Drying

Definition
• Drying is defined as the removal of a liquid from a material by the
application of heat and is accomplished by transfer of liquid from a
surface into an unsaturated vapour phase.
• Purpose
 commonly used in the manufacturing of granules
Processing of material such as dried aluminium hydroxide
Spray drying lactose
powdered extracts
Reduce bulk size
Lower cost of transport
Dried products are more stable
 Psychrometry

Vapor carrying capacity of the air. (critical factor)

This not only determined rate of drying but also the extent of drying.
The determination of vapor concentration and carrying capacity of
gas Is termed as psychrometry.
The concentration of water vapor in gas is termed as HUMIDITY OF
GAS.
Psychrometry chart
Saturated humidity
It Is the absolute humidity at which the partial pressure of water vapor
in the air is equal to the vapor pressure of free water at the same
temperature.
Abolute humidity
the mass of water vapor per unit volume of air containing the water
vapor.
Specific humidity
Proportion of the mass of water vapor per unit mass of moist air
sample.
Relative humidity
The ratio of vapor pressure of moisture in the sample to the vapor pressure
of the free water at the same temperature.
Dry bulb temperature
The temperature indicated by thermometer respond to the air in a place
sheltered from direct solar radiations.
Wet bulb temperature
The temperature of air sample after it has passed through a constant
pressure of large surface liquid (water) in an insulated channel .In practice
this Is the reading of thermometer whose sensing bulb Is covered with a
wet sock evaporating into a rapid stream of sample air.
Dew point
the temperature to which given mixture of air and water vapor must be
cooled to become saturated.
Horizontal axis
dry bulb temperature
Vertical axis
absolute humidity
Saturation humidity curve
The most important curve shown Is the curve for saturation humidity , curve
CDE
under these conditions , the air is completely saturated with moisture and
the humidity does not change when it is in contact with liquid water at the
same temperature.
This curve Is actually the boundry phase diagram.
Any point on the curve is uniquely determined by one measurement, either
the temperature or the absolute humidity.
The relationship between two variables can be shown more clearly by
considering the dotted line FCA, which corresponds to the absolute humidity,
78 grains water/pound dry air.
At point C, the air Is saturated with water vapor and its temperature
60⁰F, is referred to as the dew point.
When a mixture is cooled to temperature below the dew point , such
as 50⁰F(point F), the water vapor condenses to produce a two phase
system of saturated air (condition C) and droplets of free water.
To make the air usable for drying purposes (without changing the
absolute humidity, it temperature must be raised.
If the temperature Is increased to 81⁰F(point A), the air is not
completely saturated and can accept more water vapor.
The relative saturation Is measured in terms of percent relative
humidity, the ratio of the partial pressure of water vapor in the air to
the vapor pressure of free water at the same temperature.

The saturation humidity curve , CDE, Is thus the curve for 100%
relative humidity (100% RH).

One of these curve is shown as curve GK with 50% relative humidity.

Relative saturation curve
Also expressed as percent humidity or percent absolute humidity,the
ratio of absolute humidity to saturation humidity at the same
temperature.
for air at condition A, the percent absolute humidity Is represented
by the ratio of the absolute humidity of saturated air at that
temperature (78/161=48%)
If air ,under the conditions represented by point A, is used to dry a wet
material the difference in vapor pressure between the surface water and
the air causes some of the liquid to evaporate. The latent heat of
vaporization of the water cools the evaporating surface below the air
temperature.
The resultant difference in temperature causes a transfer of heat from
the air to the liquid at a rate that increases as the temperature difference
become larger.
Eventually the heat transferred becomes equal to the heat of
vaporization and the temperature stabilizes,the temperature that is
reached is called the WET BULB TEMPERATURE.
WET BULB TEMPERATURE
The equilibrium temperature reached by evaporating surface when the
rate of heat transferred to the surface by convection is equal to the
rate of heat lot by evaporation.
It can be measured by means of thermometer whose bulb is covered
by a wick saturated with water.
The actual temperature of the air as measured by an ordinary
thermometer Is called the DRY BULB TEMPERATURE.
The wet bulb temperature is a function of the temperature and
humidity of the air used for the evaporation and thus can be
employed as a means of measuring humidity. For this purpose a
second type of curve is superimposed on the temperature humidity
curves of the psychrometric chart.
Constant wet bulb temperature line
the line AD for air at condition A, and the temperature
corresponding to saturation at point D Is the Wet bulb
temperature.67⁰F
 how humidity of air is determined
It is done by measuring two temperatures
a)wet bulb temperature
b)dry bulb temperature
Example
wet bulb temperature of 54⁰F
dry bulb temperature of 60⁰F
Follow the line upward from 54⁰F point until it intersect the saturation
humidity curve
Then wet bulb temperature line is drop don until it interect the 60⁰F dry bulb
temperature at 53 grains water/pound
The relative humidity at this point will be 70%.
Wet bulb temperature line are also valuable for determining the temperature of
drying surface.
Wet bulb temperature is approximately the same as the adiabetic saturation
temperature i.e the temperature that would be attained if the air was saturated
with water vapor when there is no heat gain and loss.
This is the case when drying is carried out only by air
 for example, a wet material is dried using wet bulb temperature 70⁰F would
remain at this temperature as long as the drying surface has a film of wet moisture.
For non aqueous system, wet bulb temperature is not equal to adiabetic saturation
temperature.
 humidity measurement
• Most accurate mean Is gravimetric method.
Procedure
a known amount of air is passed through a previously weighed
amount of absorbent material such as phosphorus pentaoxide. The
resultant increase in the weight of chemical is measured.
• Accurate but slow and cumbersome
• For rapid determination of humidity, temperature measurement
methods are most often used.
 Sling psychometer
• It consists of two bulb thermometer set in a frame that is attached to
a swivel handle.
• The psychrometer Is whirled through the air and the two
thermometer readings are taken and checked for until there is no
temperature change.
• Any type of temperature can be used.
Dew point based humidity determining
method
• In this method dew point Is used instead of wet bulb temperature
measurement.
• The dew point temperature Is directly determined by the temperature at
which moisture began to forms on a surface polished in contact with the air.
hygrometer
This instrument utilized certain materials whose properties change when
come in contact with air of different humidities.
Mechanical hygrometer
It uses hair, wood fibre and plastic which expand or shrink with change in
humidity.
 Theory of drying
• Drying involves both heat and mass transfer operations
• Heat must be transferred to the material to be dried in order to supply
the latent heat required for vaporization of the moisture.
• Mass transfer Is involved in the diffusion of water through the material to
the evaporating surface
• The drying process can be understood more easily if attention is focused
on the film of liquid at the surface of material being dried.
• The rate of evaporation of this film Is related to the rate of heat transfer
by the equation
dW/d θ=q/ λ
• dW/d θ=rate of evaporation pounds of water per hour
• q=overall rate of heat transfer (BTU per hour)
• λ=the latent heat of vaporization (BTU per pound)
• BTU Is a British thermal unit. It is the amount of energy needed to cool or
heat 1 pound of water to one degree Fahrenheit
BTU/hour=1055jouls
Mass transfer
the rate of diffusion of moisture into the air stream Is expressed by the
rate equation similar to those for heat transfer. The driving force is a humidity
differential whereas for heat transfer it is a temperature differential.
The rate equation is as follows,
dW/d θ=K’A(Hs-Hg)
• dW/d θ=rate of diffusion in pound of per hour.
• K’=coefficient of mass transfer in (pounds of water/hour)(square foot)
(absolute humidity difference)
• A=area of evaporating surface in square feet.
• Hs=absolute humidity at the evaporating surface (pounds of water per
pounds of dry air)
• Hg=absolute humidity in the passing air stream(pounds of water per pounds
of dry air)
• The coefficient of mass transfer, K’ is not a constant but varies with
the velocity of the air Stream passing over the evaporating surface.
The relationship is in the form ;
K’=cGn
• c= proportionality constant
• G= rate of flow of air (pounds of dry air/hour)(square foot)
• N= fractional exponent usually about 0.8
• After an initial period of adjustment, the rate of evaporation is equal to the
rate of diffusion of vapor and the rate of heat transfer can be equated with
the rate of mass transfer
dW/d θ=q/ λ=K’A(Hs-Hg)
• If the overall rate of heat transfer, q, is the sum of the rate of heat transfer
by convection, radiation and conduction , then
dW/d θ=(qc+qr+qk)/ λ=K’A(Hs-Hg)
qc=heat transfer by convection
qr=heat transfer by radiation
qk=heat transfer by conduction
 Importance
• qc can be increased by increasing the air flow rate and by raising the
inlet air temperature.
• qr can be increased by introducing a high temperature radiating heat
source into drying chamber.
• qk can be stepped up by reducing thickness of the material being dried
and by allowing it to come in contact with raised temperature surface.
• Increasing the air velocity increase the rate of drying by increasing k’.
• Dehumidifying the inlet air, thus increasing the humidity differential
(Hs-Hg) is still another means of speeding up the rate of drying.