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Drying

The main objectives of drying are:

 To arrest enzymic reaction as well as oxidation,

 To remove moisture from the leaf particles and to produce a stable product with good
keeping quality.

Technology of tea drying

On an average 100 kg of fresh leaf produces 22.5 kg of dried tea containing residual
3% moisture. The difference of 77.5 kg between the figures represents the moisture
evaporated during the process. Of the 77.5 kg, about 20-25 kg are evaporated
during withering and around 20-50 kg are evaporated during drying. A leaf particle has
to undergo a moisture change from around 70% to 3% during drying.

During the early stage of drying the

solid is so wet that a continuous layer
of moisture exists over the entire
surface. The temperature of the solid
particles will be near the wet bulb
temperature of the drying air. Removal
ofthis layer of film of moisture is easier
and such evaporation rate is
independent of the moisture content of the particle and the moisture will be evaporated
at the constant rate. This stage of drying is known as the ‘constant rate drying’. With
the freely available water from the surface of the solid particle evaporated the drying no
more takes place at the constant rate. Under this condition diffusion process controls
the drying rates.The moisture trapped inside the drying particle travels to the surface
before being evaporated. With reduction of moisture the drying now takes place at a
falling rate. The quantity of moisture removed during the “Falling rate period” is small
but the time taken is quite long. Hence the falling rate period has a very important
effect on the time of drying and is dependent on size of the particle, thickness of spread
and external variables like volumetric flow, temperature and humidity of air.

A tea dryer consists of the dryer, the air heater, heat exchanger and a fan. The fan is
used to introduce the clean hot air at the bottom of the dryer. In the conventional
 dryer, the fermented leaf falls over a series of moving perforated trays where the hot
incoming air-dries the leaf and the moisture is reduced from around 70% to 3%.

Factors that influence drying

The following factors influence drying:

 Temperature of inlet and exhaust air

 Volume of air
 Quantity of leaf fed (i.e. thickness of spread)
 Period of drying (through put time)

Temperature of inlet air

Drying of tea involves both physical and chemical aspects. Temperature at which tea is
dried, therefore, has to be selected judiciously. Too high temperature at the initial stage
may cause case hardening and blistering or scorching. Even if these effects are taken
care of a faster rate of evaporation may impart the teas an undesirable harshness. On
the other hand, too low a drying temperature slows down the rate of drying and high
temperature oxidation is allowed to proceed for a longer period resulting in a ‘dull’ and
‘soft’ product. This affect is known as stewing. For conventional drier, an inlet
temperature between 82-99°C (180-210 °F) has been found to be satisfactory.
However, for Darjeeling manufacture where the wither is also high, a high inlet
temperature of around 115°C (240 °F) is used to bring out the desired flavour. Exhaust
temperature is equally important, for, it indicates how much heat has been extracted
from the incoming hot air. For conventional drier an exhaust temperature of 49-54°C
(120-130°F) is advocated as at this range the oxidation of the leaf is brought nearly to
a stop.

Volume of air

Volume of air for drying depends on two factors – moisture to be removed and
temperature selected. If the volume of air is below the normal requirement, the
temperature will have to be increased to produce the same amount of heat. Increasing
air volume can increase the capacity of a dryer to a certain extent. On the other hand
lower fan speed, small exhaust duct, partly closed fan valve (damper) result in lower
volume of airflow. There is a limitation in increasing the airflow as excessive airflow
may result in blowing away of the small/dust leaf particles.

Thickness of spread

In a conventional drier in particular, the spread of the leaf should be to a reasonable

depth to prevent the air from escaping freely through it. Overloading the dryer requires
higher drying temperature and longer period of drying. In general, finer material should
be spread thinner. Big bulk requires slightly longer period of drying and should be
 spread thicker. The thickness of spread of leaf will also depend on the degree of wither
as well as inlet temperature index. A drier should never be operated with fixed spreader
position.

Period of drying

Time required for drying tea varies with degree of wither, temperature, thickness of
spread and volume of air. It is apparent that the two main objectives of drying viz.,
final moisture content (3%) and arrest of ‘oxidation’ can be achieved even in shorter
residence time by increasing the drying rate. It does not necessarily mean that
evaporation rate is also high in this case. A fast drying rate carries the risk of case-
hardening or scorching. On the other hand longer period of drying which, may be due
to higher thickness of spread, produces uneven teas, as the contact between the leaf
particles and hot air supply is not proper.

Major components of a tea dryer

Three essential components of a dryer are:

 A furnace in which fuel whether coal, oil,gas or wood is burnt

 A heat exchanger where the heat of the furnace gases is transferred to clean air
 The drying chamber in which the clean hot air is passed through the leaf and
evaporates the moisture therein. Furnace and heat exchanger form one unit known as
the stove or air heater.

Air heater

In tea both indirect and direct air heaters are used. The heater is an independent or self
contained type of air heater. The type is known as self contained as both the aspects of
generation and transmission of heat is incorporated in the body of the heater.

Direct fired heater

In direct fired heaters the products of combustion, mixed with atmospheric air, are
directly drawn into the dryer chamber. Complete combustion must be ensured so that
the heated air does not have any ill effect on the made tea.

Oil at requisite pressure and temperature is atomised and burnt in the combustion
chamber. An induced draught is created by the centrifugal fan of the drier, the inlet of
which is connected to the end of the mixing chamber. Atmospheric air on entering the
mixing chamber is mixed with the products of combustion from the combustion
chamber. This mixed air is subsequently forced into the drier chamber.
 The essential parts of a DF heater are combustion chamber, a self proportioning oil
burner, oil circuit with preheater and oil circuit with a blower (working at 22-28 inch
wg).

The following factors are important:

 Proper atomisation of the fuel oil. Oil should be free from deposits or any non-
combustible particles as much as possible.
 Thorough mixing of the atomised oil with proper amount of air for combustion
 Keeping the furnace temperature high to sustain combustion
 The flame action is not localised to avoid over heating of the furnace
 Purging of all inflammable and explosive gases before ignition.

Dryer

Two types of dryers are in use today. Conventional pressure chamber type and the
Fluid Bed Type (FBD).

Conventional dryer
This type consists of a rectangular chamber with conveyors
carrying the leaf through it, while hot air is being blown
through it at a pressure. The conveyors are arranged in the
form of three tray circuits run usually at a speed ratio of
10:14:18.The dryer chamber is open at the top and closed on
all sides except for the hot air inlet duct. The chamber has
chain guides and sprockets fitted to the side walls. Air baffles
are fitted at the ends to prevent air leakage. A scrapper circuit
is fitted at the bottom to scrape the floor continuously to prevent accumulation. A
spreader is fitted above the top tray to spread out the material evenly.

The trays are 4 ¼ inch wide of which 2 7/8 inch is perforated and are made of mild
steel sheets with aluminium or stainless steel coating to assure absence of lead or zinc
flakes which might come loose to become mixed with leaf particles. The trays, stiffened
properly, are fixed to the driving chains at two ends by pins. The tray sides called lips
are so arranged that they overlap the next tray’s lip and prevent air leakage. The trays
must have maximum perforated area per square inch. Since both surfaces are used for
leaf carrying, the both sides of the trays must have very good finish. For proper
spreading of leaf, the stiffeners must be of small diameter or of flat construction so that
a minimum spread can be set for teas such as in CTC manufacture. There may be an
extra plain tray circuit at the top to act as a conveyor to feed the dryer.

Size

The size is expressed in terms of the length of the tray. Normal sizes are 4 feet and 6
feet.
Capacity

Both quality and the ECP driers have moisture evaporation capacity of 400-450 kg/hr.
Therefore, under North East Indian conditions a six feet drier will give about 180 kg of
CTC tea per hour.

Working

Fermented leaf fed to the top are carried forward and at the end of he run, the trays tilt
one by one and discharge the leaf to the lower run. The process being repeated till the
leaf in discharged by the bottom run onto a valve (discharge valve), which delivers the
leaf outside the chamber. While the trays are carrying the leaf, hot air fed at the
bottom pass through the trays and dries the leaf.

Air Requirement in Dryer

On an average a six feet drier has the capacity to remove 400-450 kg of water/hour.
However, all the dryers do not have similar volumetric capacity. Volumes of some of the
standard driers are given below:

Size Type of Dryer LxHxW Volume

4/ Quality 12/ x 6/ x 4/ 288 cft
6/ ECP 12/ x 6/ x 6/ 432 cft
6/ Quality 16/ x 6/ x 6.25/ 600 cft
6/ Quality 18/ x 4/ x 6.25/ 450 cft

For drying, it is required that the volumetric content of the drying chamber is emptied
every 2 seconds i.e., 30 changes per minute. A 6/ quality dryer will thus require to
remove 600 x 30 = 18,000 cft of air per minute. This air is moisture laden and,
therefore, moisture must be removed from the drying room, otherwise ‘back pressure’
effect will take place. Air comes out of the dryer chamber because of pressure
differential between the inside of the drier and the room. If the room pressure
increases, less air will come out of the dryer. Another aspect is of important
consideration. The dryer is a pressure chamber. When the air from the drier is released
to the atmosphere the pressure drops and air expands. With the drop in pressure,
velocity also drops. This means the openings of the dryer room through which the
exhaust air must escape must be larger than the top cross section of the drier. It is,
therefore, essential to have 1.5 to 3 times the total dryer top area is exhaust outlets.

Back pressure within the drier is caused by blanketing and incorrect tray perforation.
Blanketing in the top circuit is commonly encountered with soft withered leaf. The soft
withered leaf particles get stuck to the trays and blocks of the airflow. This blocking of
airflow may take place up to the third row of the tray circuit. The fermented leaf thus
may not come in contact with the hot air up to about 10 minutes after being put into
the drier. This results in underfired teas with poor liquor characteristics. The problem of
blanketing is further aggravated by inadequate air flow. Fitting of scrappers at the start
of the second row helps in obviating the problem of blanketing.
 Few Important Practical Points in conventional Drying
 Rate of loss of moisture

An average loss of more than 4% moisture per minute leads to bitterness and
harshness in made tea. Moisture loss at 2.8-3.6% per minute has been found to
produce teas with good quality.

 High temperature stewing

Slow drying and blanketing results in stewing. High temperature stewing is a

phenomenon encountered in faulty double fired tea, which may have to be carried out
to negate the effect of blanketing. Quite often teas from first fire are kept in heaps
before being taken for second firing. Teas from such heaps particularly at the bottom
sweats. Such teas, if delayed by 7-10 minutes before being put for second fire, will
result in a ‘stewed’ tea with soft and flat liquor. Therefore, teas with incomplete drying
after first fire must be sent for second fire with least possible delay. In case there is
delay, such teas should be spread thinly so that the teas can continue to dry at its
own heat.

 Air leakage

Air being a fluid follows the path of least resistance. When the dryer is full, the layers
of leaf provide resistance to air flow. If there is any leakage in the dryer, the hot air
will escape and drying will affected. On the other hand, if there is over blowing of air
or there are some empty trays in the circuit, valuable heat will escape. This will also
send a wrong signal as far as the inlet as well as exhaust temperature are concerned.
The discharge valve is the worst offender of air leakage.

Other important points are:

 Fan speed should be correct

 The fall through should be frequently collected
 The automatic spreader should be at a uniform height and it should be adjusted from
time to time
 The time required by the leaf to pass through the dryer should be checked against
each step pulleys
 The thermometer should be periodically checked
 The exhaust temperature measured on the top tray must be the temperature of true
sample of the air that has actually been passing through the drying leaf and not the
temperature of the leaking air
 The dryer trays should be cleaned before day’s work is started

After overhauling, the air baffles should be correctly repositioned.

Fluidised Bed Dryer (FBD)

 When a fluid flows upwards through a bed of granular particles,
the pressure drop is initially proportional to the rate of flow. At a
certain increased air velocity the frictional drag on the particles
becomes equivalent to the apparent weight and the bed begins
to expand. This is the onset of fluidisation. Further increase in
velocity causes the individual particles to separate from one
another and float. The particles under this condition are said be
under fluidisation. A fluid bed drier consists of a grid through
which hot air is forced out. Fermented leaf with not too high moisture content is
suspended by the air streams resulting in fluidisation. The leaf particles dry
simultaneously. The air also acts as a carrier of the particles through the drier, making
the bed of leaves move forward until the dried leaf is discharged at the opposite end.
To facilitate fluidisation of wet fermented leaf particles, the grid is vibrated or the
material is raked or an extra circuit is provided as in case of the hybrid dryer.

The fluid bed dryer essentially consists of a drying chamber, plenum chamber, dust
collectors and flow control dampers. The drying chamber normally consists of three
drying zones and one cooling zone. Fermented leaf is loaded on the grid plate of the
drying chamber. The top of the drying chamber is closed and two sets of centrifugal
exhaust fans provided with cyclones – one for refiring and the other for dust extraction.

Below the drying chamber where in the air pressure is uniform, the direction of the hot
air entering into the grid plate is controlled by the flow control dampers. In each zone,
the required volume and pressure of air is maintained by independent air valves.

In the first zone of the dryer, the very high moisture content of the fermented leaf is
reduced rapidly. Hence maximum volume of air is introduced at this stage. With the
loss of moisture the density of the particles is reduced. These low density particles tend
to move away from the feed end and are replaced by fresh fermented leaf particles
having high moisture content and higher density. The movement of the particles within
the drying chamber is thus governed by the principle of displacement. When the
material is fully dried, it is expelled into a cooling chamber where in ambient air is
introduced.

In the “Vibro Fluid Bed Dryer” (VFBD) mechanical forces are added to the pneumatic
forces. These help in :

 Fluidisation accomplished with lower pressure and lower gas velocities. Quantity of air
for fluidisation is reduced.
 Drier can handle non fluidisable solid fractions
 Start up of the drier is easier due to reduction in channelisation at the beginning of
fluidisation.

The drying chamber of the VFBD is divided into three zones. The first two zones have
one dust extractor each. The dust extractor collects the mixture of tea dust and sir; the
entrained tea dust is separated in the attached cyclone and is added into the next zone
for redrying. A cyclone blower is mounted on the third zone to provide adequate
pressure for suction of the exhaust air in this zone and to meet the pressure drop in the
cyclone separator. The tea dust and air are admitted into a cyclone to separate the tea
dust. A cold air blower is provided to supply ambient air to a special mixing chamber for
two temperature drying. Two temperature drying ensures uniform drying and obviates
the need of a cooling section.

Hybrid dryer

This type of drier combines useful features of both the conventional as well as fluidised
bed dryers. The dryer consists of three stages arranged one above the other. The first
stage comprises of a 6 feet tray circuit where fermented leaf is quickly predried. At the
second stage the tea is made to bubble over 4 feet grid trays that carry the tea to the
third and the final stage – the fluidised zone. The dried tea is swept onwards and
discharged – the fluff moving up is trapped by the first circuit on the top. The system
does not require a separate fluff collection system. The temperature used for drying is
around 110 – 115°C – much lower than that of the FBDs, while fuel consumption and
capacity remain the same as those for FBD, the power requirement is much lower at 17
KW (23 HP).

Dryer capacity

Dryer capacity varies with design and condition of dryer, air volume, available heat and
operational adjustment. It is measured in kg of water evaporated/hour.

% Moisture in
Dryer mouth (kg) Water evaporated (kg) Remarks
fermented leaf
30 100 43 Darjeeling wither
50 100 100 Darjeeling wither
65 100 188 Plains Orthodox
70 100 223 CTC optimum
75 100 288 Soft wither
80 100 385 Wet leaf

Depending on wither 30 cm of dryer width can give from 25

to 40 kg of made tea/hour.

Common fuel consumption per kg of tea

1. Conventional drier
Coal (kg) Oil (l) Natural gas
Direct Indirect
Hand stoked (m2)
Drying only 1-1.10 0.3-0.4 0.5-0.6 0.60
Including wither 1.15-1.25 0.4-0.45 0.6-0.65 0.69

2. Fluid Bed Driers

Coal (kg) Oil (l)
 Drying only 0.39-0.7 0.17-0.20

Chemistry of drying

In the final stage of black tea processing following chemical changes take place:

 By the deactivation of enzyme like Polyphenol Oxidase (PPO), Peroxidase (PO), etc.
almost all the biochemical reactions are brought to an end. However, as the
temperature rises to the level for destroying enzymes, the particular enzymes get
activated and faster reaction takes place in the initial stage of drying. If the
temperature is raised slowly, TR is likely to be formed.
 Chlorophyll is degraded to pheophytin and pheophorbide at elevated temperature
during drying contributing towards the blackness of made tea.
 At elevated temperature, by binding with proteins, Polyphenols make complex
chemicals, which brings down the level of astringency.
 Interaction between carbohydrates with amino acids at elevated temperature leads to
the formation of flavour components.