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DRYING OF POWDERY MATERIALS IN A PULSED FLUID

BED DRYER
a a b
Z. Gawrzynski , R. Glaser & T. Kudra
a
Faculty of Apparatus and Process Engineering, Wroclaw University of Economics ,
Komandorska 118/120, Wroclaw , 53-345 , Poland
b
CANMET, Energy Diversification Research Laboratory , 1615 Lionel-Boulet Blvd, Varennes ,
PQ , J3X 1S6 , Canada
Published online: 27 Apr 2007.

To cite this article: Z. Gawrzynski , R. Glaser & T. Kudra (1999) DRYING OF POWDERY MATERIALS IN A PULSED FLUID BED
DRYER, Drying Technology: An International Journal, 17:7-8, 1523-1532, DOI: 10.1080/07373939908917633

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/07373939908917633

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 DRYING TECHNOLOGY, 17(7&8), 1523-1532 (1999)

DRYING OF POWDERY MATERIALS IN A PULSED FLUID BED DRYER

2. Gawrzynski', R. Glaser' and T. Kudral

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I. Faculty of Apparatus and Process Engineering, Wroclaw University of

Economics, Komandorska 118/120,53-345 Wroclaw, Poland
2. CANMET, Energy Diversification Research Laboratory
1615 Lionel-Boulet Blvd, Varemes, PQ, Canada J3X IS6

Key Words and Phrases: drying kinetics; hydrodynamics; heat transfer; pressure
drop; polypropylene; reduced moisture content; size distribution

ABSTRACT

Drying of recycled polypropylene powder was studied experimentally in a

laboratory pulsed fluid bed dryer (PFB) with relocated air sueam. It was proved
that fluidization of fine particles having a large specific surface area and a broad
size distribution is technically feasible when using the composite supporting grid.
Drying and hydrodynamic characteristics for a pulsed fluid bed of fine particles
are found to be similar to the ones for coarse particles. Equations for minimum
pulsed fluidization velocity, pressure drop, and surface and volumetric heat
transfer coefficients are given.

INTRODUCTION

The technology of a pulsed fluid bed with relocated air stream has been used
successfully for drying and cooling of coarse particles (Gawrzynski, 1987;
Gawrzynski et al., 1989; Gawrzynski, 1990; Gawmjnski and Glaser, 1996;

Copyright 0 1999 by Marcel Dekker. Inc.

 1524 GAWRZYNSKI. GLASER. AND KUDRA

Zgorzalewicz and Glaser, 1989). Processing of powdery materials in a PFB has

faced, however, a number of technical problems, of which the most important was
the flow of undersize particles through openings in the supporting grid. Attempts
to reduce the size of openings in grids normally used for drying coarse particles
failed because pressure drop increases dramatically when the free cmss-sectional
area of the grid is lower than 4%. Attempts to reduce the si$ of openings and
increase the free cross-sectional area of the grid also failed because mechanical
strength of such a grid was insufficient to withstand air pulsation and permanent
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vibrations of the bed.

Drying of powdery materials became technically feasible after the composite grid
was designed. In such a grid, the main perforated plate with small openings but
relatively large free cross-sectional area is reinforced by a stiff supporting plate
having large openings and large free cross-sectional area. Such a grid features
good rigidity and low pressure drop with practically no through-flow of undersize
particles.

EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE AND EQUIPMENT

Hydrodynamic and drying tests were performed in a three-chamber pulsed

fluid bed dryer shown schematically in Figure 1. The dryer is equipped with an
air-lock feeder and discharge for continuous operation. Panicles entrained with
cxhaust air are separated in the cyclone. The material to be dried is held on the
0.12x0.6m composite grid with slot width 0.07mm and free cross-sectional area
7.6%. The air stream is supplied to the dryer through the rotary valvedistributor
dryer. The disk of this valve-distributor has an opening in the form of a circular
sector with the central angle of 120'. Rotation of the disk generates pulsation of
the air stream with a frequency determined by the rotational speed of the disk.
Details of the dryer design and basic operating characteristics of the pulsed fluid
bed can be found in the review paper by Gawrzynski and Glaser (1996).

Experiments were carried out with wet polypropylene having a particle size
distribution from 0.08 to l.lmm. The average initial moisture content of the raw
material was 28% w.b. Such a large amount of essentially surface water resulted,
however, in gravitational segregation of water during storage. Therefore, the
moisture content of individual batches, though well mixed prior to the
experiments, varied from 26.2 to 37.3% w.b. Due to specifics of the recycling
 PULSED FLUID BED DRYER 1525

AIR OUTLET
WET
MATERIAL 1

PFB DRYER
MEASURING POINTS
-
T TEMPERANRE
P -PRESSURE
-
RH RELATIVE HUMIDITY T
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..... DRY PRODUCT

Figure 1. Experimental pulsed fluid bed dryer.

technology, the wet polypropylene particles were highly porous with an extended
surface area (Figure 2a). Because of the mechanical effect of the bed pulsation,
this extended surface shrank and collapsed during drying so the particles became
more compact and rounded (Figure 2b). Therefore, the average size of a dry
product was much smaller than that of the raw material. It ranged from 0.02 to
0.142mm (de=0.066mm) for the 10% mass fraction collected in the cyclone, and
from 0.084 to 0.294mm (de=0.166mm) for polypropylene discharged from the
dryer. The bulk density of wet polypropylene was about 520kg/m1 (taped density
682kg/m3), and of dry powder about 360kg/m3 (taped density 682kglm'). The
equilibrium moisture content of polypropylene was 0.0643% at 50•‹C(RH=7.6%),
0.0566% at 70•‹C(RH=3.0%), and 0.0386% at 90•‹C(RH=I .4%).

The hydrodynamic characteristics of the PFB were studied at ambient temperature

for both wet and dry polypropylene. The static bed height was varied from 50 to
400mm at 50mm interval. The frequency of air stream pulsation was kept constant
at 5, 10 and 15Hz. In each run, the air velocity was gradually increased from zero
to 0.45mIs and then reduced back to zero. Notes were taken on pressure drop,
minimum pulsed fluidization velocity and bed uniformity. Based on the collected
 GAWRZYNSKI. GLASER. AND KUDRA
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b) - 0.2rnrn

Figure 2. Microscopic views of wet (a) and dry (b) polypropylene.

 PULSED FLUID BED DRYER 1527

data, the range of parameters ensuring stable operation of the bed was selected for
drying studies. Thus, the static bed height of the wet material was set at 100, 200
and 300mm. For each bed height, three levels of superficial air velocity were
selected from the range 0.1 78-0.25 mls. Inlet air temperature was constant during
each m, and equal to 50, 70 and 90•‹C. Because preliminary experiments on
drying with the air stream pulsed at 5, 10 and l5Hz revealed no effect of
frequency on drying rate, the experiments were continued at the fixed frequency
of 1OHz.
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RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Bed hydrodynamics

Typical pressure drop curves for pulsed fluidization of polypropylene

powder are shown in Figure 3. Regimes of the minimum pulsed fluidization
velocity at which the entire bed vibrates uniformly are marked by a dotted line.
Characteristically, the minimum pulsed fluidization velocity for powdery
polypropylene (dotted line) follows the same trend as for coarse panicles and
increases with the grid load (Gawrzynski and Glaser, 1996). Therefore, it was
related to the static bed height by the following equation (R=0.9802):
ui =O.~H:'~, m/s
P/ (1)

Because pressure drop in the pulsed fluid bed depends on the grid load but
stabilizes at air velocities higher than the minimum pulsed fluidization velocity,
the pressure drop for developed pulsed fluidization was correlated only against the
static bed height:

As seen from Figure 3, pressure drop calculated from Equation 2 for different grid
loads (solid lines) fits the experimental data well. ?his confirms that the general
equation for pressure drop in fluid beds also holds for pulsed fluid beds with
relocated air stream.

Surprisingly, the pressure drop points for wet polypropylene (open symbols) are
located below the respective points for dry polypropylene (solid symbols), on
 1528 GAWRZYNSKI. GLASER, AND KUDRA
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Figure 3. Pressure drop for dry (solid symbols) and wet (open symbols)
polypropylene; comparison of experimental and theoretical values calculated from
Equation 2

average by 30-40 Pa. Such a dislocation is likely due to channelling of the gas
stream when flowing through the bed of wet, and therefore sticky, particles. This
difference has no practical importance because in a continuous dryer there is
always a layer of dry material in the near-grid area.

Drying kinerics ,

Drying kinetics data were interpreted in terms of drying curves (X' = f(t)),
normalized drying curves (X, = f(t)) and temperature curves (T, = f(t)), obtained
for different air velocities, static bed heights, and air temperatures. Sample curves,
which are representative for all experimental data, are shown in Figure 4. The
nearly proportional decrease of the material moisture content with drying time,
which coincides with constant material temperature equal to the wet bulb
temperature indicates that powdery polypropylene dries down to the required
0.5% w.b. in the first drying period, where drying rates are controlled by external
 PULSED FLUID BED DRYER 1529

45 4OX

25 30

20 IS%

IS lox
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10 SX

s ox
0 10 60 90 I20 IS0 180 0 20 40 60 (10 I00
t mi" L min

Figure 4. Drying and temperature curves: a) u=0.23 mls, T,,=50•‹C, H,,=O.Zm,

b) u=0.21 d s , T,,=70•‹C, H,=O. Im

conditions. Therefore, the experimental data were correlated in terms of the gas-
to-particle heat transfer:

The heat transfer coefficient was calculated from the heat used for water
evaporation, at given temperature difference, and related to the total surface area
of polypropylene particles:

where
Q =-
-AH, w
I
and
F =-6%
, m2 (6)
PS~,
Because the outlet air temperature was close to the material temperature, the
temperature difference was calculated as the l o g a r i h i c mean from the inlet air
temperature and material temperature:
 GAWRZYNSKI, GLASER, AND KUDRA

(7)

The volumetric heat transfer coefficient was calculated as

D E
av = CH,,u , w l(m3K) (8)
where

ay =- , w/(m3~) (10)
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ATmV
and the bed volume is a product of the grid area and static bed height.

Applying multi-variable regression to all experimental data, the following

correlations were obtained:

for the surface heat transfer coefficient (R=0.9945), and

av = 2 7 2 0 u ~ . ~ ~ ~ wl(m3K)
;~.~~, (12)
for the volumetric heat transfer coefficient (R=0.9944).

Conrinuous drying

Continuous drying of polypropylene was carried out at constant inlet air

temperature 90•‹C,constant air velocity 0.22m/s, and grid load set at 77.2, 52.7,
36.5 and 23.9kg/m1. The dryer in each of four tests was run for 10 hours.
Experiments confirmed that kinetics data obtained in a batch dryer could be used
to predict drying time in a continuous dryer. This drying time is approximately
equal to the material residence time, because the flow pattern in a rectangular PFB
dryer is close to the plug flow (in industrial dryers the material flow pattern may
depart from the model plug flow). Further, the grid area for a given throughput of
the dryer can he determined from hydrodynamic data, trading required drying time
and pre-set bed height for the pressure drop.

NOTATION

d diameter, m
f frequency, Hz
 PULSED FLUID BED DRYER

surface area, m2
acceleration due to gravity, mls'
height, m
thermal conductivity, W/(m K)
mass, kg
heat rate, 11s
relative humidity, %
time, s
temperature, K
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superficial air velocity, mls

volume, m3
moisture content (dry basis), kgkg
moisture content (wet basis), %
surface heat transfer coefftcient, W/(m2K)
volumetric heat transfer coefficient, W/(m3K)
latent heat of vaporisation, Jlkg
pressure drop, Pa
temperature difference. K
void fraction, -
viscosity, kgl(ms)
density, kglm'

Subscripts

e equivalent
eq equilibrium
g air
m mean
pf pulsed fluidization
st static
S solid (material)
V volumetric
w water
w.b. wet basis
1 inlet
0 initial
 GAWRZYNSKI, GLASER. AND KUDRA

Superscripts

i minimum (incipient)

Dimensionless numbers

Re= u d, pJp Reynolds number

Xrrd=(x-&J(&-Xrrd) reduced moisture content
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LlTERATURE CITED

Gawrzynski, Z., 1987, Cooling of Crystal Sugar in a Pulsed Fluid Bed with
Periodically Relocated Air Stream, Zucker Industrie, 12, (lo), pp. 875-882 (in
German).

Gawrzynski, Z., Glaser, R. and Zgorzalewicz, J., 1989, Drying of Grinular

Material in Pulsofluidized Bed, Hungarian Journal of Industrial Chemistry,
17, pp. 245-255.

Gawnynski, Z., 1990, Kinetics of Crystal Sugar Cooling in a Pulsed Fluid Bed
with Periodically Relocated Air Stream, Zucker Industrie, 3, (lo), pp. 182-
188 (in German).

Gawrzynski, Z. and Glaser, R., 1996, Drying in a Pulsed Fluid Bed with
Relocated Gas Stream, Drying Technology, 14, (5). pp. 1121-1 172.

Zgorzalewicz, J. and Glaser, R., 1989, Hydrodynamics of Pulsed-Fluid Bed of

Coarse Granular Material, lnzynieria Chemiczna i Procesowa, 1, pp. 3-21
(in Polish).