Drying Technology

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Integrating a bench scale phosphate flash dryer to

a solar heating source: integration challenges and
monitoring system development

Z. El Hallaoui, S. Vaudreuil, T. Bounahmidi & S. Abderafi

To cite this article: Z. El Hallaoui, S. Vaudreuil, T. Bounahmidi & S. Abderafi (2023): Integrating
a bench scale phosphate flash dryer to a solar heating source: integration challenges and
monitoring system development, Drying Technology, DOI: 10.1080/07373937.2023.2178006

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/07373937.2023.2178006

Published online: 13 Feb 2023.

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DRYING TECHNOLOGY
https://doi.org/10.1080/07373937.2023.2178006

Integrating a bench scale phosphate flash dryer to a solar heating source:

integration challenges and monitoring system development
Z. El Hallaouia,b, S. Vaudreuilb , T. Bounahmidib, and S. Abderafia
a
Laboratoire d’Analyse et Synthese des Procedes Industriels, Ecole Mohammadia d’Ingenieurs, Universite Mohamed V, Rabat, Morocco;
b
Euromed Research Institute, Euro-Mediterranean University of Fes, Eco-Campus, Fes, Morocco

ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY

Aiming to reduce the energetic consumption and greenhouse emissions, integrating the Received 20 December 2022
energy-intensive dryer to a solar loop constitutes the optimum solution. This paper investi- Revised 31 January 2023
gates the feasibility to integrate a bench scale flash dryer to a solar heating source. Initially, Accepted 31 January 2023
the choice of the best heating source was made and the design was realized. Then, the best
KEYWORDS
configuration of the gas/liquid heat exchanger was selected to design the exchange surface. Flash dryer; parabolic
Finally, the solar flash dryer was mathematically modeled to simulate the dryer performances through collectors; solar
at various conditions. The parabolic through collectors were selected, with a nominal power integration; regulation loop
of 29kWth, were coupled to a spiral finned tube exchanger with 24 kW capacity. The integra-
tion showed a significant dependency of the drying air temperature on the climatic conditions
(DNI and incidence angle). The drying tests, realized at the most favorable and unfavorable
conditions, showed an important decrease in the moisture fraction to be eliminated, increas-
ing from 1.8% to 3.5% when the air temperature drops from 155
C to 110
C. It was hence
necessary to develop a regulation system to ensure a continuous solid flow rate.

1. Introduction calculated GHE in Morocco showed around 1 Mt

Flash drying is one of the oldest unitary operation,
used mainly in all industrial processes, either as the
main operation or as the final step. In the phosphate
industry, flash drying consists a crucial step in the
enrichment operations of the phosphate ore.[1] It ena-
bles reducing the transport costs and meeting the cus-
tomer requirements in term of moisture content,
achieving a final value of 2%. Despite its utility, dry-
ing is an energy intensive operation mainly based on
fossil fuels, it is considered as a considerable source of
greenhouse gas emissions (GHE).[2] In this sense, an
increase of þ1.7% of the worldwide GHE was
observed in 2018, achieving a global 33.1 GT.[3] In
these emissions, the industrial sector was responsible
of 23% of the global GHE, requiring thus to realize
serious efforts to respect the Paris Agreement on the
climate change which was established during the COP
21. Through a literature review on the specific GHE
of the industrial dryers, an alarming level was per-
ceived. In fact, 45 kg of CO2 emissions was released
for 1 tonne of corn drying in a continuous cross flow
dryer.[4] Concerning the phosphate industry, the
CO2,eq annually. These emissions contribute approxi-
mately 13% of the global emissions, requiring from
R&D entities to develop efficient and sustainable
energy solutions in the future.
In view of the increasing energy consumption and
greenhouse gas emissions affecting seriously the climate
change, it was necessary to establish the rationalization
of fossil energy consumption. This approach aims to
optimize energy consumption by implementing energy
efficiency measures on one hand, and to shift toward
the use of clean energy sources on the other hand.
It is in this context that the Moroccan kingdom
has set an autonomous and constructive dynamics,
and pledged to ensure 52% of the electrical produc-
tion from renewable energy resources by 2030.[5] This
strategy aims to reduce the external energy depend-
ency and to shift toward the use of clean energy
sources.
As Morocco detains a potential of 3000h/year sun-
shine duration and an average monthly direct normal
irradiances (DNI) of 3.71 kWh/m2/day,[6] the exploit-
ation of the solar energy as a heating source would be
both economically and environmentally winning

CONTACT Z. El Hallaoui zhor.hallaoui@gmail.com Laboratoire d’Analyse et Synthese des Procedes Industriels, Ecole Mohammadia d’Ingenieurs,
Universite Mohamed V, Rabat, Morocco.
ß 2023 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
2 Z. ELHALLAOUI ET AL.
solutions.[7] In this sense, the industrial process can
be classified by their heating needs, ranging from low
temperatures (T < 150
C), intermediate temperature
(150
C < T < 250
C) and high temperature

the process or indirectly at the power supply unit.[12]
(T > 250 C). For many years, solar energy has been
exploited for the production of hot water[8] or as a
thermal source for industrial needs at low temperatures.
At the end of 2018, more than 140 industrial solar units
(Solar Heat for Industrial Processes ‘SHIP’) were in ser-
vice with a total capacity of 280 MWth[9] of which only
13% constitute large-scale systems (Ssolar field>
1000m2). The majority of these solar industrial unit are
either at small scale or for low temperature applications,
such as the use of solar thermal for the food industry
([60–90
C]) and the manufacture of nonmetallic min-
eral products.[10]
The challenge is enormous when dealing with
industrial units working at higher temperatures, such
as the production of nonmetallic minerals and the
minerals processing, requiring energy need at temper-
atures up to 1300
C. Consequently, coupling a
thermo-solar source to an industrial unit operating at
high temperatures features two major constraints: (i)
energy reliability and stability; and (ii) the availability
of land for installation and the investment cost.
Using reliable and stable energy sources ensuring
the continuity of production is a must, taking into
consideration that most renewable energy sources are
subject to continuous variations. Hence, it is required
to consider the transient and intermittent properties
of the solar source during solar technology selection
and design. This constraint arises in particular for
industrial processes operating at variable temperature
setpoints according to the production needs.
The initial investment is also a decisive factor since
the purchase cost of solar technologies is considerable
with a longer investment payback. The availability of
land constitutes an additional constraint of great import-
ance, where large installation areas are required for
industrial unit with higher energy consumption. This
problematic might be overcome by installing the solar
collector on adjacent lands, though yielding to higher
heat losses due to the extension of the ducts and pipes.
An alternative solution to the land availability can be
suggested, consisting in installing the collectors in rows
on the roofs of the industrial unit. This arrangement
generates the problems of shading and structure that can
support the weight of the installed collectors.
Considering these technical and financial con-
straints, the integration of an industrial unit to the
thermo-solar source inevitably requires the study of
the feasibility of the coupling. The IEA SHC Task-
49[11] classified in this sense the different types of
solar energy integration to industrial units and dryers
consequently. Generally, solar systems may be inte-
grated at two locations, either directly integrated to
As an alternative, the small-scale integration allows to
evaluate the feasibility of the integration by identifying
the variables to be controlled and the limitations to be
overcome during the larger-scale interpolation.
The present work aims to assess the challenges and
limitations when integrating an energy-intensive pro-
cess to a thermo-solar heating source. For this purpose,
the adapted heating source to fuel the process was
selected, then the best heat exchanger configuration
adopted. The solar flash dryer was then mathematically
modeled to evaluate the dryer’s performances accord-
ing to various ambient conditions. The dependency of
the moisture fraction on the climatic conditions
showed the necessity to develop a regulation loop to
ensure the continuity in the solid flow rate.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Selection and design of the thermo-solar
technology
The selection of the thermo-solar source was based on
a multi-criteria analysis of the different solar technolo-
gies (Fresnel, tower and parabolic trough collectors)
taking into account the following constraints:
 Economic: it was important to choose the technol-
ogy offering the lowest unit cost of heat (LCOH
levelized cost of heat), a short payback and a con-
trolled investment risk;[13]
 Technical: the selected technology must be able to
meet the needs of the process to which it is coupled
in terms of operating temperature, while presenting
technical maturity and better optical efficiency;
 Environmental: the successful implementation of
solar technology also depends on the surrounding
environment.[14] It is therefore useful to judge the
suitability of a technology based on the extent of
the land required, the availability of aquatic resour-
ces and the presence of aerosols.
Considering these selection criteria, the best choice
of the thermo-solar technologies to be coupled to the
dryer fell on parabolic trough collectors (PTC). As the
bench scale dryer operates at variable production rates,
requiring a variable power between 16 kW and 32 kW,
the designed PTC field consisted of four collectors
PTMx-24[15] with a nominal power of 29kWth. This
 DRYING TECHNOLOGY 3

power corresponds the heating resistors capacity in the recovered from the lower part of the cyclone, while
initial configuration of the dryer before coupling. the humid gas is evacuated from its upper part to the
The heat transfer fluid used (HTF) in the solar field filter to eliminate the fine particles in suspension. The
is Delcoterm E15 mineral oil,[16] which is a paraffin filtered air is then discharged into the surrounding
based oil for applications requiring temperatures up environment (Figure 2).
to 320
C. Based on simultaneous balances of momentum, heat
and mass transfers between the two phases, the 1-D
mathematical model of the flash dryer is written as:[18]
2.2. Coupling the dryer to the PTC collectors:  
design of the heat exchanger and auxiliary dTa 6h 1e
Va ¼ ðTa  Tp Þ
heater dz dp Ca qa e
 
6wCv 1  e Q
The integration of the thermo-solar source to the flash  ðTa  Tp Þ 
dp Ca qa e Ga Ca ð1 þ HÞ
dryer is achieved by heating the drying indirectly
through the energy transfer from the heating fluid to  
dVa 1 dP 3 1e
the drying medium. It is thus carried out through a Va ¼  Cd
dz qa dz 4 dp e
heat exchanger installed downstream the solar field.  2  
An electrical back-up system for the heat transfer qa 2 Va 1
ðVa  Vp Þ  g  4f
fluid is also scheduled, enabling to maintain stable qp 2 D
operating conditions during the experimental tests.  
6w 1  e
The selection of a heat exchanger varies strongly  ðVa  Vp Þ
qa dp e
with the nature and characteristics of the fluids. Due
to the various possible configurations of heat exchang- dX 6wð1 þ XÞ
¼
ers, a classification system was designed based on: (i) dz dp Vp qp
flow configuration (co-current, counter-flow, cross-   
dH Gp dX
flow); (ii) construction method (regenerative or regen- ¼
erative[17]), and (iii) heat transfer mechanisms. dz Ga dz
According to the gas-liquid exchange specifications dTp 6

Vp ¼ hðTa  Tp Þ  w Lv ðM, Tp Þ
and for industrial needs, the choice fell on a spiral dz dp Cp qp
finned tube exchanger configuration, characterized by 
dVp 3 q q
higher efficiency, smaller volume and lower cost. Vp ¼ Cd a ðVa  Vp Þ2  1  a g
Based on the developed mathematical model of this dz 4 dp qp qp
  
exchanger, the maximum power to be transferred by Vp 2 1
the exchanger is 24 kW.  fp Þ
2 D
In case of intermittent energy, caused by decreased
solar irradiation or moving clouds, a backup electrical The developped model enables to predict, among
resistance is included in the integration scenario, the variables of the dryers, the evolution of the mois-
designed with a nominal capacity of 16 kW and pro- ture content of the solid and air temperature along the
viding up to þ6.4
C to the heating fluid. dryer vertical axis. The model exhibits an average error
For safety reasons, preliminary tests are carried out of 2% and 4% for moisture content and air temperature
with a cold heat transfer fluid, enabling to test the estimation, showing good fitting for practical data.
good functioning of the coupled elements and to The thermal properties of the hot air and phos-
detect possible malfunctions (possibility of leakage or phate particles are resumed in Tables 1 and 2.
bad connections). Figure 1 shows the final design of On the other hand, the solar heating source is com-
the solar flash dryer at bench scale posed of the parabolic trough collector (PTC) field
integrated to a spiral crimped oil-to-air heat exchan-
ger where the drying air is heated. The useful energy
2.3. Mathematical modeling of the solar flash dryer by the solar unit is presented:[23]
In the vertical drying column, the drying medium Qgain ¼ DNI  cos ðhÞ  KðhÞ  gopt  Atot  Qloss
(air) and the solid phase (phosphate particles) are Qgain ¼ QHTF  CpHTF  ðTout  Tin ÞHTF
flowing cocurrently, in which the mixture is conveyed
to the cyclone, where the separation of the two phases Where Qloss denotes for the thermal losses due to
takes place by centrifugation. The dry product is thus convection and radiation with the ambient air.
4 Z. ELHALLAOUI ET AL.
Figure 1. Schematic diagram of the solar dryer configuration.
Figure 2. Schematic diagram of a flash dryer.
(h) and gopt are the incidence angle modifier and
optical efficiency, respectively.
The absorbed thermal energy by the PTC will be
transferred to the drying air as follow:
Qhot exchangeer ¼ Qgain ¼ Qdrying air exchanger þ Qloss0
With the losses at the exchanger are estimated to
be 2% of the total energy.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Solar flash dryer instrumentation
As the 1-D model of the dryer presents the axial vari-
ation of the dryer variables, it was necessary for the
experimental tests to measure the axial variation of
the air temperature and solid moisture content. To
achieve this objective, five thermocouples were
mounted vertically through a nozzle along the axis of
symmetry of the column, three of which are located
in the entrance area of the dryer at less than 0.5 m, as
shown in Figure 3. In this sense, the following meas-
uring instruments were used:
A solid moisture analyzer (Halogen Moisture
Analyzer HX204, Mettler Toledo Ltd[24]) with an accur-
acy of ± 0.05% in the temperature range [40
C–230
C];
 Type K thermocouples (KMQSS-040G-12, Omega
Engineering Ltd[25]) with a diameter of 1mm and
an accuracy of the order of ±1.3
C;
 An OMB-DAQ-2416 data acquisition module
(OMEGA Engineering Ltd.[26]) to which the ther-
mocouples are connected;
 The DASYLAB open source software for data
acquisition allowing the creation of graphical inter-
faces personalized to the system studied.
For the solar field measurement, the temperature of
the HTF either at the inlet, outlet of the PTC collector
and at the outlet of the heat exchanger was measured
using a PT100 class B thermocouples (accuracy of
0.5%). The climatic data were collected from the
meteorological station installed onsite. In this sense,
the total solar radiation and direct radiation were
measured using a CMP21 type Pyranometer and a
CHP1 type Pyrheliometer, respectively (uncertainty of
0.42%), while the air velocity was measured by an
NRC40G anemometer(standard uncertainty is
±0.06 m/s).
3.2. Effect of the climatic conditions on the drying
air temperature
The thermo-solar loop provides the required heat for
the particle’s drying, yielding to a higher dependency
for the drying performance to the variables of the
solar system, namely the solar irradiations (DNI), the
angle of incidence (cos (h)) and the temperature of
 DRYING TECHNOLOGY 5

Table 1. Thermal properties of the gas phase (hot air).

Bulk density (kg/m3)[19] Pv ¼ P 0:622þH
H
 3

Zc ¼ 1 þ PPv 1:0078403:439609710
13:4299543103 T
T
1
1 ðPPv ÞMda þPv Mv
q ¼ Z 
RT
Specific heat (J/kg.
K)[19] Ca ¼ 1  PPv ð1:0653697103  4:4730851101 T þ 9:8719042104 T2  4:6376809107 T3
 
Cv ¼ ð6:564117103  2:690581910T þ 5:1820718102 T2  3:2682964105 T3 Þ PPv
1:81 101320
Water vapor diffusion Dv ¼ 22106 273
T
H
coefficient (-)[20]
Dynamic viscosity (kg/m.s)[21] l ¼ ð6:0453459 þ 0:042489943TÞ þ ð6:8323022 þ 0:0059284286TÞ Hþ0:622
H
 ð0:67799257 þ 0:011338714TÞðHþ0:622
H
Þ2

Table 2. Thermal properties of the solid phase.[22]

Mean diameter (mm) 100
Bulk density (kg/m3) qbulk ¼ 14, 03dp  41, 42MC þ 1, 07MC2 þ 0, 04d2p
Specific heat (J/kgK) Cp ¼ 0:54  2:5 104 dp þ 1:2 103 T
Thermal conductivity (W/mK) k ¼ 0:18  4:0 104 dp þ 4:7 104 MC2

Figure 3. Instrumentation schematic of the flash dryer.

the maximum sunshine is reached at solar noon while

the lowest values are recorded in the morning and
evening (before 10 a.m. and after 5 p.m.). As
expected, the air temperature after heat exchange
reaches its maximum value in the summer time
(Tair, summer ¼ 155
C), while its lowest value is
observed in winter (Tair, winter ¼ 120
C).

3.3. Solar dryer experimental tests and

Figure 4. Evolution of the air temperature along the axial
dryer column with varying climatic conditions.
the heat transfer fluid (THTF ) at the outlet of the solar
loop.
To evaluate the impact of the solar loop variables
on the drying medium temperature, the tests were
performed during different months of the year
(March, June, September and December) where the
most unfavorable and favorable conditions are
recorded.
The effect of solar irradiation and the angle of inci-
dence on the air temperature after heat exchange is
presented in Figure 4 and Table 3. We observe that
performance analysis
As the particle’s drying is strongly dependent on the
drying air temperature, reducing the moisture content
of the phosphates particles would be directly condi-
tioned by solar conditions, as illustrated in Figure 5.
Considering a solid throughput of 40 kg/h, the
moisture content at the dryer outlet is visibly less
reduced in the winter period (March/December) com-
pared to the summer period (July/September). We
then observe a final moisture content of 3.5% and
1.8% for an initial air temperature of 120
C to
155
C, respectively.
The performance of the solar dryer is obviously
dependent on the climatic conditions which have a
direct effect on the air temperature. Therefore, the
solar irradiances and the angle of incidence represent
the uncontrollable variables of the system.
6 Z. ELHALLAOUI ET AL.

Table 3. Variation in the air temperature (post exchanger) according to climatic conditions.
Date 7:00 9:00 11:00 13:00 15:00 17:00 Tair, amb ð
C Þ THTF, out ð
C Þ Tair ð
C Þ
2
20–03 DNI (W/m ) 363 916 1025 1042 948 773 20 200 129
Cos (h) 0.97 0.91 0.84 0.86 0.93 0.99
20–06 DNI (W/m2) 512 831 929 933 903 754 35 235 155
Cos (h) 0.99 0.99 0.98 0.99 0.99 0.96
20–09 DNI (W/m2) 181 584 752 788 705 394 25 230 139
Cos (h) 0.97 0.9 0.85 0.87 0.95 0.99
30–11 DNI (W/m2) 0 653 898 807 781 225 16 172 120
Cos (h) 0.85 0.69 0.59 0.65 0.81 0.92

Table 4. Required flow rate and temperature inputs to

achieve a continuous solid flow rate of 50 kg/h.
Configuration V (m/s) Q(kg/s) T(
C)
1 7.79 0.1587 155
2 8.2 0.169 150
3 8.7 0.1815 145
4 8.75 0.1847 140
5 8.55 0.185 130
6 8.35 0.1853 120
7 8.1 0.1855 110

 Determine the input parameters of the dryer

Figure 5. Evolution of the solid moisture content along the
axial dryer column with varying climatic conditions.
Given that the drying aims to achieve a targeted
final moisture content of the solid, adjusting the solid
flow rate according to the received energy or using an
auxiliary energy system constitute the feasible options
to maintain the objective of the drying. The results
thus obtained can be used to develop a control system
for the overall system, making it possible to maintain
the drying objectives in terms of production rate and
final moisture content.
3.4. Developing the control loop for the solar
dryer
To maintain a continuous production rate of 50 kg/h
having a final moisture content of 2% (MCin¼15%),
the concentrated solar thermal source should ensure a
constant air flow and temperature.
Due to the dependence of the drying temperature
on the climatic conditions and the efficiency of the
heat exchanger, the performance of the dryer is vis-
ibly impaired due to the variation of the air
temperature.
It was therefore necessary to study the different
scenarios of drying according to the solar conditions
in the most unfavorable conditions. To this end, the
models developed for the drying process and for the
solar unit (PTC and exchanger) were used for:
required to reach the targeted production
(MCout¼2% et Qpho¼50kg/h) considering the max-
imum air flow rate allocated by the heat exchanger
limited to 0.185 kg/s. On the other hand, the cap-
acity of the solar loop installed leads to a max-
imum temperature of 155
C and 110
C in
summer and winter, respectively.
 Predict the energy exchanged with the air according
to the climatic conditions such as the DNI, the angle
of incidence, the temperature and the speed of the
ambient air, the nature of the sky (clear or cloudy)
and the period of the tests (summer or winter)
On this basis, the flash drying model is simulated
to determine the flow rate equivalent to the variable
temperature. The results, presented in Table 4, show
clearly the need to increase the airflow for decreasing
temperatures (T<140
C) in order to reach the object-
ive moisture content. However, increasing the air flow
rate is limited to the maximum value allowed by the
capacity of heat exchanger, limited to 0.185 kg/s.
The moisture content reaches the target value of
2% (Figure 6) only when the air temperature exceed
145
C, corresponding to the favorable solar condi-
tions. On the other hand, during the unfavorable cli-
matic conditions (winter) where the air temperature
drops below 140
C, the soli dis not dried totally,
yielding to a higher moisture content at the outlet of
the dryer higher than the set value (2%).
Given the variation in air temperature during the
day due to changes in meteorological conditions
(DNI, angle of incidence, ambient temperature), it is
imperative to have complementary energy sources.
 DRYING TECHNOLOGY 7

Table 5. Simulation results for the possible drying scenarios

to achieve the targeted moisture content of 2%.
Inlet model parameters Outlet model parameters


Possibility Vair (m/s) Qair (kg/s) Tair ( C) MCf (%) Qphos (kg/h)
1 9.1 0.1854 155 2.09 57.5
2 9 0.1855 150 2 54
3 8.85 0.1846 145 2.07 51
4 8.75 0.1847 140 2.07 48
5 8.55 0.185 130 2.05 41.5
6 8.35 0.1853 120 2.05 34.5
7 8.1 0.1855 110 2 27

set flow rate of 50 kg/h. The flow rate can thus be

Figure 6. Evolution of the simulated moisture content with
varying inlet temperature for a 50 kg/h solid flow rate.
This keeps the temperature at its set point. The back-
up heating system installed upstream of the heat
exchanger thus provides a temperature gradient of
þ6
C on the solar side, which makes it possible to
reach the set air temperature. The back-up is however
insufficient and ensures the continuity of production
for short periods, varying from 5h to 7h and from 2h
to 3h, in summer and winter, respectively, at solar
noon.[27] Beyond this period, drying cannot be carried
out under the set conditions.
Therefore, it is useful to determine the different
possible drying configurations following the tempera-
ture drop. The possible choices are:
increased up to a value of 57.5 kg/h while maintaining
the set moisture content (2%).
These possible drying configurations depending on
the drying temperature can be exploited to develop a
control/regulation system for the overall process that
takes into account controllable variables (flow rate
and temperature) and other uncontrollable ones (wea-
ther conditions). As a result, any disruption in energy
inlet can be managed through corrective actions:
 Maximize production flow when solar conditions
are favorable (summer);
 For unfavorable solar conditions, make the choice
between maintaining the solid flow rate over the
target moisture content or the reverse;
The regulation of the system therefore requires the
development of the following operations (Figure 7):

 Maintain the production rate and tolerate the increase
in the moisture content at the outlet (Figure 5);
 Maintain the moisture content set point and adapt
the production rate according to the available
energy supply.
To do this, keeping the heat flux exchanged and
considering the maximum air flow through the
exchanger, the mathematical model of flash drying is
simulated to find the flow rate of the phosphate corre-
sponding to a final moisture content of 2%.
The simulation results are presented in Table 5. It
is shown that the reduction in the flow rate of the
solid makes it possible to reach the set moisture con-
tent (2%) for temperatures below 140
C. However,
the decrease in the solid flow rate becomes more sig-
nificant as the temperature is lower. It is observed
that the hourly flow rate of the solid decreases to
49 kg and 27 kg when the air temperature is 140
C
and 110
C, respectively. On the other hand, when the
temperature of the heated air is greater than 145
C, it
is possible to dry a quantity of solid greater than the
 Measure the DNI and the angle of incidence (pyrhelio-
meter/pyranometer) to calculate the energy received;
 Measure the temperature of the fluid at the inlet of
the heat exchanger and compare with the setpoint
(according to the flow rate of the solid);
 Act on the valve and the auxiliary resistance to cir-
culate the hot heat transfer fluid;
 Measure the air temperature after heat exchange
and calculate the moisture content by simulation;
 Act on the solid feed rate.
Given the constraint of carrying out continuous
production, it becomes imperative to have a reliable
back-up energy source (electric/fossil) to maintain
drying when the solar contribution is non-existent (in
the evening for example).
Considering the production rate objectives and the
intermittent nature of the solar energy, the decision-
maker might select two possible configurations:
 Benefit from advantageous solar conditions to increase
the production flow rate, achieving a raise of 15%.
8 Z. ELHALLAOUI ET AL.
Figure 7. Regulation schematic of the solar flash dryer.
 Maintain the final moisture content as the main
objective, and combine a non-sustainable energy
source to supply the global energy requirement to
dry the nominal solid flow rate.
The most efficient configuration is therefore hybrid
drying, which consists of a solar source, thermal stor-
age and fossil fuel. Thus, the drying objectives are not
affected by variations in solar conditions, where the
use of the back-up allows the drying parameters to be
brought back to their set values.
4. Conclusion
The paper investigates the challenges of integrating a
solar heating source to an energy-intensive process
such as the flash dryer. The coupling is achieved
through an indirect heating of the drying medium
through the solar field. For this purpose, a heat
exchange is integrated to the schematic of the solar
dyer, as the coupling element between the two units
(flash dryer and solar field).
First, the choice of the best heating source was
made based on economic, technical and environmen-
tal considerations. Then, the most suitable configur-
ation of the gas-liquid heat exchanger was adopted to
couple the flash dryer to the solar heating source.
Later, the developed mathematical model of the solar
dryer was used to assess the integration challenges in
terms of respecting the targeted moisture content and
solid mass flow rate.
Through a comprehensive review on the marketed
technologies, the parabolic through collectors were
chosen to supply the required heat for the flash dryer,
along with the spiral finned tube heat exchanger as
the coupling element. Once the solar elements were
selected, the developed model enabled the design of
the capacity, calculated of 29kWth and 24 kW for the
parabolic through collectors and the heat exchanger,
respectively.
Through the solar heating model, used to study the
effect of climatic conditions on the drying air, simula-
tion results showed the dependency of the air tem-
perature on the climatic conditions, where the
temperature reaches its higher value in the summer
time (155
C), enabling thus to achieve the drying
adequately. However, in the winter time, the air tem-
perature reaches only 110
C, yielding to a smaller
water fraction elimination.
As the dryer’s performances were highly affected by
the climatic conditions, namely the DNI and inci-
dence angle, it was necessary to develop a regulation
loop to ensure the drying’s objectives in terms of out-
let moisture content and solid mass flow rate. In this
case, two scenarios could be considered:
 Maximize the production flow rate in the summer
time, as the temperature reaches its higher value.
Indeed, an increase of 15% of the solid flow rate is
observed in the summer time while targeting 2%
as the outlet moisture content;
 Select the production’s objective, either maintain-
ing the outlet moisture content or the production
rate in the winter time as the temperature reaches
its lowest value. In this case, a decrease of 54% of
the production flow rate can be observed with 2%
as the outlet moisture content.
Competing interests
The authors certify that they have NO affiliations with
or involvement in any organization or entity with any
financial interest (such as honoraria; educational
grants; participation in speakers’ bureaus; member-
ship, employment, consultancies, stock ownership, or
other equity interest; and expert testimony or patent-
licensing arrangements).
Disclosure statement
The authors report there are no competing interests to
declare
Funding
This work was supported by IRESEN—Institut de
Recherche en Energie Solaire et Energies Nouvelles

ORCID
S. Vaudreuil http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0709-4500
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Nomenclature
A Area m2
C heat capacity (J/kg)
Cd drag coefficient -
dp Particle diameter m
f Frictional coefficient -
10 Z. ELHALLAOUI ET AL.

g Gravity acceleration (m/s2) Scripts

G Mass flow rate Kg/s
k Thermal conductivity w/m-K A Air
K(h) Incidence angle modifier (IAM) (-) In Initial
h Convective heat transfer coefficient W/m2.K F Final
H Air humidity kg/kg P Particle
Lv Latent heat of vaporization (J/kg)
MC Moisture content Kg/kg Abbreviations
P Pressure Pa
Q Heat W DNI Direct Normal Irradiation
HTF Heat transfer fluid
Greek letters PTC Parabolic through collectors

E Volume fraction (-)

q Density (kg/m3)
Ƞ Efficiency -