KKEK3159 Separation Processes II

Drying: Tutorial 1
1. A 50kg batch of granular solids containing 40% of moisture (wet basis) is to be dried in a tray
dryer to 10% of moisture (wet basis) by passing a current of air at 350K tangentially across its
surface at a velocity of 2.0m/s. If the constant rate of drying under these conditions is
0.75g/m2s and the critical moisture content is 8%, calculate approximately the drying time.
Assume the drying surface to be 0.04m2/kg dry mass.
2. A wet solid is dried from 30% to 8% moisture (dry basis), under constant drying conditions in
18ks (5hrs). If equilibrium moisture content is 6% and the critical moisture content is 12%,
how long will it take to dry to 10% moisture under the same condition?
3. 400kg (dry mass) of sand is dried under constant drying conditions with air velocity of
0.75m/s. The area of surface drying is 20m2. If the initial rate of drying is 0.25g/m2s, how
long will it take to dry the material from 0.15 to 0.025kg of water/kg of dry solid? The critical
moisture content is 0.125kg water/kg dry solid.
If the air velocity was increased to 4.0m/s, what would be the anticipated saving in
time if the process is surface evaporation controlled? Assume rate of evaporation to be
proportional to the velocity of the air raised to power 0.8.
4. A granular material containing 35% moisture (wet basis) is fed to a countercurrent rotary
dryer at a temperature of 25oC and is withdrawn at 40oC containing 5% moisture. The air of
absolute humidity 0.006 enters at 105oC and leaves at 50oC. The dryer handles 0.12kg/s of
wet stock.
Assuming that the radiation losses amount of 20kJ/kg of dry air used, determined the
mass flow of dry air supplied to the dryer and the humidity of the outlet air.
Latent heat of water vapour at 25oC
Specific heat capacity of dried material
Specific heat capacity of dry air
Specific heat capacity of water vapour

= 2450kJ/kg
= 0.88kJ/kg.K
= 1.00kJ/kg.K
= 2.01kJ/kg.K

5. Strips of material 10mm thick are dried under constant drying conditions from 28% to 13%
moisture (dry basis) in 25ks. If the equilibrium moisture content is 7%, find the time taken to
dry 60mm planks from 22% to 10% moisture under the same conditions, assuming no loss
from the edges.
The relation between E, the ratio of the average free moisture content at time t to the
initial free moisture content, and the parameter f is given by:
E
f

1
0

0.64
0.1

0.49
0.2

0.38
0.3

0.295
0.5

0.22
0.6

0.14
0.7

Note that f = kt/l2, where k is a constant, t is the time in ks and 2l is the thickness of the sheet
of material in mm.

KKEK3159 Separation Processes II

Drying: Tutorial 2
1. Fluorspar (CaF2) is to be dried from 6 to 0.4% moisture (dry basis) in a countercurrent
adiabatic rotary dryer at a rate of 18000lb/h of bone dry solids. The heating air enters
at 1000oF with a humidity of 0.03 and a wet-bulb temperature of 150oF. The solids
have a specific heat of 0.48Btu/lb.oF. They enter the dryer at 70oF and leave at 200oF.
The maximum allowable mass velocity of the air is 2000lb/ft2.h. Using
N t ln

Thb Twb
Tha Twb
, calculate the diameter and length of the dryer if Nt = 2.2.

Nt
= Number of transfer unit
Tha
= Temperature of outlet (heating medium)
Thb
= Temperature at inlet (heating medium)
Twb
= Wet-bulb temperature at inlet
Cp,water,L
= 1.0Btu/lb.oF
Cp,water,V
= 0.45Btu/lb.oF
Cp,air
= 0.25+0.45(humidity)
Heat of vaporization at 150oF
= 1008.1Btu/lb.oF
qT 0.125 DLG 0.67 TLM
2. A porous solid is dried in a batch dryer under constant drying conditions. 7 hours are
required to reduce the moisture content from 35 to 10%. The critical moisture content
was found to be 20% and the equilibrium moisture 4%. All moisture content are on
the dry basis. Assuming that the rate of drying during the falling-rate period is
proportional to the free-moisture content, how long should it take to dry a sample of
the same solid from 35% to 5% under the same drying conditions?
3. A slab with a wet weight of 5kg originally contains 50% moisture (wet basis). The
slab is 600mm by 900mm by 75mm thick. The equilibrium moisture content is 5% of
the total weight when in contact with air of 20oC and 20% humidity, The drying rate is
given for contact with air of the above quality at a definite velocity. Drying is from
one face. How long will it take to dry the slab to 15% moisture content (wet basis)?
Assume the drying process depends on falling rate period.
Wet slab weight, kg
Drying rate, kg/m2.h (R)

8.9
5.0
t

For falling rate period,

7
4.7
ms
A

5.1
4.2

4.0
3.7

3.0
3.1

2.7
1.8

X1

dX
R
X2

, where ms is the mass of dry solid

2.5
0.9