Lab Report CPP 2

INTRODUCTION
Drying is a mass transfer process that involves removal of relatively small amounts of water
or moisture contents from a material or a process stream. In industries, drying process is often used as
the final step operation before packaging and selling products. The final product from drying process
must be in solid form, because all the moisture contents is being dried up. There are many methods of
drying such as application of hot air, contact drying, dielectric drying, freezing drying and
supercritical drying. This method of drying involves with different type of drying equipment such as
Tray dryers, Vacuum-shelf indirect dryers, Continuous tunnel dryers, Rotary dryers, Drum dryers and
Spray dryers.
The common type of dryers uses in many industrial applications involves tray dryers as their
drying operation. The dryers are made of tray held in a cabinet, which is connected toa source of
heated air. The operation mechanism of tray drying is the heat is channelled by an air current
sweeping across the trays, by conduction from heated trays or heated shelves on which the trays lie, or
by radiation from heated surfaces. The tray must be tight-fitting in the cabinet to air form bypassing
the material that needed to be dried. The drying time by using tray dryers usually need a longer time.
In industries, tray dryer operates about 12 to 48 hours for solids to be dried. This is because tray
dryers required low capital and maintenance cost but it have poor control and chances to produces
more variable product quality.
THEORY
Tray dryer operators by passing hot air over the surface of a wet solid that is spread over trays
arranged in racks. Tray dryers are the simplest and least-expensive dryer type. This type is most
widely used in the food and pharmaceutical industries. The advantage of tray dryers, apart from their
low initial cost, is their versatility. With the exception of dusty solids, materials of almost any other
physical form may be dried. Drying times are typically long which usually takes 12 to 48 hours.
Drying process can be defined as the vaporisation and removal of water or other liquids from
a solution, suspension, or other solid-liquid mixture to form a dry solid. It is a process that involves
heat and mass transfer. Drying occurs as a result of the vaporisation of liquid by supplying heat to wet
feedstock, granules, and so on. Based on the mechanism of heat transfer, drying is categorised into
direct (convection), indirect or contact (conduction), radiant (radiation) and dielectric or microwave
(radio frequency) drying.
Heat transfer and mass transfer are crucial in drying processes. Heat is supplied to the product
to evaporate the liquid contained, and mass is transferred as a vapor into the surrounding gas. The
drying rate is determined by the set of factors that affect heat and mass transfer. Solids drying is
generally understood o follow two distinct drying zones, known as the constant-rate period and the
falling-rate period. The two zones are demarcated by a break point called the critical moisture content.
In a typical graph of moisture content versus drying rate and moisture content versus time
(Figure 1), section AB represents the constant-rate period. In that zone, moisture is considered to be
evaporating from a saturated surface at a rate governed by diffusion from the surface through the
stationary air film that is in contact with it. This period depends on the air temperature, humidity and
speed of moisture to the surface, which in turn determine the temperature of the saturated surface.
During the constant rate period, liquid must be transported to the surface at a rate sufficient to
maintain saturation.
Figure 1 - Segment AB of the graph represents the constant-rate drying period,while
segment BC is the falling-rate period (Parikh, 2014)
At the end of the constant rate period, (point B, Figure 1), a break in the drying curve
occurs. This point is called the critical moisture content, and a linear fall in the drying rate
occurs with further drying. This section, segment BC, is called the first falling-rate period. As
drying proceeds, moisture reaches the surface at a decreasing rate and the mechanism that
controls its transfer will influence the rate of drying. Since the surface is no longer saturated
it will tend to rise above the wet bulb temperature. This section, represented by segment CD
in (Figure 1) is called the second falling-rate period, and is controlled by vapor diffusion.
Movement of liquid may occur by diffusion under the concentration gradient

created by the depletion of water at the surface. The gradient can be caused by evaporation,
or as a result of capillary forces, or through a cycle of vaporization and condensation, or by
osmotic effects. The amount of the air (gas) stream to absorb and carry away moisture
determines the drying rate and establishes the duration of the drying cycle. The two elements
essential to this process are inlet air temperature and air flowrate. Theoretically, the higher
the temperature of the drying air, the greater its vapor holding capacity.

Lab Report CPP 2

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Lab Report CPP 2

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Lab Report CPP 2

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

INTRODUCTION

Movement of liquid may occur by diffusion under the concentration gradient

You might also like