ROTARY DRYER

(P.689-693)
Afrah Alatas
1406641792

What is Rotary Dryer?

It is one of the group of continuous driers, which is
suitable for handling free flowing granular material which
can be tumbled about without concern over breakage.
Rotary drier can be classified into four groups, (1) Direct
heat, countercurrent flow; (2) Direct heat, co-current flow;
(3) Indirect heat, countercurrent flow; (4) Direct-indirect.

How Does Rotary Dryer Work

The solid to be dried is continuously introduced into one
end of a rotating cylinder, while the heated air flows into
the other.
Consequently, the solid moves slowly through the device
Inside the drier, lifting flights extending from the cylinder
wall for the full length of the drier lift the solid and
shower it down in a moving curtain through the air, thus
exposing it thoroughly to the drying action of the gas.

Direct Heat, Countercurrent

Flow
Suitable for materials which can be heated up to high
temperatures (for instance minerals, sand, limestone,
clays)
Using hot flue gas as the drying gas.

Direct Heat, Cocurrent Flow

Suitable for solids which can be dried with flue gas
without fear of contamination but which must not be
heated in high temperatures for fear of damage (ex:
gypsum, iron pyrite)
It has the same arrangement with the previous dryer type,
but both the gas and solid entrance are at the same end

Indirect Heat, Countercurrent

Flow
Used for the solids which can be high temperatures but
must remain out of contact with the flue gas. (For
instance, white pigments)
This type of dryer has a modification, the drier may be
enclosed in a brick structure and completely surrounded
by the hot flue gases. For solids which must not be heated
to high temperatures and for which indirect heat is
desirable such as cattle feed, brewers' grains, feathers,
this dryer modification can be used.

Direct-Indirect
More economical to operate than the direct driers
Used for solids which can be dried at high temperature by
flue gas (example: lignite, coal and coke)

Holdup in Rotary Driers

The holdup solid is defined as the fraction of the drier
volume occupied by the solid at any instant, and the
average time of retention can be computed by dividing
the holdup by the volumetric feed rate,

Holdup in Rotary Driers

The previous formula can be simplified as
Where is the holdup with no gas flow and KG is the
correction for influence of gas rate. The (+) sign
represents or countercurrent flow of gas and solid and the
minus sign for cocurrent flow.
The constant K is dependent upon the properties of the
solid, and for rough estimates it may be taken, for SI units