coefficient, mass transfer
coefficient and modified Page model parameters were estimated by fitting the selected mathematical models to experimental data. High levels of
correlation between measured and calculated data were obtained for all materials and dryers using modified Page model. The application of the
Lewis and Fick’s equation is justified only for drying of clay, catalyst and leather. Mass transfer coefficient depends linearly on the drying constant.
The relation between the modified Page model parameter and the drying constant can be represented by a unique power function.
© 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Diffusion; Drying; Kinetics; Mass transfer; Mathematical modeling; Porous media

1. Introduction
During thermal drying, several processes take place simulta-
neously. Besides the change in the material moisture content and
temperature, other processes may modify the material structure
and composition [1]. For that reason, mathematical modeling of
such a process may become very difficult. In order to predict the
drying kinetics of some particular material, many process vari-
ables and material properties must be known [1–3]. The system
of differential equations for the description of such a process
is very complex and extremely non-linear, because all material
properties depend on material moisture content and tempera-
ture, which changes gradually during drying [4]. The way in
which heat is supplied to the wet material by many different
dryer designs makes mathematical modeling of drying even
more complicated. Knowledge of the drying kinetics is essential
∗ Tel.: +385 1 4597259; fax: +385 1 4597259.
E-mail address: asander@fkit.hr.
for the design and selection of a dryer. It is useful to find the dry-
ing course, X = f(t), experimentally under operating conditions,
even though it is possible to calculate the drying rate curves
for individual cases with known mathematical model parame-
ters [3]. Therefore, the majority of past and present studies rely
on experimentally obtained data. The development of appropri-
ate mathematical models is the objective of many researchers,
and there are numerous models for the description of the drying
course in the literature. Some models include transport proper-
ties such as effective diffusion coefficient, thermal conductivity,
and heat and mass transfer coefficients [1]. During microwave
drying, besides the transport properties, interaction between
dielectric properties of the wet material (e.g. dielectric constant
and loss factor) and microwave field parameters (e.g. electric
field distribution in the oven and in the sample) must be included
in the mathematical model [4–9]. Dielectric properties of the wet
material depend on moisture content, which makes modeling of
such a process much more complicated. Again, it is essential to
be familiar with the experimentally obtained drying data and the
inner material structure (pore size distribution), because these

0255-2701/$ – see front matter © 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.cep.2006.11.001
 A. Sander / Chemical Engineering and Processing 46 (2007) 1324–1331
will tell us if the process is under internal or external control. So,
the controlling resistance to heat and mass transfer will define
the required accuracy of the transport properties, and will iden-
tify what property must be incorporated in the mathematical
model. However, researchers are striving for, a simple math-
ematical model with a small number of parameters [4,7,10].
Thin-layer equations are often used for description of drying
kinetics for various types of porous materials. In general, math-
ematical models used for description of the drying kinetics, can
be classified into three groups: theoretical, semi-theoretical, and
empirical [4,7,11]. Theoretical equations are based on the diffu-
sion process (Fick’s second law) or simultaneous heat and mass
transfer equations. Semi-theoretical equations are analogous to
Newton’s law of cooling, with some theoretical background.
Lewis [12] suggested that, during drying of porous materials
in the falling rate period, the drying rate is proportional to the
difference between the instantaneous moisture content of the
material and the equilibrium moisture content defined by the
drying conditions. Empirical models fit all drying data well, but
neglect the fundamentals of the drying process [4,7]. Jayas et al.
[4] have given a good review of most thin-layer equations in the
literature. The Lewis [12] (1) and the Page [13] (2) equations
are the most frequently used:
X − Xeq
= e−Kt (1)
X0 − Xeq
X − Xeq n tive diffusion coefficient, Deff and mass transfer coefficient, kM )
= e−kt (2)
X0 − Xeq
Some authors propose modifications of those equations, e.g.
the Pabis and Henderson equation [14]:
X − Xeq
= A0 e−k0 t (3)
X0 − Xeq
the Sharaf-Eldeen et al. equation [15]:
X − Xeq
= A0 e−k0 t + A1 e−k1 t (4)
X0 − Xeq
and the Overhults et al. equation [16]:
X − Xeq
= e−(kt)
n
(5)
X0 − Xeq
A new modification of the Page model has been proposed [22]
that results in the physical meaning of one model parameter, tk :
X − Xeq n
= e−(t/tk ) (6)
X0 − Xeq
Additionally, Fick’s second law is often used, for evaluation
of the effective diffusion coefficient and mass transfer coeffi-
cient:
 
∂X
= Deff ∇ 2 x (7)
∂t
All of these equations disregard the initial (heating-up or
cooling-down) period, and are more suitable for description of
the falling rate period [4–6,16,17]. Bruce [17] showed that the
diffusion model with moisture-dependent diffusivity predicts
1325
the initial delay during the heating-up period. Monzó-Cabrera
et al. [5,6] also estimated the heating-up period from the pro-
posed model. They developed a three-stage mathematical model
(heating-up period, constant rate period and falling rate period)
for microwave-assisted drying of leather [6], based on the dielec-
tric properties of the material and electric field distribution inside
the oven and the sample, which predicts the heating-up period.
Chen [18] stated that the so-called bi-functions (a simple math-
ematical model based on an exponential decay function of time)
cannot be applied directly to the entire drying time, because
that models does not quite represent reality especially for the
induction (heating-up or cooling-down) period.
The Lewis equation (1), the modified Page equation (6) and
Fick’s equation (7) of unsteady-state diffusion have been used
for description of the experimental data. The Lewis equation is
chosen because the drying constant is the most suitable quantity
for the preliminary design and optimization of the drying process
[1]. The modified Page model successfully describes the drying
kinetics of almost all tested materials, so it was a logical choice
[20–27]. The solution of Fick’s equation for unsteady-state dif-
fusion for a slab and a sphere are obtained by assuming constant
diffusivity and a convection boundary condition [28,29]. Those
analytical solutions were chosen because the thickness of dry-
ing materials is very small, so the processes of temperature and
moisture equalization are externally controlled. Drying constant,
K, parameters tk and n, and mass transport properties (effec-
are estimated as parameters of the applied mathematical models
by fitting them to experimental data, X = f(t). Since the drying
constant is obtained from the mathematically simplest model,
with only one parameter, the dependence between its values and
the other two mathematical model parameters were analyzed.
The other reason for examining this relationships (K = f(Deff ),
K = f(kM ) and K = f(tk )) lies in the fact that the drying constant is
often used as a combination of the transport properties, and as a
trial for standardizing a process description independent of the
controlling mechanism [1].
The correlation index, ρ, was calculated by the equation:

 
 i (Xcalc − Xexp )
2

ρ = 1−  (8)
2
i (X̄ − Xexp )
2. Materials and methods
The materials to be dried (except chrome tanned bull napa
[22,26], wood [22] and clay [22,23,25]) were mixed (powders:
hydrochlorotiazide [22], chlorpropamide [20,22], ketoprofen
[22,27]) or soaked (paperboard [21,22], Al–Ni catalyst [22,25])
in a defined amount of distilled water in order to prepare wet
materials with uniform initial moisture content. Ketoprofen was
mixed with xylene instead of water. Wood samples were cut from
different trees, so their geometrical characteristics and proper-
ties differ to a certain degree. Before microwave drying, wood
samples were dried slowly at room conditions in order to avoid
cracking during exposure to the high intensity microwave field.
Drying conditions for all experiments are shown in Tables 1–3.
1326 A. Sander / Chemical Engineering and Processing 46 (2007) 1324–1331

Table 1 Table 4
Drying conditions for convection drying List of references for the laboratory-scale driers
Material Dimensions X0 (%) T (◦ C) Drier Material Ref.

Chlorpropamide 220 mm × 132 mm × 5 mm 40 40–60 Microwave Leather [26]

(tunnel drier, Wood [22]
C10 H13 ClN2 O3 S) Paperboard [21]
Al–Ni catalyst Spheres, d = 6.1 mm 36.7 30–80 Chlorpropamide [20]
Clay Slabs, 65 mm × 55 mm × 2 mm 15.3 30–70 Hydrochlorotiazide [22]
Convection Clay [24]
Al–Ni catalyst [25]
Table 2
Drying conditions for vacuum drying Tunnel Chlorpropamide [20]

Material Dimensions X0 (%) T (◦ C) Vacuum Chlorpropamide [20]

Ketoprofen [27]
Chlorpropamide 50 mm × 50 mm × 2 mm 40 40–60
(C10 H13 ClN2 O3 S)
Ketoprofen 50 mm × 50 mm × 5 mm 25 40–60
Figs. 1–8. In order to test the applicability of the selected math-
(C12 H12 O2 )
ematical models and to determine the relationships between the
evaluated model parameters and the drying constant, the drying
Table 3 kinetics of various types (origin and inner structure) of mate-
Drying conditions for microwave drying
Material Dimensions X0 (%) P (W kg−1 )

Hydrochlorotiazide d = 75 mm, h = 5 mm 20 100–230

(C7 H8 N3 S2 O4 Cl,
0.086 m2 g−1 )
Chlorpropamide d = 55 mm, h = 5 mm 40 190–475
(C10 H13 ClN2 O3 S)
Leather
CTMD Circular slabs, 62.5
d = 7.1 mm
CTVD 55.2
WBC 58.6
Paperboard
Grafopak (500 g m−2 ) Thin slabs, 60 642–2573
100 mm × 100 mm
Testliner (370 g m−2 ) Thin slabs, 60 516–1932
100 mm × 100 mm
Wood
Alder Natural shape 18.6–42.4
Birch 19.4–41.2 Fig. 1. Experimental and calculated drying curves for microwave drying of
Willow 26.4–38 leather. CTMD: chrome tanned mechanically dewatered bull napa; CTVD:
chrome tanned vacuum-dewatered bull napa; WBC: wet blue cutting.

3. Experimental setup

Laboratory-scale dryers (as shown in Table 4) were used for

experimental investigation of drying kinetics of various types of
materials. All experiments were conducted under defined and
controlled external conditions (air temperature, relative humid-
ity and velocity, microwave power and pressure). Microwave
drying was performed at different microwave power levels (spe-
cific radiation forces for each material are given in Table 3).
Convection (Table 1) and vacuum (Table 2) drying data were
obtained for different air temperatures. The laboratory-scale
driers are described in detail in the references cited in Table 4.

4. Results and discussion

Experimentally obtained and calculated (using Eqs. (1), (6) Fig. 2. Experimental and calculated drying curves for microwave drying of wood
and (7)) kinetics curves of selected materials are shown in samples.
 A. Sander / Chemical Engineering and Processing 46 (2007) 1324–1331 1327

Fig. 3. Experimental and calculated drying curves for microwave drying of Fig. 6. Experimental and calculated drying curves for vacuum drying of keto-
paperboard. profen.

Fig. 4. Experimental and calculated drying curves for microwave, convection

and vacuum drying of chlorpropamide. Fig. 7. Experimental and calculated drying curves for convection drying of clay.

Fig. 5. Experimental and calculated drying curves for microwave drying of Fig. 8. Experimental and calculated drying curves for convection drying of
hydrochlorotiazide. Al–Ni catalyst.
1328 A. Sander / Chemical Engineering and Processing 46 (2007) 1324–1331

Table 5 Table 6
Correlation indexes for the selected mathematical models The duration of the heating-up and constant rate periods
Drier Material Correlation index Drier Material %tH %tC

Lewis Modified Page Fick Microwave Leather 1.5–5 0–12

Microwave Leather Wood

MDBN 0.9986 0.9995 0.9994 Willow 20 20–48
VDBN 0.9975 0.9996 0.9987 Alder 28–46 7–48
WBC 0.9978 0.9997 0.9978 Birch 20–35 6–60

Wood Paperboard
Alder 0.9496 0.9999 0.9495 Grafopack 16 36
Birch 0.9532 0.9993 0.9532 Testliner 14 40
Williw 0.9622 0.9989 0.9622 Chlorpropamide 7 14–19
Paperboard Hydrochlorotiazide 5–15 14–30
Grafopack 0.9557 0.9980 0.9557
Testliner 0.9803 0.9989 0.9802 Convection Clay 1–3 13–27
Al–Ni catalyst 1–3 14–29
Chlorpropamide 0.9817 0.9993 0.9816
Hydrochlorotiazide 0.9796 0.9998 0.9791 Tunnel Chlorpropamide 5–11 38–71

Convection Clay 0.9984 0.9985 0.9983 Vacuum Chlorpropamide 1.5–2.7 21–47

Al–Ni catalyst 0.9966 0.9990 0.9966 Ketoprofen 8–20 25–36

Tunnel Chlorpropamide 0.9721 0.9993 0.9720

Vacuum Chlorpropamide 0.9791 0.9946
Ketoprofen 0.9461 0.9998
rials, dried in four types of drier with different heating modes
(microwave, convection, tunnel and vacuum) was analyzed. The
kinetic curves of microwave, vacuum and convection drying of
selected materials were given in our previous articles. The cor-
relation indexes for the applied mathematical models are shown
in Table 5. The modified Page model correlates highly with the
measured data, X = f(t), and can be used for simulation of the
drying kinetics of all materials regardless of the way the heat is
supplied to the wet material (Table 5; Figs. 1–8).
Drying curves of almost all materials and process conditions
shows the existence of at least three distinct drying rate peri-
ods (heating-up period, constant rate period and one or more
falling rate periods). The constant rate period does not exist
during microwave drying of leather at greater heating intensity
(Table 6).
The most significant advantage of the modified Page model
is that it is suitable for a description of the whole drying time
(heating-up, constant rate and falling rate periods), even when
the constant rate period is lengthly. For instance, drying rate
curves for both paperboards (Fig. 3), wood samples (Fig. 2), and
three pharmaceutical powders (chlorpropamide (Fig. 4), keto-
profen (Fig. 6), hydrochlorotiazide (Fig. 5)) have considerable
long constant rate periods, particularly at lower drying air tem-
peratures and microwave heating intensity. This is one of the
reasons why Lewis’ equation and Fick’s law cannot be used for
description of drying kinetics for those materials with the same
precision as the modified Page model. This can be explained
by the mathematical form of the drying equations (exponential),
which cannot entirely correlate the linear part of the drying data.
The duration of the heating-up period also affects the appli-
cability of Lewis’ and Fick’s law equations. Table 6 shows the
0.9867 duration of the heating-up and constant rate periods as a per-
0.9554 centage of the total drying time:
tH
%tH = × 100% (9)
tt
tC
%tC = × 100% (10)
tt
When the heating-up period is very short, e.g. <5% of the total
drying time, all selected models correlate well with the experi-
mental data for the whole drying duration. Only at lower heating
intensity can small deviations from the measured data be seen
in the falling rate period. When the heating-up period is longer,
only the modified Page model is adequate for description of the
drying data. The length of that period depends on the initial mois-
ture content of the material. Monzó-Cabrera et al. [19] showed
that for an initial moisture content <0.8 kg kg−1 , the influence
of the heating-up period can be neglected, and at higher values
the duration increases linearly with the initial moisture content.
The initial moisture content of all materials, except leather and
paperboards were <0.8 kg kg−1 . Drying curves for clay and cata-
lyst show a very short heating-up period, and a medium duration
of the constant rate period, so conclusions regarding the applica-
bility of all models stand. On the other hand, the initial moisture
content of leather samples is from 1.258 to 1.573 kg kg−1 , so
one can conclude that proposed Lewis and Fick models could
not be used for mathematical modeling of drying. However, the
constant rate period is also very short (and even disappears at
high microwave power), so the duration of the constant rate
period has a significant influence on the applicability of selected
mathematical models. For instance, for vacuum drying of chlor-
propamide, a negligible heating-up period and a long constant
rate period lead to a low level of correlation with the proposed
models (except the modified Page model).
When the inner structure of the material is such that some
moisture moves through the material by capillary forces (found
 A. Sander / Chemical Engineering and Processing 46 (2007) 1324–1331 1329

from pore size distribution of clay, testliner, grafopack and

hydrochlorotiazide [22]), the modified Page model is the most
suitable equation since there is a poorer correlation between the
experimental data and Lewis’ and Fick’s equations.
Shrinkage of the material (paperboard, leather, clay and
wood) does not affect the applicability of the modified Page
model, but it can be the reason for smaller values of the cor-
relation indexes of Lewis and Fick’s equations. Many authors
investigated the influence of shrinkage on the drying kinetics
modeling [9,30–32]. For highly deformable materials, a shrink-
age factor must be incorporated into the mathematical model.
For instance, during drying of wood samples, moisture diffuses
through the material in three different directions at various rates
(longitudinal diffusion is faster then radial or tangential diffu-
sion, especially for short samples). Moreover, wood shrinks by
different amounts in those directions [1]. Consequently, the pore Fig. 9. The dependence between the mass transfer coefficient for the convection
size distribution changes during drying, and results in change- drying of clay and Al–Ni catalyst and the microwave drying of all three types
able diffusion coefficients and often changes in the moisture of leather.
movement mechanism.
There are few more reasons why Fick’s equation is not can be correlated using Fick’s equation (clay, Al–Ni catalyst
suitable for fitting the measured data, X = f(t). It is possi- and leather). The results are presented in Table 7, and confirm
ble that incorrect boundary conditions are selected, although the applicability of the selected analytical solution, since the
the dimensions of the materials imply convective boundary external resistances are higher than internal resistances. The
conditions. Furthermore, transport properties depend on the next step was to determine the relation between drying constant
material moisture content and temperature, which must be and mass transfer coefficient for convection drying of clay and
taken into consideration. It is possible also that the surface Al–Ni catalyst, and microwave drying of leather. Fig. 9 shows
of the material approaches the melting temperature first (for that the drying constant varies linearly with the mass transfer
instance, microwave drying of chlorpropamide, with a rela- coefficient. A straight line is obtained for convection drying for
tively low melting point 127–130 ◦ C), and thin hard layer is both materials, and one for microwave drying the three types of
formed (new resistance). For that reason, modeling the pro- leather:
cesses of heat and mass transfer through the overdryed surface
layer becomes difficult. Also, at the beginning of the vacuum kM = 0.001K (11)
drying of chlorpropamide, the porosity of the wet sample was
changed instantaneously and the material swelled, so locally kM = 0.002K (12)
there were cavities with larger pore diameters in the material
In this way, it was verified that the drying of clay, Al–Ni cat-
layer, which results in the change in the mechanism of moisture
alyst and leather were driven by the external resistances. This is
movement. One cannot ignore the influence of the dielectric
similar to the process conditions in which the controlling mech-
properties and the microwave field parameters on the drying
anism is moisture diffusion in the material. In that case, the
kinetics, and consequently the selection or development of an
drying constant can be expressed as a linear function of moisture
adequate model.
diffusivity (for a slab) [1]:
As mentioned above, the analytical solution of Fick’s equa-
tion of unsteady-state diffusion for a slab and a sphere are πDeff
selected by assuming constant diffusivity and convection bound- K= (13)
L2
ary condition (externally controlled drying process). In order
to substantiate that, external and internal resistances to mass Henderson and Pabis showed that the drying constant can
transfer are calculated for materials with drying curves that be related to the effective diffusion coefficient (for a sphere) by
[14]:
Table 7 πDeff
K= (14)
Resistances to mass transfer for drying of clay, Al–Ni catalyst and leather R2
Material x/Deff (m min−1 ) 1/kM (m min−1 )
Even though the Lewis equation cannot be used for the
Clay 3.4–6.4 × 102 1.86–5.45 × 104 description of the drying curves for all of the materials tested, an
Al–Ni catalyst 2.3–3.9 × 102 1.37–4.93 × 104 attempt was made to correlate its values with the modified Page
Leather model parameter, tk , since it was shown that parameter tk repre-
CTMD 0.04–15.3 4.1–22.2 × 103 sents the time at which moisture diffusion through the material
CTVD 0.07–20.7 4.1–17.6 × 103
starts [22]. The results are presented in Fig. 10. No matter how
WBC 0.05–17.2 3.4–23.8 × 103
low the correlation index evaluated pairs of the drying constant,
1330 A. Sander / Chemical Engineering and Processing 46 (2007) 1324–1331

n model parameter
P specific microwave heating power (W kg−1 )
R radius (m)
t time (s)
tC constant rate period (s)
tH heating-up period (s)
tk modified model parameter (s)
T temperature (◦ C)
X material moisture content (kg kg−1 )
dX/dt drying rate (kg kg−1 s−1 )
X̄ average material moisture content (kg kg−1 )

Fig. 10. The dependence between the modified Page model parameter tk and
the drying constant.
K and parameter tk obey one power equation:
tk = 1.1651K−0.9405 (15)
Thus, influence of the heating method (convection, vacuum
and microwave), the type and the geometrical characteristics
of the material are neglected. Since the modified Page model
describes all the experimental data successfully, it is valuable to
discover that one can estimate its significant parameter, tk from
a simplest equation.
5. Conclusions
The high level of correlation between the measured and cal-
culated data justifies the applied mathematical models (Lewis,
modified Page and Fick’s equation) for description of the drying
kinetics of convection drying of clay and Al–Ni catalyst, and
microwave drying of all three types of leather.
Drying kinetics of the other selected materials can be
described successfully only with the modified Page model.
When the drying constant is known, the time at which diffu-
sion as the controlling mechanism for moisture transport inside
the material starts can be estimated from the unique equation
obtained for all experiments.
When the drying process is under external control (convec-
tive boundary condition), linear dependence between the drying
constant and the mass transfer coefficient is obtained. One line
corresponds to drying in a convection oven and the other to
drying in a microwave oven.
Appendix A. Nomenclature
d sample diameter (m)
Deff effective diffusion coefficient (m2 s−1 )
h thickness (m)
k Page model parameter
kM mass transfer coefficient (m s−1 )
K drying constant (s−1 )
L thickness of the slab (m)
Greek letters
ρ correlation index
ψ dimensionless moisture content
Subscripts
calc calculated
eq equilibrium
exp experimental
0 initial
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