CLASSIFICATION OF DRYERS: STATE OF

MATERIALS IN THE DRYER

GROUP III
Meet the Members
Group Leader: Neple Plangdi Noel
• Harry Emmanuella
• Gisanrin Oluwaseun
• Hector-Fowobaje Oluwatoni
• James Precious Chidinma
• John Stephen Mamza
• Kadeer St. Daniel
• Melariri-Okwu Godspower
• Nwagu-Ajana Collins
• Obigwe Chike
• Ochie Marypeace
• Ofili-Udo Chidera
• Kehinde Oluwapelumi Faith
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Table of Content
▪ Title Page
▪ Meet the Members
▪ Table of Content
▪ Introduction
▪ Topic of Presentation
▪ Recommendations

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What is Drying?
• The removal of moisture or a liquid from a solid in a
process that involves simultaneous heat and mass
transfer.
• The heat is transferred for evaporation by a combination
of conduction, convection, and radiation.
• The moisture may evaporate directly from the surface of
the non-porous solid or be transferred from within the
body of a porous solid by diffusion or capillary flow to
the surface.

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Why Dry?

Drying process is an energy intensive activity and

plays a significant role in many industrial applications
such as food, textile and paper and many other
processing industries.

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What is a Dryer?
• A device used to reduce the moisture from a solid
material.
• The most common type involves the passing of
heated air with a low humidity over the moisture-
bearing solid, thereby causing evaporation and
removal of the moisture.
• The drying process is carried out until a desired
moisture content is achieved.

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Selection of Dryers
• There are different types of dryers available to meet the wide range of
requirement of food and dairy industry.
• Heat transfer and mass transfer are not the only concerns when one is
designing or operating a dryer.
• The product quality (color, particle density, hardness, texture, flavor,
etc.) is also very strongly dependent on the drying conditions and the
physical and chemical transformations occurring in the dryer.
• A typical checklist for selection of industrial dryers is shown:

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  Granular, particulate, sludge, crystalline,
Physical form of Feed liquid, pasty, suspension, solution,
continuous sheets, planks, odd shapes
(small/large)
 Sticky, lumpy

Average throughput  Mass flowrate (kg/h) dry/wet substance;

continuous dryer
 Mass (kg) dry/wet substance; batch dryer

 Fossil fuels
Fuel Choice  Gas
 Electricity

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For particulate feed products
 Mean particle size
 Size distribution
 Particle density
 Bulk density
 Rehydration properties

Inlet/outlet moisture contentClick to add text

Dry basis
 Wet basis

 Melting point
Heat Sensitivity  Glass transition temperature

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Classification of Dryers
• Drying equipment may be classified in several ways.
• Effective classification is vital in selection of the most appropriate dryer for
the task and in understanding the key principles on which it operates. The
main categories are as follows:
a. Form of feed and product—particulate (solid or liquid feed), sheet, slab
b. Mode of operation—batch or continuous
c. Mode of heat transfer—convective (direct), conductive (indirect),
radiative, or dielectric
d. State of materials—static bed, moving bed, fluidized or dispersed

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e. Gas-solids contacting—parallel flow, perpendicular flow, or
through-circulation

f. Gas flow pattern—cross-flow, concurrent, or countercurrent

• For the purpose of this presentation, the emphasis will be on the

classification according to the state of materials in dryer

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Classification of Dryers according to State of
Materials in Dryer
In solids-gas contacting equipment, the solid bed can exist in any of four
conditions:
1. Static (Stationary) Bed: This is a dense bed of solids in which each
particle rests upon another at essentially the settled bulk density of the
solids phase. There is no relative motion among solids particles, as can be
shown in the figure below.

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Static Bed

Because there is no mechanical drive system to move the particles, the

static dryers are lighter and simpler to manufacture, and hence, cheaper.
Examples include tray dryers and freeze dryers.

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Diagram of a Tray Dryer

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Static Bed

Advantage
• No attrition

Disadvantage
• Only a fraction of particles is exposed to drying process, making it
slow.

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2. Moving Bed: This is a slightly
expanded bed of solids in which the
particles are separated only enough to
flow one over another. Usually, the flow
is downward under the force of gravity,
but upward motion by mechanical lifting
or agitation may also occur within the
process vessel. In some cases, lifting of
the solids is accomplished in separate
equipment, and solids flow in the
presence of the gas phase is downward
only. In this definition, solids motion is
achieved by either mechanical agitation
or gravity force.
An example is a drum dryer.

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Diagram of a Rotary Dryer

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Moving Bed

Advantage
• Whole material is exposed to heating surface

Disadvantage
• Attrition is possible

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3. Fluidized Bed: This is an expanded condition in which the solids particles
are supported by drag forces caused by the gas phase passing through the
interstices among the particles at some critical velocity. The superficial gas
velocity upward is less than the terminal settling velocity of the solids particles
and is not sufficient to entrain and convey continuously all the solids.
Specifically, the solids phase and the gas phase are intermixed and together
behave as a boiling fluid. The gas forms the continuous phase, but the bulk
density is not much lower than a continuous packed bed of solids.

▪ Fluidized bed dryer is used extensively in the pharmaceutical industries to

reduce the moisture content of pharmaceutical powder and granules. An
example is spray dryer.

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Diagram of a Spray Dryer
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Fluidized Bed

Advantage
• Excellent contact between solid particles and heated gas system

Disadvantage
• Attrition is possible

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4. Dispersed Bed: This is a fully expanded condition in which the solids
particles are so widely separated that they exert essentially no influence
upon one another. Specifically, the solids phase is so fully dispersed in
the gas that the density of the suspension is essentially that of the gas
phase alone. This situation is common when the gas velocity at all points
in the system exceeds the terminal settling velocity of the solids and the
particles can be lifted and continuously conveyed by the gas; however,
this is not always true. Cascading rotary dryers, countercurrent-flow
spray dryers, and gravity settling chambers such as prilling towers are
three exceptions in which gas velocity is insufficient to entrain the solids
completely.

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• A dryer which illustrates all four types of
flow mentioned is the Cascading (direct)
rotary dryer with lifters.
• Particles sitting in the flights (lifters) are
a static bed. When they are in the rolling
bed at the bottom of the dryer, or rolling
off the top of the lifters, they form a
moving bed.
• They form a falling curtain which is
initially dense (fluidized) but then they
spread out and become dispersed.

Diagram of a Rotary Dryer with lifters

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• Static and moving beds dryers where the solid forms the continuous phase
are called layer dryers, while those where the gas forms the continuous
phase (fluidized and dispersed solids) are classified as dispersion dryers.

• Gas-particle heat and mass transfer is much faster in dispersion dryers, and
these are therefore often favored where high drying rates (short drying
times) is needed.

• Layer dryers are very suitable for slow-drying materials requiring a long
residence time. E.g., in the drying of pasta

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Recommendation
• Because in a gas-solids-contacting operation heat transfer and mass transfer
take place at the solids’ surfaces, maximum process efficiency can be
expected with a maximum exposure of solids surface to the gas phase,
together with thorough mixing of gas and solids. Both are important.
• Within any arrangement of particulate solids, gas is present in the voids
among the particles and contacts all surfaces except at the points of particle
contact.
• When the solids are fluidized or dispersed, the gas moves past them rapidly,
and external heat- and mass-transfer rates are high.
• Some transfer of energy and mass may occur by diffusion, but it is usually
insignificant.
• The problem can be much reduced by using through-circulation of gas
instead of cross circulation, or by agitating and mixing the solids.

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 The End
Thank you for your time.

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