SELECTING DRYING CHAMBER DIMENSIONS

FOR A TOWER SPRAY DRYER

(UDC 666.341)

V. L. Bil'dyukevich
Minsk Building Materials Combine
Translated from Steklo i Keramika, Vot. 23, No. 6,
pp. 20-28, June, 1966

The production of ceramic press powders by drying sprayed slip at the present time is considered the most
modern technique, [1]. Reports have appeared on the introduction of this method in Czechoslovakia, Western
Germany, USA, and other countries [2].
In our ceramic industry we have also started to develop spray dryers [3]. However, the rapid introduction of
this method into the industry is being held up by inaccurate information of the processes taking place in the spray
dryers during drying of ceramic slips.
The drying of ceramic slip in the sprayed state has its own specific features compared, for example, with
spray drying of food or chemical products, which has been the subject to many papers [4] making it possible to
calculate spray dryers for the substances.
The features of drying ceramic slips in the sprayed state are: high (7-8~ final moisture content in the pre-
pared product and the need for obtaining relatively coarse homogeneous powder, excess dustlike fractions, impairing
the pressing of the articles. These features greatly complicate the work of spray dryers and call for increases in the
dimensions of the drying chamber, since otherwise the ceramic body will stick on to tile internal walls of the chamber.

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Fig. 1. 1)Nozzle; 2)vortex chamber; 3)round Fig. 2. l)Columns; 2)vessels for collecting the droplets
plate made from hard alloy VK-6; 4)screw of slip; 3) manometer; 4) reservoir; 5) membrane pump;
insert; 5) frame of nozzle. 6) propellor mixer; 7) vessel for the slip.

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 700 * i000 2000 3000 4000 5000
Factors
410 590 1180 1770 2320 2950

Discharge diameter of nozzle

nipple, mm . . . . . . . . . . . 3.5 4,5 6,0 7.1 7.6 8.3
Optimum pressure of the slip,
in atm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18-20 20-23 23-25 25-28 28-30 30-35
Output of nozzle in limrs/h 816 1020 2040 3060 4080 5100
Diameter of jet of sprayed
slip in m . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.5 4.8 5.7 6.6 7.2 7.6
height of jet in m . . . . . . 5.8 6.4 6.7 6.9 7,2 7.5
Recommended diameter of
the drying chamber in m . . 4.8 5.0 6.0 7.0 7.5 8.0
Recommended height of
cylindrical part of drying
chamber in m . . . . . . . . 6.0 8.0 8.0 8.0 8.0 8.0
Height of conical part i n m 3.5 4.0 4.5 5.0 6,0 7.0
Total internal height of
drying chamber i n m . . . . 9.5 12.0 12.5 13.0 14.0 15.0
Volume of drying chamber m s 132 185 266 370 438.6 522
Moisture extraction from 1 m 3
of drying chamber in kg/h . . 3.10 3.20 4.43 4.78 5.29 5.65
Fractional composition of
power in %:
0.00-0,25 m m . . . . . . 31.6 31,7 29.5 30.i 34.0 38.0
0.25-0.50 " . ....... 54.2 54.3 53,4 53.8 56.0 50.0
0.50-1.00 ". . . . . . . . . 12.3 12.1 13.8 11.4 8.7 10.2
> 1.00 m m . . . . . . . . . . 1,8 1.8 3.2 4.5 1.2 1.7

*The numerator shows the output of the dryer in terms of prepared powder (W = 8%) kg/h and the denominator the
evaporated moisture in kg/h.

In the drying chamber of a spray dryer complex processes occur, since all physical values are variable; we get
changes in temperature, velocity and water content of the heat carrier, velocity of the air, diameter, moisture con-
tent and specific weight of the particles of sprayed slip, parameters of the dryer as it wears out under the abrasive
action of the slip, etc. Therefore, choice of the dimensions of the drying chamber is a difficult problem.

The base laboratory of the Minsk building combine over a period of three years has investigated this problem
and come up with adequately accurate information for selecting the dimensions of drying chambers for drying
ceramic slip in the sprayed state, depending on the required output of the dryer.

The work was done on a slip for the production of wall tiles with a' moisture content of 42-48%. To get the
necessary fluidity in the slip we added electrolytes in the form of 0.3% soda ash and 0.15% water glass on 100%.

For spraying the slip we used a screw-type m e c h a n i c a l nozzle (Fig. 1).

The choice of this nozzle was not accidental. In contrast to the spray disc, screw-type nozzles ensure relatively
coarse spraying of the slip with a low content of dustlike fractions [5]. Spraying with pneumatic nozzles involves
the consumption of expensive compressed air, and with this we do not get uniform granulometric composition in the
sprayed substance [4].

As a result of numerous experiments we established the following optimum ratios for the dimensions of the
screw nozzles, which permit us to get the greatest uniformity of spraying with the least diameter of the nozzle for
the sprayed substance.

Fz = (2.0--2.2) X FI;
D = (4--10) X d;

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 . . . . . ~,0 ......... 1. c~ = 50--70~
i .... l l = ( 0 . 8 - 0.9) X d;
I t i
I i J l 2 = (0.2-0.4) X D;
c I l ................. I l 3=(1.0-1.2) X d;
I I I
/4=(0.6-0.8) X D,
i r I
where
cO I
F2 is the total cross section of the channels of the nozzle
insert; Fz is the cross section of the discharge aperture of the nozzle;
d is the diameter of the nipple; D is the internal diameter of the
nozzle; a is the angle of ascent of the screw line of the channels
in the nozzle insert; l 1 is the length of the nipple; ! 2 is the
curvature of the nipple; l a is the dimensions of the vortex
3 Z 1 ! ! 2 3 ] z/
chamber; l 4 is the dimension of the screw insert.
' \ D i s t a n c e over the axis of t h e )
\ nozzle in m i /
The components of the nozzle which are most subject to
\_ L__/-___-/ abrasion are made from hard alloy VK-6 or covered with this alloy,
Fig. 3 . . . . Dotted lines indicate internal con- which increases their life m 120-150 h continuous operation.
tours of drying chamber required for drying out
The dimensions of the drying chamber depend on the
the slips made by this nozzle.
number of nozzles, characteristics output, and their arrangement
in the chamber.

Investigations were carried out with fountain flow of the substance being sprayed from the nozzle, that is,
from the bottom upward. With this, we obtained m a x i m u m dwell time for the droplets in the chamber.

The dimensions and the structure of the nozzle for spraying the slip were investigated on a test stand (Fig. 2)
consisting of eight m e t a l l i c columns a - h located around the circumference diameter 8 m. The height of the
columns was 8.3 m. To each column at different and ever increasing heights we fixed a m e t a l l i c rotary console
(bracket) fitted with container holders, which were used for determining the density of this stip at any point on the
test stand (being the volume of the drying chamber) in terms of quantity of accumulated substance in them.

In the center of the stand we installed the nozzle being studied. Slip was fed to it under various pressures,
which during the experiment were m a i n t a i n e d constant. The experiments, as a rule, lasted 5 rain, after which the
vessels were removed, and the slip a c c u m u l a t i n g in them was dried out to constant weight. Then on the basis of the
figures obtained we constructed graphs characterizing the shape of the spray of substance obtained on the nozzle
investigated. From the graphs we determined the diameter and height of the jet. The diameter of the jet was con-
sidered as the diameter within the limits of which 98% of the mass fell; the height of the jet was considered as the
height above which 2% of the substance was lifted. Figure 3 shows a graph obtained from testing nozzles with
nipple diameters ofT. 5 m m and slip ressures of 28 aim; the output of the nozzles was 3200 liters/h or 2950 kg/h in
absolute dry substance.

During each experiment we determined the output of the nozzles from the rejection of slip from the nozzles in
a measuring vessel, at the pressure at which we studied the characteristics of the jet on the test stand. The dimension
of the particles of sprayed slip was determined from the points on the aluminum blades which were painted black.
The nozzles of each diameter were tested on the stand repeatedly at different pressures with the aim of obtaining a
j e t of m i n i m u m diameter, but with adequately uniform spraying. Experiments with the spray nozzle of the stated
diameter were discontinued when it was not possible to reduce the dimensions (diameter) of the j e t further. Using
this method, we investigated the work of the nozzles having internal diameters of 30 ram, with nipples diameter
3.5 to 8.5 ram, in a slip pressure range of 15-35 atm; the moisture content of the slip in alI experiments was 42%
and the specific gravity 1.55. The results of the investigation are given in the Table.

On the basis of the data obtained the design office of our combine designed a spraying dryerwhich in the
middle of 1965 was put into operation. The wall tiles are made now at the combine from press powder obtained in
this dryer. The dryer has a capacity of 3.5 tons of powder per h.

This dryer was used to check data obtained when testing nozzles on the stand. The measurement of diameter
of jet in the working spray dryer showed that it has practically the same value as was determined on the test stand,

305
other conditions being equal. It is typical that during the testing work of the spray dryer with the nozzles, forming
on the stand tests a jet of spray substance of larger diameter than the diameter of the drying chamber, on the internal
walls of the latter we immediately detected sticking of the body. Sticking was completely discontinued after the
dryer was fitted with a nozzle, forming a jet whose diameter was lower than the diameter of the drying chamber.
Hence, it follows that the dimensions of the drying chamber for spraying dryers needs to be selected so that the
particles of dried slip scarcely touch the walls of the chamber.

LITERATURE CITED
1~ H. Troesch, G.'Vetter, and O. Wilk, "Silikat Journal," No. 3 (1964).
2. D. Schlegel, "Interceram, No. 1 (1962); Stetdo iKeramika, No. 12 (1965), p. 87.
3 M. S. Belopol' skii et al., Steklo i Keramika, No. 9 (1965).
4. M. V. Lykov, Drying by Spraying, Pishchepronizdat (1955).
5. R. Kerschbaum,"Silikat Journal," No. 7 (1963).

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