Tutorial (Drying) Jan 27, 2022

Q1. Determine the heat required to evaporate 1 Kg of a material at 0.1 Kg/Kg of dry solids with
the following data

Temperature (Degree C) 0 20 40 60 80 100

Water Activity (aw): 0.23 0.31 0.43 0.56 0.68 0.77

Q2. Skimmed milk of 1 Kg dry solids is to be spray dried from a concentration of 48% solid to a
powder of moisture content of 4%. Half of the moisture is lost in 5s. How long will it take
remove the remaining half? The initial moisture content in the solid is at the Critical moisture
content and the equilibrium moisture content is 0.03 Kg water/Kg dry solids. Assume a linear
drop in drying rate.

Q3. A through circulation drier is operated at 80% of the maximum drying rate of 2 Kg water
vapor/hr. The dryer is used to bring a moisture content of 5 Kg water/Kg dry solids to 0.5 Kg
water/Kg dry solids. A total of 25 Kg dry solids need to be processed with a critical moisture
content of 0.2 Kg water/Kg dry solids. Determine the time needed for processing and height of
the bed (HTU=1m)?

Q4. Determine the density of dry solids by performing a batch drying experiment, wherein it takes
5.68 h to dry from a moisture content of 5 Kg water/Kg dry solids to 0.05 Kg water/Kg dry solids
with a thickness of wet solids of 0.2m. The critical moisture content is 0.5 Kg water/Kg dry solids.
The mass transfer coefficient is 0.862 Kg.moles water/(m2 h). Saturated humidity ay the solid
interface and the absolute humidity of the dry air are 0.08 and 0.04, respectively. The
characteristic drying curve is given as f=φ2/3. Equilibrium moisture content can be neglected.

Q5. For the above system (as in Q4), design a continuous dryer for 500Kg dry solids/hr/m3 for the
same inlet air condition and the same drying conditions for the wet solids. Assume alpha equal
to 2.