Applied Thermal Engineering 23 (2003) 2119–2131

www.elsevier.com/locate/apthermeng

Short Communication
Simulation, calculation and possibilities of energy saving
in spray drying process
Darko Velic *, Mate Bilic, Srecko Tomas, Mirela Planinic
Faculty of Food Technology, Department of Process Engineering, University J.J. Strossmayer of Osijek,
F. Kuhaca 18, P.O. Box 709, 31000 Osijek, Croatia
Received 28 November 2002; accepted 11 May 2003

Abstract
In this work some possibilities to improve the conventional spray drying process using programming in
Excel as a calculation tool have been presented. The program gives a simple description of the drying
process using thermodynamic calculations of heat and mass balance. Using the program it is possible to
reduce operating costs and to improve capacity per unit of drying equipment. The minimization of energy
consumption during the drying operation can be achieved by recycling exhaust air. The maximum theo-
retical range of recirculation is 60%. The fuel oil saving rate depends linearly on the rate of recirculation,
and the theoretical maximum fuel oil saving is approximately 14%. Ecological issues were also considered
as well, since decreased fuel consumption lowers harmful gas emission to the environment. All necessary
data are represented in the process flow sheet, which is used for a better understanding of the drying process
optimisation.
Ó 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Spray drying; Recycling; Recirculation; Optimisation; Fuel saving; Ecological

1. Introduction

The spray drying process needs a large amount of heat for water evaporation and for this
reason heat saving is an important factor for the successful process functioning. For the past 10
years an intensive optimisation of spray drying operation has been performed. One of the early
published articles on energy conservation in spray drying has been contributed [1,2]. Since then a

*
Corresponding author. Tel.: +385-31-224-352; fax: +385-31-207-115.
E-mail addresses: darko.velic@ptfos.hr (D. Velic), mate.bilic@ptfos.hr (M. Bilic), srecko.tomas@ptfos.hr
(S. Tomas), mirela.planinic@ptfos.hr (M. Planinic).

1359-4311/$ - see front matter Ó 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/S1359-4311(03)00165-0
2120 D. Velic et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 23 (2003) 2119–2131

Nomenclature

mwm amount of wet material [kg/h]

Xwm moisture content [%]
DMc dry matter content [%]
Twm temperature of wet material [°C]
mdr amount of dried material [kg/h]
Xd moisture content of dried material [%]
Tdm temperature of dried material [°C]
LA leak air [%]
Tin temperature of hot inlet air [°C]
Tout temperature of outlet air [°C]
Ta temperature of ambiental air [°C]
NCVF net caloric value of fuel oil [kJ/kg]
h3a enthalpy of ambiental air [kJ/kg]
h2a enthalpy of outlet air [kJ/kg]
h1a enthalpy of inlet air [kJ/kg]
h1w enthalpy of water on Twm [kJ/kg]
h2w enthalpy of water on Tout [kJ/kg]
h3w enthalpy of water vapour on Tin [kJ/kg]
cp (N2 ) specific heat of nitrogen [kJ/kg °C]
cp (CO2 ) specific heat of CO2 [kJ/kg °C]
cp ðMwet Þ specific heat of wet material [kJ/kg °C]
cp ðMdr Þ specific heat of dried material [kJ/kg °C]
r(H2 O) heat of evaporation of water [kJ/kg °C]
cp f specific heat of fuel on 60 °C [kJ/kg °C]
Tf temperature of fuel [°C]
mdm amount of dried material [kg/h]
mev amount of evaporated water [kg/h]
mha required amount of hot (inlet) air [kg/h]
Q1 heat for water evaporation [kJ/h]
Q2 outlet air heat content [kJ/h]
QU total amount of heat [kJ/h]
mf required amount of fuel [kg/h]
Cev evaporation efficiency [kg H2 O/kg fuel]
mla Leak air [kg/h]
Qa heat from ambiental air [kJ/h]
Qf heat from fuel [kJ/h]
Qcomb: heat from combustion [kJ/h]
OFin total amount of heat in furnace [kJ/h]
mðaircomb: Þ total amount air for combustion [kg]
Qha heat from hot air [kJ/h]
 D. Velic et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 23 (2003) 2119–2131 2121

Q(H2 O) heat from water in combustion [kJ/h]

Q(N2 ) heat from nitrogen [kJ/h]
Q(CO2 ) heat from CO2 [kJ/h]
QFout total heat from furnace [kJ/h]
QFL furnace losses [kJ/h]
QF heat from furnace [kJ/h]
Qsl heat from slurry [kJ/h]
QLA heat from leak air [kJ/h]
Qt in total amount heat in tower [kJ/h]
Qa out heat from exhaust air [kJ/h]
Qew out heat from evaporated water [kJ/h]
Qdm heat from dried material [kJ/h]
Qout total amount heat from tower [kJ/h]
Qplant total amount heat in plant [kJ/h]
Qev heat for water evaporation [kJ/h]
QTL tower losses [kJ/h]
RR recirculation range [%]
X air humidity [kg/kg]
mout amount of air leaving tower [kg]
mrec recirculation rate [kg]
mðairÞlp amount of air leaving plant [kg]
mfa amount of fresh air [kg]
mðairÞbl amount of air blend [kg]
T ðairÞbl temperature of blended air [°C]
meha amount of hot entering air [kg]
QðairÞbl heat of blended air [kJ/kg]
Qtot total amount of heat required [kJ/kg]
mfrec amount of fuel (recirculation) [kg]
FS fuel savings [%]

spray drying optimisation using exit air recirculation has become a part of industrial practice. A
lot of existing plants have been redesigned, and manufacturers of spray drying equipment regu-
larly offer new plants with process optimisation included. The energy minimisation contributes
also to the process furnace burner emission reduction giving an additional environmental im-
provement. However, the dryer plant operators still have a problem to understand and calculate a
heat and mass balance, in order to see a potential savings in every day operation [3–5].
To make the spray drying operation more clear and understandable to those who run or re-
design the existing plants, or design the new plants, a process calculation using Excel as a program
tool is used and presented below. Using Excel as a calculation tool, it is easy to calculate any spray
drying process knowing only a few basic entering data.
Moreover, it is easy to see any changes at any point of a spray drying process, and what is
probably most important, this program contributes to a better understanding of spray drying,
especially in its thermodynamics.
2122 D. Velic et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 23 (2003) 2119–2131

2. Program description

The program is divided in six parts, where specific calculations are performed.
The first part of the program is an entering data calculation from water and air dat-
abase, separately created. Only a few entering data is necessary to know and to type in the cells,
other data as a water and air enthalpy, water and air specific volumes are automatically calcu-
lated.
The first column in data base (only part of data base adapted from Raznjevic [6] or complete
version in the third work sheet in Excel programme) represents a temperature in the range of 0–450
°C, the second column is a dry air enthalpy, the third is a water vapour enthalpy, all for the same
temperature range 0–450 °C [6]. The fourth column is a water enthalpy, the fifth is a dry air
specific volume, and the sixth column is a water vapour specific volume, all for the 0–100 °C
temperature range.
The related enthalpy and specific volumes are calculated using command ( ¼ VLOOKUP) for
the temperature range specified in the entering data. For example, the water vapour enthalpy for
the inlet air temperature is calculated using formula [ ¼ VLOOKUP(H11;ÔData baseÕ!C5:E455;2;
FALSE] and the dry air enthalpy for the same temperature is calculated replacing integer 2 with 3
in the above formula.
Only one data from first part of the program is calculated in the second part of the program and
returned in the cell H7 in the first part of the program. It is the amount of dried material leaving
spray drier. This is done just for the purpose of having all the heat and mass data in the first part
of the program.
The second part of the program calculates the basic heat and mass balance data. In this part of
the program the basic calculations are performed. The amount of dried material (cell I31), water
evaporated (cell I33) and required amount of heat to evaporate water (cell I38) are calculated.
From the data for the total amount of heat required (cell I42), the amount of fuel oil is calculated
(cell I45). The evaporation efficiency (kg evaporated water/kg fuel oil) is calculated in cell I47. The
third part of the program calculates the heat and mass balance for the furnace where fuel burning
and hot air production take place. The total amount of the heat in the furnace represents the sum
(cell I58) of heat from ambiental air (cell I52), heat from fuel (cell I54) and heat from combustion
(cell I56).
The heat from furnace is a sum (cell I85) of heat from hot air (cell I74), and heat from products
made by combustion: water (cell I76), nitrogen (cell I79) and carbon dioxide (cell I82).
The furnace losses are difference between heat in the furnace and heat from then furnace, (cell
I87). The fourth part of the program calculates heat and mass balance of the spray drying tower.
The total heat entering the tower is the sum (cell I93) of the heat from the furnace (cell I90), heat
from the wet material (cell I91), and heat from leak air (cell I92).
The heat leaving the spray drier tower is a sum (cell I103) of heat of exhaust air (cell I96), heat
from water evaporated (cell I97), heat from nitrogen (cell I98), heat from carbon dioxide (cell I99),
and heat from dried material (cell I100).
The fifth part of the program calculates overall process heat utilization. The heat for
water evaporation is calculated in cell I109, the heat in dried material is in cell I110, and the
heat in exhaust air is in cell I112. The furnace loss is in cell I113 and the tower loss is in cell
I114.
 D. Velic et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 23 (2003) 2119–2131 2123

The heat balance is represented as a kJ/kg (cells from H117 to H122), and as a percentage of
total heat in the process (cells from I117 to I122).
The mass balance of exit air is represented as kg of each components (cells from H126 to H130),
and as volume of each component (cells from I126 to I130), which is important for the exhaust
system design (ducts, blowers, cyclones, scrubbers, air filters, etc.).
The sixth part of the program is process optimisation using exhaust air recirculation as a
method for energy conservation.
The maximum theoretical range of recirculation is 60%. The desired recirculation range has to
be print in cell I134. The ambiental air moisture content is also entering data and has to be print in
cell I135.
For the desired recirculation rate, the amount of blended quench air (recirculated air + am-
biental air) is calculated in cell I146. Taking into account the amounts of recirculated and am-
biental air, and their temperatures, the temperature of blended quench air is calculated in cell
I148.
From the combustion data and quench air amount, the total amount of hot air is calculated in
cell I150, and heat content of hot air is calculated in cell I154. From the heat required in the
process the amount of fuel oil is calculated in cell I157, and the fuel oil saving as a percentage of
fuel oil for process without recirculation is calculated in cell I160. At the same time in column D,
cells from D167 to D174, the moisture content of recirculated air is calculated, to be sure that the
dew point is far enough for every stage of the drying process.
For better understanding and following of the calculation procedure, the formulae for each
calculation step are presented in column B under title or in column E.

3. Results and discussion

Table 1 is an example of program application. As it can be seen, the calculation is performed

for the entering data shown in the first part of the program.
The results of calculations have also been shown in the active cells of the process flow sheet,
Fig. 1 where it can be seen how process respond on parameters entered.
Fig. 1 represents the process flow sheet, where all main process parameters are shown. All cells
are active, which means that any change in the process calculations automatically induce the value
changes in the cells of the flow sheet. Therefore, it is easy to follow the process changes at any
stage, even for minimal changes in the entering data.
There are some other process parameters that are presented graphically here, in order to show
the possibilities and gains of process optimisation.
The moisture content in the critical process steps is shown in Fig. 2. It is evident that in any
process stages the moisture content is between 0.15 and 0.4 kg water/kg air. These values are far
from the value of 0.789 kg/kg, which is a dew point of recirculated and blended air. It means that
the wet air in all process phases has enough capacity to accept moisture from the dried material,
and to keep the water evaporated as vapour phase. Fig. 3 shows the potential fuel oil saving as
a function of recirculation rate. Fig. 4 shows how evaporation efficiency and required amount
of hot (inlet) air depends on the inlet air temperature.
Table 1

2124
Example of program application
1A B C D E F G H I J
2 Calculation data––example of program application
3 Amount of wet material (mwm ) 25,000 kg/h
4 Moisture content (Xwm ) 62 %
5 Dry matter content (DMc ) 38 %
6 Temperature of wet material (Twm ) 80 °C
7 Amount of dried material (mdr ) 17,613.64 kg/h

D. Velic et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 23 (2003) 2119–2131

8 Moisture content of dried material (Xd ) 12 %
9 Temperature of dried material (Tdm ) 80 °C
10 Leak air (LA ) 5 %
11 Temperature of hot inlet air (Tin ) 450 °C
12 Temperature of outlet air (Tout ) 110 °C
13 Temperature of ambiental air (Ta ) 20 °C
14 Net caloric value of fuel oil (NCVF) 41,200 kJ/kg
15 Enthalpy of ambiental air (h3a ) 20.11 kJ/kg
16 Enthalpy of outlet air (h2a ) 110.99 kJ/kg
17 Enthalpy of inlet air (h1a ) 466.2 kJ/kg
18 Enthalpy of water on Twm (h1w ) 334.9 kJ/kg
19 Enthalpy of water on Tout (h2w ) 2691 kJ/kg
20 Enthalpy of water vapour on Tin (h3w ) 3383 kJ/kg
21 Specific heat of nitrogen (cp N2 ) 1.112 kJ/kg °C
22 Specific heat of CO2 (cp CO2 ) 1.187 kJ/kg °C
23 Specific heat of wet material (cp ðMwet Þ) 2.3442 kJ/kg °C
24 Specific heat of dry material (cp dm ) 1.339 kJ/kg °C
25 Specific heat of dried material (cp ðMdr Þ) 1.633 kJ/kg °C
26 Heat from evaporation of water (r(H2 O)) 2500 kJ/kg
27 Specific heat of fuel on 60 °C (cp f ) 2.199 kJ/kg °C
28 Temperature of fuel (Tf ) 60 °C
29
30 Calculation of heat and mass balance
31 Amount of dried material mdm ¼ mwm  ð100  Xwm Þ=100  DMc mdm ¼ 17,613.6364 kg
32
33 Amount of evaporate water mev ¼ mdr  ðXwm  Xd Þ=100  Xwm mev ¼ 7386.36364 kg
34
35 kg/h m3 /h
36 Required amount of hot (inlet) air mha ¼ mev  rH2 O=ðh1a  h2a Þ mha ¼ 51,985.8931 43772.12
37
38 Heat for water evaporation Q1 ¼ mha  h1a Q1 ¼ 24,235,823.4 kJ/h
39
40 Outlet air heat content Q2 ¼ mha  ðh2a  h3a Þ Q2 ¼ 4,724,477.97 kJ/h
41
42 Total amount of heat QU ¼ Q1 þ Q2 QU ¼ 28,960,301.3 kJ/h
43
44 kg/h l/h
45 Required amount of fuel mf ¼ QU /NCVF mf ¼ 702.919935 747.79
46
47 Evaporation efficiency Cev ¼ mev =mf Cev ¼ 10.5081152 kg H2 O/kg fuel

D. Velic et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 23 (2003) 2119–2131

48
49 Leak air (approx. 5% of inlet air) mla ¼ mha  0:05 mla ¼ 2599.29466 kg/h
50
51
52 Heat from ambiental air Qa ¼ mha  h3a Qa ¼ 1,045,436.31 kJ/h
53
54 Heat from fuel Q f ¼ m f  Tf  cp f Qf ¼ 92,743.2563 kJ/h
55
56 Heat from combustion Qcomb: ¼ mf  NCVF Qcomb: ¼ 28,960,301.3 kJ/h
57
58 Total amount of heat in furnace QFin ¼ Qa þ Qf þ Qcomb: QFin ¼ 30,098,480.9 kJ/h
59
60 Fuel burning
61 The fuel used is mixture of light and medium light fuel oil composition 87%C and 11%H
62 The amount of oxygen and air can be calculated as follows
63
64 mðO2 Þ ¼ 0:01  ð2:667  C þ 8  HÞ ¼ 0:01  ð2:667  87 þ 8  11Þ mO2 ¼ 3.19 kg
65 mAIR ¼ 0:115  C þ 0:345  H ¼ 0:115  87 þ 0:345  11 mAIR ¼ 13.79 kg
66 1.3 coefficient of air surplus
67 mAIR ¼ 1:3  13:79 ¼ 17:927 kgair /kgfuel
68 m(N2 ) ¼ 0.786  mAIR ¼ 0.786  17.927 ¼ 13.76 kg N2 /kg fuel
69 Air for combustion of 1 kg fuel 17.927 kg
70
71 Total amount of air for combustion mðaircomb: Þ ¼ mf  mAIR mðaircomb: Þ ¼ 12,601.2457 kg
72
73 Total amount of heat from furnace
74 Heat from hot air Qha ¼ ½mha  mðaircomb: Þ  h1a Qha ¼ 18,361,122.6 kJ/h
75
76 Heat from water in combustion QðH2 0Þ ¼ mf  mðH2 OÞ  h1 ðH2 OÞ Q(H2 O) ¼ 2,461,207.38 kJ/h
77 Burning of 1 kg of fuel 1.035 kg water is produced

2125
Table 1 (continued)

2126
A B C D E F G H I J
78
79 Heat from nitrogen QðN2 Þ ¼ mf  mðN2 Þ cp ðN2 Þ  Tin Q(N2 ) ¼ 3,746,043.09 kJ/h
80 Burning of 1 kg fuel 10.65 kg nitrogen is produced
81
82 Heat from CO2 QðCO2 Þ ¼ mf  mðCO2 Þ  cp ðCO2 Þ þTin Q(CO2 ) ¼ 1,167,695.17 kJ/h
83 Burning of 1 kg fuel 3.11 kg CO2 is produced
84

D. Velic et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 23 (2003) 2119–2131

85 Total heat from furnace QFout ¼ Qha þ QðH2 OÞ þ QðN2 Þ þ QðCO2 Þ QFout ¼ 25,736,068.3 kJ/h
86
87 Furnace losses QFL ¼ QFin  QFout QFL ¼ 4,362,412.63 kJ/h
88
89 Heat entering in tower (Qt ) [kJ/h]
90 Heat from furnace QF ¼ 25,736,068.3 kJ/h
91 Heat from slurry Qsl ¼ mwm  cp S  TS Qsl ¼ 4,688,400 kJ/h
92 Heat from leak air QLA ¼ Qa  h3a QLA ¼ 52,271.8155 kJ/h
93 Total amount of heat in tower Qt in ¼ QFout þ Qsl þ Qla Qt in ¼ 30,476,740.1 kJ/h
94
95 Heat leaving tower (Qout ) [kJ/h]
96 Heat from exhaust air Qa out ¼ ðmha þ mla Þ  h2a Qa out ¼ 6,058,409.99 kJ/h
97 Heat from evaporation of water Qew out ¼ ½mev þ ðmðH2 0Þ  mf Þ  h2w Qew out ¼ 21,834,466.6 kJ/h
98 Heat from N2 QðN2 Þout ¼ mf  mðN2 Þ  cp ðN2 Þ  Tout Q(N2 )out ¼ 893,465.714 kJ/h
99 Heat from CO2 QðCO2 Þout ¼ mf  mðCO2 Þ  cp ðCO2 Þ  Tout QðCO2 Þout ¼ 167,125.892 kJ/h
100 Heat from dried material Qdm ¼ mdm  cp dm  Tdm Qdm ¼ 2,301,045.45 kJ/h
101
102 Total amount of heat from tower
103 Qout ¼ Qa out þ Qew out þ QðN2 Þout þ QðCO2 Þout þ Qdm Qout ¼ 31,254,513.7 kJ/h
104
105 Total amount of heat in plant Qplant ¼ QFin þ Qla þ Qs Qplant ¼ 34,839,152.7 kJ/h
106
107
108 Heat utilization
109 Heat for water evaporation Qev ¼ mev  ½h2 ðH2 OÞ  h1 ðH2 OÞ Qev ¼ 17,403,011.4 kJ/h
110 Heat from dried material Qdm ¼ mdm  cp dm  Tdm Qdm ¼ 2,301,045.45 kJ/h
111 Heat on exit
112 Qout ¼ Qa out þ QðN2 Þout þ QðCO2 Þout þ QLA þ ðmf  1:035  h2w Þ Qout ¼ 9,129,035.47 kJ/h
113 Furnace losses QFL ¼ QFin  QFout QFL ¼ 4,362,412.63 kJ/h
114 Tower losses QTL ¼ Qplant  ðQev þ Qop þ Qout þ QFL Þ QTL ¼ 1,643,647.79 kJ/h
115
116 Heat balance in % kJ/h %
117 Furnace losses QFL ¼ 4,362,412.63 12.5215807
118 Heat losses in powder Qdm ¼ 2,301,045.45 6.6047687
119 Heat in exit air (heat on exit) Qout ¼ 9,129,035.47 26.2033797
120 Heat for water evaporation Qev ¼ 17,403,011.4 49.9524529
121 Tower losses QTL ¼ 1,643,647.79 4.71781793
P
122 34,839,152.7 100
123
124 Total amount of exit air on exit temperature (mout )

D. Velic et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 23 (2003) 2119–2131

125 kg m3 /h
126 Air 51,985.8931 52,713.6956
127 Water 8113.88577 27,660.2366
128 CO2 2186.081 3060.5134
129 N2 7282.25053 24,825.1921
P
130 Total (mout ) 69,568.1104 108,259.638
131
132 Process optimisation with exit air recirculation
133
134 Recirculation range (0–75%) RR ¼ 60 %
135 Air humidity on 20 °C X¼ 0.01488 kg/kg
136 Amount of air leaving tower mout ¼ 61,971.5514 kg
137
138 Recirculation rate
139 mrec ¼ mout  ð%RR=100Þ mrec ¼ 37,182.9308 kg
140
141 Amount of air leaving plant
142 mðairÞlp ¼ mout  mrec m(air)lp ¼ 24,788.6206 kg
143 Amount of fresh air
144 mfa ¼ mha  mrec  mðairÞcomb: mfa ¼ 2201.71659 kg
145 Amount of air blend
146 mðairÞbl ¼ mrec þ mfa m(air)bl ¼ 39,384.6474 kg
147 Temperature of blended air
148 T ðairÞbl T ðairÞbl ¼ 104.968738 °C
¼ ½ðmrec  Tout Þ þ ðmfa  Tfa Þ=ðmrec þ mfa Þ
149 Amount of hot entering air
150 meha ¼ mrec þ mfa þ mðaircomb: Þ meha ¼ 51,985.8931 kg

2127
 2128
D. Velic et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 23 (2003) 2119–2131
Table 1 (continued)
A B C D E F G H I J
151 Heat of blended air
152 QðairÞbl ¼ ½mðairÞbl cp ðairÞbl QðairÞbl ¼ 4,127,087.61 kJ/kg
T ðairÞbl   ðmfa h3a Þ
153 Total amount of heat required
154 Qtot ¼ ðQ1 þ Q2 Þ  QðairÞbl Qtot ¼ 24,833,213.7 kJ/kg
155
156 Amount of fuel (recirculation)
157 mfrec ¼ Qtot /NCVF mfrec ¼ 602.747906 kg
158
159 Fuel savings (%)
160 FS ¼ ½100  ðmfrec =mf Þ  100 FS ¼ 14.2508449 %
 D. Velic et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 23 (2003) 2119–2131 2129

EXHAUST AIR
mass 61971.551
water evap. 7386.3636 moisture 0.3454492
temperature 110

SLURRY
OUTPUT AIR
mass 25000
mass 24788.621
moisture 38
moisture 0.3454492
temperature 80

RECIRCULATE AIR
HOT AIR RR = 60.00
mass 51985.893 LEAK AIR mass 37182.93
moisture 0.26898 mass 2599.295 moisture 0.35142
temperature 450 moisture 0.01488

BLENDED AIR FRESH AIR

mass 39384.647 mass 2201.7166
moisture 0.3326064 moisture 0.01488
temp. 104.96874
AIR FOR COMBUSTION
mass kg 12601.246
mass
moisture % moisture 0.01488
POWDER OUTPUT FUEL
temperature
mass 17613.64 no recirc. 702.91994
water evap. kg/h moisture 12 with recirc. 602.74791
temperature 80 fuel saving 14.25
moisture kg/kg

Fig. 1. Process flow sheet (with active cells).

0.4

0.35 Recirculated air

Blended air
Air moisture (kg/kg)

0.3
Hot air
0.25

0.2

0.15

0.1

0.05

0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Recirculation (%)

Fig. 2. Air moisture content vs. recirculation rate.

4. Conclusions

This simple and effective model provides the first information concerning possible fuel saving,
based exclusively on the thermodynamic and physical data. Using the program it is possible to
reduce operating costs and to improve capacity per unit of drying equipment.
2130 D. Velic et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 23 (2003) 2119–2131

120 16

14
100
Air temperature
12

blended air ( C)
Temperature of Fuel saving

Fuel saving (%)

80
o 10

60 8

6
40
4
20
2

0 0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Recirculation rate (%)

Fig. 3. Fuel saving rate vs. recirculation rate.

12 500000

450000
10
400000
Evaporation efficiency

Amount of hot air

8 350000
(kg H2O/kg fuel)

(kg/h)
300000
6
Evaporation eficiency 250000

4 Required amount of hot air 200000

150000
2
100000

0 50000
100 200 300 400 500
o
Temperature of hot air ( C)

Fig. 4. Evaporation efficiency and the requirement of hot air vs. inlet air temperature.

It is evident that the fuel oil saving linearly depends on the rate of recirculation, and the the-
oretical maximum is approximately 14%, for recirculation range of 60%.
Evaporation efficiency and required amount of hot (inlet) air depends on the inlet air tem-
perature. It can be seen that higher evaporation efficiency is achieved using higher inlet tem-
perature of hot air. As a result of this there is a less amount of hot air in the spray drier. There is
a certain limitation of inlet air temperature depending on the heat sensitivity of material to be
dried.
For practical purpose other factors, e.g. plant construction details, deducting system efficiency,
blowers characteristics, etc., should be included.
 D. Velic et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 23 (2003) 2119–2131 2131

References

[1] M. Bilic, G. Glavas, Spray-drying simulation in spreadsheet, Drying Technology 10 (2) (1992) 509–519.
[2] M. Bilic, Z. Olujic, A model for energy saving in spray-drying the detergents. In: Proceedings 4th Mediterranean
Congress on Chemical Engineering, Barcelona, 1987, pp. 688–689.
[3] A.S. Mujumdar, Handbook of Industrial Drying, vol. 1, second ed., Marcel Dekker, New York, Basel, Hong Kong,
1995, pp. 605–621.
[4] K. Masters, Spray Drying Handbook, fourth ed., Longman Scientific & Technical, London, 1985, pp. 96–110.
[5] R.H. Perry, D.W. Green, PerryÕs Chemical EngineerÕs Handbook, seventh ed., McGraw-Hill, New York, 1997.
[6] K. Raznjevic, Handbook of Thermodynamic Tables, second revision ed., Begell House, New York, 1995.