RESULT

Weight of empty tray

Weight of dry sand and tray
Weight of dry sand
Weight of wet sand and tray
Weight of wet sand
Air velocity

Mass of wet
sand (g)

307.2 g
1176.4 g
869.2 g
1243.4 g
936.2 g
1.47 m/s
Table 1

Total
moisture
content, X

Free
Moisture
content, X

Drying
rate,R
(g/m.min)

0.06017
0.05660
0.05257
0.0482
0.04659
0.04118
0.03624
0.03071
0.02565
0.02036
0.01587
0.01
0.00494
0.00
-0.00265
-0.00564
-0.00967
-0.01462
-0.01519
-0.01692

-11.49
-12.974
-14.4867
-5.183
-17.4162
-15.90314
-17.8025
-16.2895
-17.0299
-14.4545
-18.8971
-16.2895
-15.903
-8.53104
-9.62559
-12.9736
-15.9353
-1.83498
-5.56932
54.4699

t
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
55
60
65
70
75
80
85
90
95

921.8
918.7
915.2
911.4
910.0
905.3
901.0
896.2
891.8
887.2
883.3
878.2
873.8
869.5
867.2
864.6
861.1
856.8
856.3
854.8

0.06052
0.05695
0.05292
0.04855
0.04694
0.04153
0.03659
0.03106
0.0260
0.02071
0.01622
0.01035
0.00529
0.00035
-0.00230
-0.0529
-0.00932
-0.01427
-0.01484
-0.01657
Table 2

Figure 1: Graph of Total Moisture Content versus Time

Figure 2: Graph of Drying Rate versus Free Moisture Content

DISCUSSION
Tray dryer experiment was conducted to study the drying process and drying rate
curves for a wet solid when being dried with air of fixed temperature and humidity.
Theoretically, drying process occurs by effecting vaporization of the liquid by
supplying heat to the wet feedstock, so the tray dryer operation basically uses air
velocity passed over a heated element as a medium of mass transfer to evaporate
moisture from a wet solid (Abhishek Goyal, 2005). Batch drying method was used in
this experiment as wet material was inserted in drying equipment and removed
after an appropriate amount of time (Dr. Timothy Placek, 2006). Drying process
occurs in three stages or phase. There are: (Abhishek Goyal, 2005)

First phase (Initial period)

Sensible heat is transferred to the product and contained moisture

Second phase (Constant rate period)

Free moisture persists on the surface and the rate of evaporation change a
little bit as the moisture content reduces.

Third phase (Falling rate period)

Phase during which migration of moisture from inner interstices of each
particle to the outer surface becomes the limiting factor that reduces the
drying rate.

For this experiment, the sand which product that going to be dried is placed on the
trays within the dry chamber. There, heated air is circulated vertically through the
column using circulating fan. Fresh air was brought into the cabinet and moist air is
exhausted during the process. The dryer trays are tight fitting in the cabinet to
prevent air from bypassing the material to be dried (Abhishek Goyal, 2005).
Air velocity was read at 1.47 m/s by using Rota meter. This air velocity was effect
the drying rate in this experiment. To ensure the persistent of result of the
experiment, the air velocity was set as constant speed. Sand was used as solid
material. Dried sand weighed is 869.2g and after being splashed with water, the
weight is 921.8 g. The wet sand which had been filled in the tray is placed inside the
tray dryer. The weight of the sand was constantly measured every 5 minutes.
Table 1 was show the result of the experiment for every 5 minutes. The table 1
shows mass of wet sand was decrease proportional with time of air has been supply.
The changes of wet sand mass from initial until the end is decrease gradually but
maybe because of some error during weighting the sand the mass of dry sand at
end of experiment is lower than the weight of dry mass at initial. This happen
causes the sand used at early stage is might be not dry enough and all moisture at
the bottom of the sand were transferred up to the surface of the sand by perfect
diffusion process which capillary forces work in diffusion process completely
successful. In table 1 also show the total moisture content, XT which is the amount
of moisture in sand. This XT was decrease with increasing of time until the total

moisture content, XT was getting constant (X*), but in this experiment it reading
until zero because the mass of sand exactly same as dry sand at time 65 minutes.

Figure 1 show the graph of total moisture content, X against time. From the graph, it
can be seen that the total moisture content decreased as time increased. This
occurred because when dry air has been flown through wet sand, the water or
moisture that were in the wet sand will be vaporized. Moisture content was rapidly
decreased cause of sand surface fully wet with moisture. So, the moisture in surface
area of sand was rapidly dry. Then, after moisture in surface of sand dried, different
of concentration between upper and bottom of sand which mean still have moisture
in bottom of sand. So, when different of concentration between this sand, diffusion
process was occur and push or transferred the remaining moisture from the bottom
to the top of sand. Then, after 65 minutes of supplying dry air, all moisture in sand
was fully dried but due error at initial stage the value keep on dropping until
negative.
In Table 2 show the result of drying rate of moisture content is fluctuated. The graph
decrease rapidly at start and gradually become constant. These phenomena cause
by drying process itself. Same as before, the drying rate increase because it achieve
from initial temperature to vaporization of moisture content temperature. In this
range, moisture content remove faster or suddenly changes due to moisture
content already in surface of sand. Theoretically, after drying rate sudden increase,
it remains constant at certain time. This due to the moisture content going upper by
transfer by diffusion and when moisture going upper, moisture content always
remains until it fully dried. But in this experiment, based on Figure 2, the graph was
not follow as theoretically. Therefore, critical moisture content cannot be
determined.
Figure 2, shows the graph of drying rate versus free moisture content. One part of
this graph is called falling rate. Falling rate is the process where the drying rate
becomes slower. This means there only little water vapors left on the solid material.
According to the theory, the falling rate period can take a far longer time than the
constant period. Constant rate is the rate where the drying rate is at stable and
constant period. This constant rate is end when the solid reaches its critical
moisture content. However, for this experiment, the constant rate is unidentified.
Air velocity that is changing over time can contribute to this type of result. The
falling period occur after the constant rate period. The falling rate which can be
seen at the last part of the experiment indicates only little amount of water left in
the wet sand.
Usually, Equilibrium moisture content, X* obtained from the experiment is to
shows the limit of solid which is sand can vaporize its water content. Although the
process kept going, the water content will not vaporize anymore. This is due the
water in air and the solid have reach equilibrium where mass transfer will not occur
anymore. This phenomenon can be explained by Ficks law that said that if there are
no concentration gradients, there will be no mass transfer occurred. The value will
have to be determining in order to know when the drying process will stop thus will

avoiding any energy wasted. But in this experiment case, moisture content in sand
was completely dried and get exact value same as before splash with water. This is
unusually happened and only in certain case due to perfect diffusion process causes
by still have different of concentration in the sand.

The wet and dry bulb temperature obtained is almost constant during the
experiment because of the dry. The wet bulb will be lower than dry bulb because the
wet bulb measures the hot air temperature under 100% humidity where else the dry
bulb measure the hot air at original state. The wet bulb temperature of air is
measured by a thermometer whose bulb is covered by a muslin sleeve which is kept
moist with distilled and clean water and freely exposed to the air while the dry bulb
temperature of air is measured by a thermometer which is freely exposed to the air
but doesnt have anything to cover it and it does not moist with distilled water
(www.taftan.com).
There might be error occurred during the experiment. Error that occurred can
be the during preparation of wet sand. During the preparation, the water that been
splashed onto the dry sand were not been splashed properly. The water were maybe
gathered only at same place and this causes the drying process did not become
100% efficient. The other reason is that the sand did not divide equally through the
tray. One part of the tray had thick layer of sand while the other part had thin layer,
so the drying operation also cannot occurred 100% efficiency.

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMEDATIONS

As a conclusion, this experiment was done to determine the drying of moisture
content and the drying rate and to understand the concept of drying process of
wet product which is in this experiment is sand. As for the free moisture content on
the product, the graph shows the free moisture content was decreased by time. It is
show that the moisture in wet sand is vaporized as theoretically. As for the drying
rate, falling rate of drying is take longer time than the constant period which is the
rate of drying is stable and constant period. However, the constant period is
undefined. It may be cause changing of air velocity over time.
Recommendations that can be applied for this experiment are, firstly, the drying
rates can be increased with two different options; by increasing the air flow or
increasing the air temperature. However, the temperature must not be set to too
high for it may cause damage or change to the products. It also can be
recommended to weight the dry and wet sand properly before starting the
experiment.

REFERENCES
1.

C.M Vant Land (2011) Drying in the Industry Process, 1st Ed., Wiley publisher

2.

Harun S. Mujumdar (2006) Handbook of Industrial Drying, 3rd Ed., C.R.C Press

3.

Dr. Timothy Placek (2006) Procedure for Drying Experiments.

4.
Processsystems.de, (2015). Vacuum tray dryer VTP. [online] Available at:
http://www.processsystems.de/English/Products/Dryingtechnology/VacuumtraydryerVTP/tabid/1
326/language/en-US/Default.aspx [27 February 2015].
5.
Ylemequipmentmachinery.com, (2015). Industrial Dryer - Rotary Dryer,
Spray Dryer, Tray Dryer, Vacuum Dryer. [online] Available at:
http://www.ylemequipmentmachinery.com/industrial-dryer.html [Accessed 27
February 2015].