Drying of Solids/Dryer in

Chemical Process
Dr. Md Tanvir Sowgath
Introduction
• Drying of a wet solid means the removal of relatively small amounts of water or
other liquid from the solid material to reduce the content of residual liquid to an
acceptably low value.
• Drying is usually the final step in a series of operations, and the product from a
dryer is often ready for final packaging.
Solid-liquid separation
• Mechanical separation: Filtration, Centrifugal Separation etc.
• Drying: Thermal vaporization.
• It is generally cheaper to remove liquid mechanically than thermally. Thus it is
advisable to reduce the liquid content as much as practicable before feeding the
material to a heated dryer.
• Examples:
• Production of soda ash: Drying of soda ash in a rotary dryer.
• Paper production: Drying of paper sheet on steam heated cylindrical dryer.
Forms of Solids to be dried
• Flakes, granules, crystals, powders, slabs, continuous sheets (paper,
textile products).
• These may have widely different properties.
• Salt crystals and sand: Liquid to be vaporized is on the surface of the
solid
• Polymer sheet: Solvent to be removed may be entirely within the
solid
• The liquid may be partly outside and partly inside.
Liquid content of dried substances
• The liquid content or equilibrium
moisture content of a dried
substance varies from product to
product.
Common dried substances do contain
some liquid
• Dried table salt contains 0.5% water
• Dried coal contains 4% moisture
• Drying paper contains 6-10%
moisture
• Bone dry: The product contains no
liquid

Thus drying is a relative term and

means merely that there is a
reduction in liquid content from an
initial value to some acceptable final
value.
Drying environment and solid handling
• The dried product may be able to stand rough handling and a very hot
environment, or it may require gentle treatment at low or moderate
temperatures.
• Consequently, a wide variety of dryers are available on the market for
commercial drying. These differ mainly in the way the solids are
moved through the drying zone and in the way heat is transferred.
Solid Handling in
Dryer
PRINCIPLES OF DRYING
• Mechanism of
drying: Drying
curve
• Calculation of
Drying time
PRINCIPLES OF DRYING
Classification of dryers
Tray Dryer • The simplest type of and heated air is
dryer is Tray dryer usually drying
• No of tray may be medium.
10 to 20 • Batch dryers have
• Tray dryers are used high labour
for batch operation requirements
to dry small • Close control can be
quantities of solids, maintained over the
and are used for a drying conditions
wide range of and the product
materials. inventory, and they
• The material to be are suitable for
dried is placed in drying valuable
solid bottomed trays products.
over .
• Steam, electricity
Tray Dryer

Coulson and Richardson, Volume 6, 4th edition

Vacuum Self Dryer

• These dryers are

used for
biological and
other products
that may be heat
sensitive.
 • A layer of material is dried slowly carried on
travelling screen trough a drying chamber.
Conveyer Dryer Temperature are varied in different section
• Single conveyor dryer. The funs pull the air through
the heater section located beneath them. The air
then passes through the wet stock carried on the
conveyor and back into the bottom of the heater.
The conveyor belt is made of perforated metal plate
or woven wire, and the heater is usually of steam-
heated finned tubes.
• Conveyor widths vary between 15 in. and 9 ft and
lengths vary up to 160 ft. Preforming of the feed to
increase drying rate and Obtain a more desirable
product is often practiced. It may be accomplished
by extrusion or granulating steps or mere by scoring
the cake removed from a continuous filter so that it
breaks into reasonably uniform pieces. Thickness of
material on the belt will depend upon the material
1
being processed. but it can vary between and 6 in.
2
(Courtesy of Proctor & Schwartz, Inc.)
Conveyer Dryer (Through Circulation)
• The solids are fed on to an endless, perforated,
slowly moving conveyor belt, through which hot air
is forced.
• The belt is housed in a long rectangular cabinet,
which consists of different zones/ separate sections,
so that the flow pattern and temperature of the
drying air can be controlled.
• A layer 25 to 150 mm (1 to 6 in.) thick of material to
be dried is slowly carried on a traveling metal
screen through a long drying chamber or tunnel.
• At the inlet end (or wet end) of the dryer the air
usually passes upward through the screen and the
solids;
• Near the discharge end, where the material is dry
and may be dusty, air is passed downward through
the screen.
 Conveyor Dryer
• The air temperature and humidity may differ in the various sections, to give optimum
conditions for drying at each point.
• Screen-conveyor dryers are typically 2 m (6 ft) wide and 4 to 50m (12 to 150 ft) long,
giving drying times of 5 to 120 min.
• The minimum screen size is about 30-mesh (0.595 mm).
• Coarse granular, flaky, or fibrous materials can be dried by through circulation without
any pretreatment and without loss of material through the screen.
• Pastes and filter cakes of fine particles, however, must be preformed before they can
be handled on a screen-conveyor dryer.
• The aggregates usually retain their shape while being dried and do not dust through
the screen except in small amounts.
• Provision is sometimes made for recovering any fines that do
sift through the screen.
Conveyor Dryer
Advantages:
• Screen-conveyor dryers handle a variety of solids continuously and with a very gentle
action;
• High drying rates can be achieved, with good product-quality control.
• Their steam consumption is low, typically 2 kg of steam per kilogram of water
evaporated.
• Air may be recirculated through, and vented from, each section separately or passed
from one section to another counter currently to the solid.
Disadvantages
• The disadvantages of this type of dryer are high initial cost and, due to the mechanical
belt, high maintenance costs.
Application
• These dryers are particularly applicable when the drying conditions must be appreciably
changed as the moisture content of the solid is reduced.
 • Slurries and pastes are dried in drum
Drum dryer dryer.
• These dryers are rotating horizontal
cylinders heated with steam on the inside.
• The slurry to be dried is spread over the
outside surface.
• When the slurry has made about three
quarters of a complete rotation, the drum
surface is scrapped with doctor knife.
• The product is flaked form.
• The rotation rate, drum surface
temperature, slurry thickness are adjusted
to give desired moisture content of solid.
• The rotation rates 1-10 rpm.
Drum dryer
Various drum arrangements and feed methods are available
Rotary Vacuum Dryer
• The dryer operate as batches.
• At high moisture content, the slurry
is relatively free moving.
• As dying proceeds, it becomes
viscous and paste.
• As drying continues, it become
heavy adhesive material that is
difficult to move.
• As drying continues mass break up
into lumps. Lumps continuously
break up until free flowing granular
product.
 • These dryers used to dry for
Cylindrical Dryer continuous sheet of paper.
• They consists of a number of
steam heated rolls over which
sheet passes continuously.
• The Cylinders indicated as “A” and
the sheet is indicated as “B”. The
bearings.
• The bearings that carry cylinders
are shown as “C”.
• Steam is introduced at “J” and
enters the cylinder through space
between pipes “A” and “G”.
• “G” is a stationary pipe and serves
as condensate outlet.
 Tunnel Kiln
Depending upon the flow of wet solid and hot gases, the kilns can be
i) Parallel ii) Counter current or iii) combination of both.
• Wet solids to be dried is placed in
trays and trucks which moves
progressively through the tunnel in
contact with hot gases (combustion
gases or hot air). Kilns are direct fired
• Flow direction of hot gases and solid
may be :
• Countercurrent
• Parallel
• Combination of both
• The air is heated directly or indirectly
by combustion or at temperature
bellow 200oC by finned steam coils. So
refractory lining is necessary
• Application: These dryers are suitable
for large quantity production
BISF Tunnel Kiln
A tunnel kiln is composed of several
units. Each units with individual
control
Ceramic Kiln BISF
• There are two
computer-controlled,
continuously
operating kilns tunnel
kilns in BISF , Dhaka.
One for sanitary ware
and the other for
insulators. These use
natural gas as fuel.
• A tunnel kiln may
comprise of several
units, each unit with
individual combustion
and associated control
system.
• These kilns handles
large irregular shaped
objects.
Rotary. dryer

• In rotary dryers the solids are conveyed along the inside of a rotating,
inclined, cylinder and are heated and dried by direct contact with hot air/
gases flowing through the cylinder. In some, the cylinders are indirectly
heated.
• More material is dried in rotary dryers than in any other type of dryer. The
capital investment is low, they can last for years without maintenance
problems, and their heat efficiency is high .
• A rotary dryer is a cylindrical shell which rests on exterior turnions (rollers
and gear-pinion arrangements) so placed that the entire shell may be
rotated. The dryer is mounted at a modest angle with the horizontal so
that any feed material introduced at the upper end will travel to the lower
or discharge end.
Rotary dryer
• Length/diameter=10 or 12 to 1 to as low as 2:1.
• Rotary dryer flights are fin-like structures affixed to the interior of the
rotating cylinder and placed spirally or parallel along the length of the
shell. These flights may be radial and placed. or be bent at a slight
angle in order to shower the material through the open space of the
dryer in ·order to increase efficiency of heat transfer between the
material and the gas stream.
Rotary dryer
Rotary dryer practical ranges of dimensions and operating Parameters
Shell i.d. : 1 to 10 ft Length. L=4 D to 15 D
Radial flight height: D/12 to D/8; shell rpm: 4 to 5 Peripheral shell speed: 50 — 100 ft/min
The night count per circle: 2.4D to 3 D
Inclination of the shell to the horizontal: up to 8cm/m Avg. solid retention time 5 min to 2h
Mass now rate of the drying gas: 300 to 5000 1b/h.ft2 Drying capacity: 0.4 to 2.5 lb moisture/(h) (ft3 dryer
volume)
Number of heat transfer units in the dryer (NT): 1.5 to Solid hold up m(i.e_ fraction of the shell volume
2 occupied by the solid at any time): 5-15%
Courtesy: Principle of Mass Transfer and Separation Processes, BK. Durra, 2007
Rotary dryer
• Methods for supplying heat
• Hot air (Air heated rotary dryer) => McCabe – Smith
• Direct firing (Combustion gas heated rotary dryer and rotary kiln)
• Steam Heating(Steam tube dryer) => Perry
• Hot air or combustion gases (in the case of direct firing) may flow in
concurrent or counter current direction with the flow of material.
• Choice of heating medium and direction of flow largely depends upon
the characteristics of material being dried.
• There are many types of rotary dryers as noted above. The efficiencY
of rotary dryer varies over a wide range.
Rotary dryer
Rotary dryer

Parallel current direct fired 65%

Parallel current hot air 50%
Counter current direct—fired 60%
Counter current hot air 45%
Steam tube 85%
Indirect fired 25%

• Steam tube dryers have a maximum thermal efficiency.

 Air Heated Rotary Dryer

Feed is introduced into the shell through a spout F. At the lower end the dried product
discharges into a screw conveyer H. Just beyond the feed discharge point is Set steam heated
fined pipes which preheat the air. The air is moved through the dryer by a fan. The discharge fan
is placed in the stack, so that it draws air through the dryer and system under a slight vacuum.
This type of draft is known as “induced draft”. This is desirable the material tends to dust.
 Direct Heat
Rotary kiln

This is a metal cylinder lined on the interior with insulating brick and/or
refractory brick. It is suitable for high temperature operation
Steam Tube Rotary Dryer

• In this dryer, steam tubes run through the drying cylinder to

maintain the air temperature and act as drying surface
Steam Tube Rotary dryer
Flash Dryer
• Flash dryers are used where the needed residence time is a few
seconds.
• They have the advantage of little space requirements and low
maintenance.
• These units have been adapted to the drying of filter cakes, centrifuge
cakes, damp solids. and slurries.
• The turbulent nature of the flow system tends to deagglomerate the
material down to the particle size present in the feed material. The
larger wet particles will have a longer drying time and hence be
exposed to further reduction in size.
Flash Dryer
• A simple flow diagram for a flash
dryer is shown in Fig. 12. The wet
solids are added to the dry air in a
disintegrator. Recycled solids can
be added to the hot air or mixed
with the wet feed.
• If a large fraction of the larger
particles need to be recycled. an
internal recycling system has many
advantages. The dryer itself is a
closed-loop cyclone with the dry
product being withdrawn from the
centre.
Flash Dryer
Fluidized Bed Dryers
 Fluidized bed dryers

• Dryers in which the solids are fluidized by the drying gas.

• Fluidized bed dryers are suitable for granular and crystalline
materials within the particle size range 1 to 3 mm.
• They are designed for continuous and batch operation.
• The main advantages of fluidized dryers are: rapid and uniform
heat transfer; short drying times, with good control of the drying
conditions; and low floor area requirements.
• The power requirements are high compared with other types.
• Many large-scale uses include the drying of fertilizers, plastics
materials, foundry sand, and inorganic salts Small fluidized-bed
dryers also find use in, for example, the drying of tablet
granulations in the pharmaceutical industry
 Fluidized bed dryers

• Mixing and heat transfer are very rapid.

• Wet feed is admitted to the top of the bed; dry product is taken out
from the side, near the bottom.
• In the dryer there is a random distribution of residence times; the
average time a particle stays in the dryer is typically 30 to 120 s
when only surface liquid is vaporized and up to 15 to 30 min if there
is also internal diffusion.
• Small particles are heated essentially to the exit dry-bulb
temperature of the fluidizing gas; consequently, thermally sensitive
materials must be dried in a relatively cool suspending medium.
Spray Dryer
Spray Dryer
• The material to be dried is atomized
in a nozzle, or by a disc-type atomizer,
positioned at the top of a vertical
cylindrical vessel. Hot air flows up the
vessel (in some designs downward)
and conveys and dries the droplets.
• The liquid vaporizes rapidly from the
droplet surface and open, porous
particles are formed.
• The dried particles are removed in a
cyclone separator or bag filter.
• It combine the functions of an
evaporator, a crystallizer, a dryer, a
size-reduction unit, and a classifier.
Advantages
Advantages
Disadvantages

➢ Considered as dryers alone, spray dryers are not

highly efficient. Much heat is ordinarily lost in the
discharged gases.
➢ They are bulky and very large, often 25 m (80 ft) or
more high, and are not always easy to operate.
➢ The bulk density of the dry solid-a property of
especial importance in packaged products-is often
difficult to keep constant, for it may be highly
sensitive to changes in the solids content of the
feed, to the inlet gas temperature, and to other
variables.
Freeze Drying
(Tray dryer or active
drying)

• Liquid to solid to vapor (removal of

water from it become frozen.
• Produces uniform and consistent
quality delicate structure materials
material
• Do not alter material characteristics
(color and taste)
• Handle Ultra fine (nano) materials,
temperature sensitive products, living
micro-organism, proteins, antibiotic,
vitamins, blood plasma,
Steps of Selection of Drying equipment
• Initial selection of dryer

• Drying tests

• Final Selection of Dryer

General Guidelines
• Batch • Operation
• Continuous dryer? • Dust problem
• Feed and product • Energy efficiency
handling • Types of fuel
• Thermal sensitive • Maintenance cost
material
• Labor cost
• Adiabatic and non
adiabatic dryer (direct • Pollution
contact or indirect
contact?)
General Guidelines of Slection
General Guidelines of Slection
General Guidelines of Slection
Math Problem
Calculate the diameter and length of an adiabatic rotary dryer to dry
2800 Ib/h (1270 kg/h) of a heat-sensitive solid from an initial moisture
content of 15 % to a final moisture content of 0.5%, both dry basis. The
solids have a specific heat of 0.52 Btu/lb-oF; they enter at 80oF (26.7°C) and
must not be heated to a temperature above 125°F (51.7°C). Heating air is
available at 260°F (126.7oC) and a humidity of 0.01lb of water per pound of
dry air. The maximum allowable mass velocity of the air is 700 Ib/ft2-h
(3420 kg/m2-h).
Solution

In view of the heat sensitivity of the

solids, cocurrent operation will be used.
The outlet gas temperature is found from
Eq. (24.8) for adiabatic drying.

Assume the number of transfer units is 1.5.

 The inlet wet-bulb temperature Twb , from Fig. 23.2, is 102°F.
Since Thb is 260°F, Eq. (24.8) gives

Tha = 137°F and Tsb may reasonably be set at the maximum

alIowable value, 125°F.
Other quantities needed are
 at 102°F = 1036 Btu/lb (Appendix 7)
The quantity of heat transferred per unit mass of solid qT/ms is
Equation 24.2
The dryer length can be calculated from