21CHS252J
CHEMICAL ENGG. PRINCIPLES
UNIT 4 DRYING
Drying Equipment
CLASSIFICATION OF
DRYERS
◼ Batch/Continuous
◼ Agitated/unagitated
◼ Vacuum to reduce temperature
Direct or adiabatic Indirect or
Direct-indirect dryers
dryers non-adiabatic dryers
• Dryers that expose • Dryers in which heat • Combine adiabatic
the solids to a hot gas is transferred from an and non-adiabatic
external medium (hot drying
fluid circulating
through a jacket
surrounding a sealed
vessel)
• Also dryers heated by
dielectric, radiant or
microwave energy
SOLIDS HANDLING IN
DRYERS
◼ Adiabatic dryers:
Patterns of gas-solid interaction in dryers:
(a) Gas flow across a static bed of solids (b) Gas passing through a bed of preformed solids
SOLIDS HANDLING IN
DRYERS
◼ Adiabatic dryers (contd…):
Patterns of gas-solid interaction in dryers
(contd…):
(c) Showering action in a rotary dryer
(d) Fluidized solids bed
(e) Co-current gas solid flow in a pneumatic
conveyor flash dryer
SOLIDS HANDLING IN
DRYERS
◼ Non-adiabatic dryers:
✔ Indirect method of removal of a liquid phase from the solid material
through the application of heat, such that the heat-transfer medium is
separated from the product to be dried by a metal wall.
✔ Heat transfer to the product is predominantly by conduction.
DRYING EQUIPMENT
◼ Dryers for rigid or
granular solids and
semi-solid pastes
◼ Dryers that accept
slurry or liquid feeds
DRYERS
◼ Tray dryers
◼ Rotary dryers
◼ Spray dryers
◼ Fluidized bed dryer
TRAY DRYER
TRAY DRYER
TRAY DRYER
◼ Simplest batch dryer
◼ Also called cabinet dryer or compartment dryer
◼ Construction
▪ Enclosed insulated cabinet or large compartment
▪ Material to be dried is placed on a number of
removable trays
▪ Removable trays may be stacked sheets or screens
▪ Inlet and outlet connections for air
▪ Heating coil (electrical/steam-heating)
▪ Drying medium: steam/gas/electrically heated air
▪ Air circulation by fan at top/side
TRAY DRYER
◼ Working
▪ Material to be dried is spread over the trays, put in the cabinet,
and closed.
▪ Air is heated by heating coils and circulated by fan.
▪ Hot air passes over the trays.
▪ Moisture is evaporated from the wet feed, gets added to the air,
and leaves the dryer through the outlet.
▪ Continue the process until solids are dried.
▪ Cabinet is opened and dried material is removed from the trays.
▪ A fresh batch is charged.
▪ Overall rate of drying: 0.2 to 2 kg water/ (m2.h)
▪ Dimensions: Trays are 600 mm wide, 900 to 1500 mm long, and
30 to 40 mm deep, 3 to 6 mm thick sheets
▪ Material of trays: mild steel, stainless steel, enamelled iron
TRAY DRYER
◼ Advantages
▪ Cheap and easy to construct
▪ Low space requirement
▪ Ease of cleaning
▪ Low maintenance
▪ No loss of product during drying
◼ Disadvantages
▪ High labour requirements for loading and unloading the
dryer
▪ Long drying time ( 4 to 48 h per batch)
▪ Small quantities are handled
TRAY DRYER
◼ Applications
▪ Small scale production
▪ Drying valuable materials like
dyes and pharmaceuticals Lumpy
solids
▪ Useful for drying wet lumpy
solids and wet filter cakes
▪ Can be operated under vacuum –
for thermally unstable materials.
Filter cake
ROTARY DRYER
Direct heat counter current flow Rotary Dryer
ROTARY DRYER
ROTARY DRYER
◼ Direct/indirect heating
◼ To dry free-flowing granular material on large
scale
◼ Construction
▪ Hollow cylindrical shell, dia 1 to 3 m, length 3 to 30
m, slightly inclined to advance the material from one
end to the other.
▪ Supporting rollers for rotation
▪ Thrust wheels to avoid slipping of rollers
▪ Flights to lift the material upward and shower it from
top
ROTARY DRYER
◼ Working
▪ Feed at high end of dryer; Product removed at lower end.
▪ Material moves due to rotation of dryer and inclination of
the cylindrical shell.
▪ Shell is rotated by gear mechanism ( 2 to 25 rpm).
▪ Air is taken in from product end, heated in a heater, moves
countercurrent w.r.t. to the feed.
▪ Moisture evaporates and gets added to the drying medium.
▪ Finally moist air leaves the dryer at feed end. Sometimes,
exhaust fan is used to pull the moist air.
▪ Cyclone separator: placed between dryer and exhaust fan;
removes dust particles (fines)
ROTARY DRYER (with
cyclone)
ROTARY DRYER
◼ Advantages ◼ Applications
▪ Good gas contacting
▪ Moderate drying time To dry salt, sugar, and all
▪ Low capital cost kinds of granular and
▪ Drying and calcining in same unit crystalline materials that
▪ High thermal efficiency
have to be kept clean and
▪ Better control of gas velocity
may not be directly
◼ Disadvantages exposed to very hot gases
▪ Difficulty of sealing
▪ Product build up on inner walls
▪ High structural load
▪ Non-uniform residence time
ROTARY DRYER - variation
Direct heat co-current flow Rotary Dryer
SPRAY DRYER
SPRAY DRYER
◼ Continuous direct contact dryer
◼ To evaporate solutions and slurries entirely to
dryness
◼ Feed is introduced as very fine droplets into a stream
of hot gas.
◼ Construction
▪ Drying chamber - vertical cylinder with conical bottom
where feed is contacted with hot air
▪ Atomizer (Pressure nozzles/spray nozzles/rotating discs)-
to spread the feed as fine droplets
▪ Heater – to heat fresh air sucked in by a fan/blower
▪ Cyclone separators – for dust separation and collection
SPRAY DRYER
◼ Working
▪ Feed is pumped to top of drying chamber; disintegrated into
small droplets by atomizer
▪ Fresh air taken in by a fan is heated and fed below the
atomizer.
▪ Large surface area of drops ensures rapid evaporation of
liquid from the solids before hitting bottom of chamber.
▪ Dried product is collected a the conical bottom.
▪ Air containing dust is fed into a cyclone separator to recover
the fines.
▪ Air from cyclone is thrown out to the atmosphere.
▪ Product (fines) from cyclone is collected at the bottom.
SPRAY DRYER
SPRAY DRYER
◼ Advantages ◼ Applications
▪ Short drying times (2 to 20 s) ▪ Dairy and food
▪ Can handle heat sensitive industry
solids
▪ Detergent, chemicals,
▪ Control of particle size
▪ Rapid dehydration
and dye industry
▪ Products:
◼ Disadvantages ▪ Milk powder
▪ Low solids content ▪ Coffee
▪ Maintenance of atomizer ▪ Detergents
▪ Product build-up on inner ▪ Dyes
walls ▪ Pharmaceuticals
FLUIDIZED BED DRYER
FLUIDIZED BED DRYER
◼ Hot air is passed through a wet material at a velocity
sufficiently high to fluidize the solids but not too high to
cause pneumatic conveying
Particle size (µm) Velocity (m/s)
300 to 800 0.4 to 0.8
800 to 2000 0.8 to 1.2
◼ Construction
▪ Fluidizing chamber
▪ Air blower
▪ Hot air generator
▪ Cyclone separator
FLUIDIZED BED DRYER
◼ Working
▪ Wet feed admitted to top of bed.
▪ Hot air is sent from bottom at a velocity enough to keep
the wet feed in a fluidized state.
▪ Material to be dried and hot air are in cross flow with
respect to each other.
▪ Dry product is collected at the bottom.
▪ Residence time: few sec to hours
▪ Moist air from the dryer is sent to a cyclone separator
to recover the fines.
FLUIDIZED BED DRYER
◼ Advantages ◼ Applications
▪ Absence of moving parts; ▪ To dry free flowing
easy maintenance materials of very
▪ High heat transfer rates fine size
▪ Rapid mixing; Hence, ▪ Well-suited for
uniform drying heat-sensitive
▪ Batch operation is also materials
possible.