Drying Equipment: The dryer system presented on the following factors:

a) Temperature and pressure in the dryer,

(b) The method of heating,
(c) The means by which moist material is transported through the dryer,
(d) Any mechanical aids aimed at improving drying,
(e) The method by which the air is circulated,
(f) The way in which the moist material is supported,
(g) The heating medium, and
(h) The nature of the wet feed and the way it is introduced into the dryer.

The choice of dryer based on whether batch or continuous operation, the nature of material, whether
heating by contact with solid surface or directly by convection and radiation is preferred.
1. Tray or Shelf Dryer: Tray or shelf dryer are commonly used for granular materials and for
individual articles. The material is placed on a series of trays which may be heated from below by
steam coils and drying is carried out by the circulation of air over the material.
2. Tunnel Dryer: In tunnel dryers, a series of trays or trolleys is moved slowly through a long tunnel,
which may or may not be heated, and drying takes place in a current of warm air.

3. Rotary Dryers: It consists of a relatively long cylindrical shell mounted on rollers and driven at
a low speed. The shell is supported at a small angle to the horizontal so that material fed in at the
higher end will travel through the dryer under gravity, and hot gases or air used as the drying
medium are fed in either co-current flow or countercurrent flow.
4. Spray Dryer: Water may be evaporated from a
solution or a suspension of solid particles by spraying
the mixture into a vessel through which a current of hot
gases is passed. In this way, a large interfacial area is
produced and consequently a high rate of evaporation is
obtained. The performance of a spray dryer system is
critically dependent on the drop size produced by the
atomizer; is a device which causes liquid to be
disintegrated into drops lying within a specified size
range, and which controls their spatial distribution.
5. Fluid-bed dryer: The particles are fluidized by air or gas in a boiling-bed unit, as shown in
Figure below.
6. Freeze drying: In this process, the material is first frozen and then dried by sublimation in a very
high vacuum, 10–40 N/m2, at a temperature of 240–260 K. During the sublimation of the ice, a dry
surface layer is left. The great attraction of this technique is that it does not harm heat- sensitive
materials, and it is suitable for the drying of penicillin and other biological materials. Freeze drying
allows for greater flavor retention and less vitamin loss of a product than any other drying method.

Ex: An aqueous solution of cholesterol oxidase is freeze dried in a tray dryer. The frozen solution on
the trays is 1.0 cm thick. The sublimation of water is 2950 kJ/kg, the thermal conductivity of the
frozen solution is 0.16 W/m.oC, and the operating temperature difference is 30oC. What will be the
required drying time in order to be thickness of the frozen solution equal to zero?
 
Solution: The time required for complete drying:

To = Temp at the bottom of the tray,

Tz = temp at the wet-dry interface,
ρo = density of water
& λ = heat of sublimation.
 Drying Tutorial
Q.1: Estimate the time necessary to dry dates from 75% to 20% moisture content (on wet basis)
under constant external conditions. Under the conditions of the process, falling rate regime is
known to prevail during drying. Linear relation between drying rate and residual moisture is
assumed. The initial drying rate (when the moisture content of the dates is 75%) is 0.5 kg water
removed per kg dry matter per hour. The moisture content of the dates at equilibrium with the
drying air is 8% (wet basis).
Q.2: Calculate the time necessary to dry a food material from 80% to 20% moisture content. The
food is dried on trays, from one side. Loading rate of food material is 10 kg per m2.
Drying air data: Temperature DB = 70°C WB = 30°C, Velocity, v = 10 m / s , Density ρ = 1
kg/m3.
Critical moisture of the food = 45%.
Equilibrium moisture of the food = 0
All moisture data are w/w, wet basis. Assume that there is no shrinkage.
Assume:
hC = 20G0.8
Q.3: A food containing 80% water is to be dried at 100°C down to moisture content of 10%. If the
initial temperature of the food is 21°C, calculate the quantity of heat energy required per unit
weight of the original material, for drying under atmospheric pressure. The latent heat of
vaporization of water at 100°C and at standard atmospheric pressure is 2257 kJ kg -1. The specific
heat capacity of the food is 3.8 kJ kg-1 °C-1. Find also the energy requirement/kg water removed.

Q.4: 100 kg of food material are dried from an initial water content of 80% on a wet basis and with
a surface area of 12 m2. Estimate the time needed to dry to 50% moisture content on a wet basis,
assuming constant-rate drying in air at a temperature of 120°C dry bulb and 50°C wet bulb.
Under the conditions in the dryer, measurements indicate the heat-transfer coefficient to the food
surface from the air to be 18 J m-2s-1°C-1.