THREE
Arun S. Mujumdar
1. INTRODUCTION
Wet materials come in different physical forms and are required to be dried to
different desired specifications. Over 400 different dryer types have been proposed in the
technical literature although only about 50 types are commonly used and readily available
from various vendors. No two dryers are identical even when used for drying nominally
the same material. Even minor changes in feed condition and/or product specification
may make the two dryers different in design or in operation or both. Mujumdar (1995),
among many others, have provided detailed classification schemes and selection criteria
of dryers; major topics of study by themselves.
In this chapter the focus is on providing a brief overview of the more common
drying equipment (which naturally excludes the novel drying techniques, many of which
have come on stream only recently and are not yet readily available on the market). It is
also not extensive enough to cover all types and sub-types of dryers. However, it will
allow the reader to obtain a quick understanding of the key features, main advantages and
limitations of the various dryer types and their modifications.
For ease of presentation, the chapter is categorized according to the physical form of
the feedstock to be dried since the first qualification of the selected dryer is the ability to
physically handle the feedstock and the dried product themselves. For an in-depth
discussion of various dryer types the reader is referred to Mujumdar (1995).
38 DRYERS FOR PARTICULATE SOLIDS, SLURRIES
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By far the most common dryer for small tonnage products, a batch tray dryer
(Figure 1) consists of a stack of trays or several stacks of trays placed in a large insulated
chamber in which hot air is circulated with appropriately designed fans and guide vanes.
Often, a part of the exhausted air is recirculated with a fan located within or outside the
drying chamber. These dryers require large amount of labor to load and unload the
product. Typically, the drying times are long (10-60 hours). The key to successful
operation is the uniform air flow distribution over the trays as the slowest drying tray
decides the residence time required and hence dryer capacity. Warpage of trays can also
cause poor distribution of drying air and hence poor dryer performance.
It is possible to convert the batch tray dryer into a continuous unit. Figure 2 shows
the so-called Turbo dryer, which consists of a stack of coaxial circular trays mounted on a
single vertical shaft. The product layer fed onto the first shelf is leveled by a set of
stationary blades, which scratch a series of grooves into the layer surface. The blades are
staggered to ensure mixing of the material. After one rotation, the material is wiped off
the shelf by the last blade and falls onto the next lower shelf. Up to 30 trays or more can
be accommodated.
Hot air is supplied to the drying chamber by turbine fans. In the design shown, the
air is heated indirectly by passage over internal heaters. The wet granular material is fed
at the top and it falls under gravity to the next tray through radial slots in each circular
shelf. A rotating rake mixes the solids and thus improves the drying performance. Such
dryers can be operated under vacuum for heat-sensitive materials or when solvents must
be recovered from the vapor. In a modified design, it is possible to heat the trays by
conduction and apply vacuum to remove the moisture evaporated.
DRYERS FOR PARTICULATE SOLIDS, SLURRIES 39
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The drying medium (hot air, combustion gases, flue gases, etc.) flows axially
through the drum either concurrently with the feedstock or countercurrently. The latter
mode is preferred when the material is not heat-sensitive and needs to be dried to very
low moisture content levels. The concurrent mode is preferred for heat-sensitive materials
and for higher drying rates in general.
40 DRYERS FOR PARTICULATE SOLIDS, SLURRIES
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Rotary dryers are very flexible, very versatile and are especially suited for high
production rate demands. On the negative side, they are typically less efficient, demand
high capital costs and significant maintenance costs depending on the material being
dried. They are not recommended for fragile materials and for low production rates.
Finally, it is useful to note that while most of the continuous rotary dryers are
operated under near atmospheric pressure, the term vacuum rotary dryer refers to an
entirely different class of dryers. It is, in fact, an indirect type batch dryer because of the
difficulty of maintaining vacuum under continuous feeding and discharge conditions.
Here, the horizontal cylindrical shell is stationary while a set of variously designed
agitator blades revolves on a central shaft to agitate the material contained in the dryer
shell. Heat is supplied by heating the shell jacket using condensing steam or a thermal
fluid. In larger units, the central agitator shaft and the blades may also be heated. The
agitator may be a single- or double-spiral. The outer blades are set close to the wall and
may have a scraper attached to keep the material from building up on the walls and
deteriorating the thermal performance of the unit. This type of dryer is useful for handling
heat-sensitive materials, which dry at lower temperatures because of the vacuum
conditions.
chamber. Low pressure steam is used to heat the plates on which the trays sit. Liapis and
Bruttini (1995) have provided a detailed analysis of the drying characteristics, costs and
details on various freeze dried products.
there are risks of fire and/or explosion. Single-cone and double-cone mixers can be
adapted to drying by heating the vessel jackets and applying vacuum to remove moisture.
Figures 5 and 6 show two vacuum dryers available commercially. The paddle dryer is
suited for sludge-like materials while the vacuum band dryer is good for thin pastes or
slurries. The material forms a film over the heated band; it may boil and form a highly
foamy, porous structure of very low bulk density.
Over 20,000 spray dryers are presently in use commercially to dry products from
agro-chemicals, biotechnologicals, fine and heavy chemicals, dairy products, dyestuffs,
mineral concentrates to pharmaceuticals in capacities ranging from a few kg per h to 50
tons per h evaporation capacity. Liquid feedstocks, such as solutions, suspensions or
emulsions can be converted into powder, granular or agglomerate form in one step
operation in spray dryer. Figure 7 gives a process schematic for a spray dryer plant.
Atomized feedstock in the form of a spray is contacted with hot gas in a suitably designed
drying chamber. Proper selection and design of the atomizer is vital to the operation of
the spray dryer as it is affected by the type of feed (viscosity), abrasive property of the
feed, feed rate, desired particle size and size distribution as well as the design of the
chamber geometries and mode of flow, e.g., concurrent, countercurrent or mixed flow
(see Figure 8).
44 DRYERS FOR PARTICULATE SOLIDS, SLURRIES
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It is beyond the scope of this chapter to cover all the important aspects of spray
dryers in detail. The reader is referred to Masters (1991) and Filkova and Mujumdar
(1995) for further information. Here, we will summarize the key aspects of spray dryers in
a tabular form. It must be noted that design of spray dryers depends heavily on pilot scale
testing. It is impossible to scale-up quality criteria for spray dryers. Fortunately, in most
DRYERS FOR PARTICULATE SOLIDS, SLURRIES 45
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cases, it is found that the larger scale dryer provides better quality product than the one
obtained in smaller scale pilot tests. Aside from drying rate and quality tests, it is also
important to check potential of deposits in the drying chamber as this may lead to fire and
explosion hazards.
Essentially, three major types of atomizers are used in practice. They are: (a)
Rotary wheel (or disk) atomizers, (b) Pressure nozzle and (c) Two-fluid nozzle. Figure 9
shows some typical atomizer designs. Ultrasonic and electrostatic atomizers can also be
used for special applications to produce monodisperse sprays but they are very expensive
and low capacity units. Most spray dryers operate at slight negative pressure. New
designs may use low pressure chambers to enhance drying rates at lower temperatures to
dry highly heat-sensitive products.
The design of the spray drying chamber depends on the needed residence time
(see Table 1) as well as the type of atomizers used (see Table 2). The mode of flow, i.e.,
concurrent, counter-current, mixed flow, depends on the desired characteristics of the
product as summarized in Table 3. Finally, Table 4 gives suggested spray dryer system
46 DRYERS FOR PARTICULATE SOLIDS, SLURRIES
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Table 3 Selection of mode of flow in spray drying chamber based on desired powder
characteristics
Since the choice of the atomizer is very crucial it is important to note the key
advantages and limitations of the wheel and pressure nozzles, which are most common in
practice. Although both types may be used for the same feedstocks, the product properties
(bulk density, porosity, size, etc.) will be different.
Limitations:
b. Pressure nozzles
Advantages:
Limitations:
Figure 10 shows schematics of two spray dryers, one fitted with a wheel atomizer
(cylindrical-conical) and the others with a nozzle atomizer (single or two-fluid), which is
a cylindrical vessel. These figures also show other components of the system, i.e., feed
tank, filter, pump, air heater, fan cyclone, exhaust fan.
Figure 11 shows the layout of a spray dryer system, which is self-inertizing and
used to handle materials with high risk of fire and explosion. Here, excess air entering the
system passes through the burner flame and used as combustion air, thus inactivating it.
When the product coming out of the spray dryer is too fine it does not wet readily
and so is harder to reconstitute. To make the product instantly soluble it is agglomerated
in a small fluidized or vibrated fluidized bed, as shown in Figure 12. This two-stage
arrangement is used in the production of instant coffee, milk powder, cocoa, etc. An
extension of this basic concept is the so-called Spray-Fluidizer which dries the material
in two stages. The surface moisture from droplets is removed fully, along with some
internal moisture, which takes longer time to come out, in the first stage (spray dryer).
50 DRYERS FOR PARTICULATE SOLIDS, SLURRIES
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The final moisture content is achieved in a fluidized bed located at the bottom of the
spray chamber as an integral part of it. This two-stage arrangement makes the drying
process very efficient and economic. The fluidized bed drying unit can be replaced with a
through circulation band dryer at the bottom of the chamber; this concept is the basis of
the so-called Filtermat dryer used for sticky and sugar-rich materials which are hard to
dry. The spray chamber in this case is much wider at the bottom, unlike the Spray-
Fluidizer.
In drum dryers, slurries or pasty feedstocks are dried on the surface of a slowly
rotating steam-heated drum. A thin film of the paste is applied on the surface in various
ways. The dried film is doctored off once it is dry and collected as flakes (rather than
powder). Figure 13 shows four types of commonly used drum dryer arrangements, which
are self-explanatory. The design of applicator rolls is important since the drying
performance depends on the thickness and evenness of the film applied. The paste must
stick to the surface of the drum for such a drop to be applicable.
Four key variables influence the drum dryer performance. They are: (a) steam
pressure or heating medium temperature, (b) Speed of rotation, (c) Thickness of film and
(d) Feed properties, e.g., solids concentration, rheology and temperature. Because it
allows good control of the drying temperature, drum dryers may be used to produce a
precise hydrate of a chemical compound rather than a mixture of hydrates.
Vacuum operation of both single- and double-drum dryers are done commercially
to enhance drying rates for heat-sensitive materials, such as pharmaceutical antibiotics.
They are also used when a porous structure of product is desired. When recovery of
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Conductive/contact Radiant
Convective
dryers (with mild convection)
Impinging jets (air or
Multi-cylinder dryer for
superheated steam)
paper
Through dryers (for
porous sheets)
MW/RF
Combined modes
(usually as "assists")
Impinging jets + MW
Impinging jets + IR
Impinging jets + throughflow
Convection, conduction as well as infrared dryers can be used for such materials
although combined mode dryers are often more efficient. Paper, coated webs or textiles
are dried on steam-heated cylinders (conduction heating) or jets of hot air may be
impinged on the sheet for convective heating as well. In some cases, it may be desirable
to use infrared heating to augment the drying rate if the material is not very heat-sensitive.
52 DRYERS FOR PARTICULATE SOLIDS, SLURRIES
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For drying of thin permeable sheets, it is possible to draw drying air through the sheet for
highly enhanced drying rates. Combined through and impingement drying is a particularly
attractive option for drying of tissue or newsprint, for example. Furthermore, it is possible
to use superheated steam as the drying medium in place of air or combustion gases. For
thin sheets, the total drying time may be in the order of seconds (e.g., tissue paper) to
several minutes (e.g., textiles).
Here, the drying times may range from days to months. Wood, for example, is
dried in hot air kilns from weeks to months depending on the size of the pieces to be
dried and the type of wood species. Superheated steam drying under vacuum conditions
has been shown to enhance drying rates as well as product quality. Only batch dryers are
suited for these long drying time requirements.
Such problems are encountered in the wood (e.g., wafer board) and food (e.g.,
potato chips) industries. Here, one may use a continuous conveyor or through-circulation
dryer or even the so-called impinging jet-fluidized bed dryer. In the latter, hot air jets
impinge on a thin layer of wet chips, which are conveyed mechanically; the high velocity
jets pseudo-fluidize the material to accomplish drying. Wood chips, for example, may
be dried in a rotary or a conveyor dryer.
In this section, we will consider the key features and applications of some
specialized dryer types that are used in the chemical and ancillary industries but perhaps
less commonly than that the spray, rotary and fluidized bed types discussed earlier. The
following types of dryers will be discussed briefly: two-stage dryers, flash or pneumatic
dryers, spin-flash dryers, Roto-Louvre dryer, tunnel dryers, band dryers, infrared,
microwave and radio frequency dryers.
Note that most of the dryers mentioned here have several variants that make them
more efficient or otherwise desirable for a given application; here we will cover only the
most basic dryer concepts, however.
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When both surface and internal moistures must be removed from large quantities
of feedstock, it is desirable to look into a two-stage operation, where the two stages may
be the same dryer types (e.g., fluidized bed) or may be different. The fundamental
advantage of such a system is that one can remove the surface moisture rapidly using
dryers or conditions suitable for rapid removal of surface moisture (e.g., using higher gas
temperatures or velocities), and use a dryer allowing longer residence time or gentler
drying conditions as the second stage. A plug flow continuous fluidized bed dryer can be
zoned along its length by lowering the gas temperature from inlet to outlet, for example.
Figure 15 shows a two-stage arrangement, where the top first stage is a well-
mixed fluidized bed dryer for a filter cake which is difficult to fluidize unless it is mixed
with a fluidized bed of lower moisture content.
In this figure, the first stage also uses internal heating panels to increase the drying
rate since this stage receives drying air, which is the exit air from the lower second stage.
The lower stage, which receives the output of the first stage by gravity through a centrally
located discharge tube, is a spiral plug flow fluidized bed dryer, which controls the
particle residence time to yield a uniform product moisture content.
Figure 16 is another example of a commercial two-stage dryer for
crystallization/drying of polyester chips. A small fluidized bed, as the first stage, removes
the readily removable liquid while the tall column dryer allows a very long residence
time during which the material crystallizes and dries very slowly.
There are numerous examples of two-stage dryers used commercially; perhaps
they should be considered as viable options more often than they are today to reduce
drying costs and even enhance product quality. Many more examples can be found in
Mujumdar (1995).
Figure 17 shows a schematic of the simple flash (pneumatic) dryer system. Here,
the wet feed is dispersed mechanically into a hot gas stream (commonly air, combustion
gases) and conveyed for long enough time to allow drying of the particulates in the size
range of 10-500 microns during their transport. Clearly, only surface moisture of small
particles can be removed economically in such a system of reasonable length of the
insulated conveying tube. Most dryers are thus adiabatic and use a flash tube of circular
and uniform cross-section. In some cases, the tube may diverge and converge, may have
sudden expansions and contractions. The tube may be heated through the wall to keep up
the temperature driving force as the gas loses its energy to the particles in the forms of
heat of vaporization and sensible heat. Noncircular cross-section (e.g., rectangular with
rounded corners) and tubes of non-rectilinear configurations (e.g., in the form of a ring)
are also employed for special applications. For details, see Mujumdar (1995).
Flash dryers may be used to dry heat-sensitive solids in view of the short exposure
time to the drying medium. They have low capital cost although, in some cases, the
ancillary equipment (e.g., disperser, blender if solids backmixing is needed prior to
dispersion, heat exchangers, product collection devices) may cost much more than the
basic flash dryer tube itself. There is a risk of fire and explosion so care must be taken to
avoid flammability limits in the dryer. The dryer must be designed with suitable rupture
disks to minimize damage in the event of an explosion. The dryer has small foot print
(e.g., small floor area) since the flash tube generally rises vertically so the flow of
DRYERS FOR PARTICULATE SOLIDS, SLURRIES 55
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particulates against gravity increases the residence time in the tube of a given length.
When it is feasible, it is a good idea to consider a flash dryer. It does cause attrition,
however. It can be used as the first stage of a two-stage dryer system to remove only the
surface moisture fast and cheaply while a higher residence time dryer (e.g., fluidized bed)
may be deployed as the second stage. Removal of the surface moisture also helps fluidize
the material well aside from reducing the size of the fluidized bed unit.
Design of the feeding system is crucial in flash dryer design. For free-flowing
powdery solids, a screw feeder or a rotary valve may be used effectively. Pasty or sticky
materials need to be pre-conditioned by blending them with dried product using a single
or twin-shaft paddle blender and then dispersed mechanically using a kicker mill or one
of several other designs of rotating disperser. The product may be collected in cyclones,
baghouses and the very fine material removed prior to exhaust in wet scrubbers.
Flash dryers utilizing superheated steam as the drying medium have some unique
quality and energy advantages over air drying systems. More recently, flash dryers
consisting of inert media have been employed at pilot scales to dry slurries and
suspensions, which are sprayed onto them. The particles are coated thinly by the slurry
and dried rapidly as a thin film. Attrition due to inter-particle collisions and shrinkage-
induced breakage of the dried film allows entrainment of the dry powder into the drying
56 DRYERS FOR PARTICULATE SOLIDS, SLURRIES
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This dryer is basically a mechanically agitated fluidized bed designed for very
short residence times so it is suited for removal of only the surface moisture. It is suited
for drying sludges, pulps, pastes, filter cakes, high viscosity liquids, without the use of an
atomizer. As shown in Figure 18, a rotor placed at the bottom of the chamber serves to
disperse the feed, which falls by gravity onto it. Hot drying air enters the chamber
tangentially and spirals upwards carrying and drying the dispersed particles. The exhaust
containing the dried powder is cleaned and the powder recovered. Heavier wet particles
remain within the chamber for a longer time and are broken up by the rotor only the
dried fine powder escapes to the gas cleaning system. This type of dryer can be a
replacement for the more expensive spray dryer (which needs more thermal energy
because the feed is wetter due to the pumpability requirements and also expensive
because of the need for an atomizer). Such dryers are recommended for some special
applications only although numerous materials have been dried successfully in such units
at capacities up to 10 tons per h. They are more expensive than the conventional flash or
fluidized bed dryers. Care must be taken to ensure in pilot tests that there is no danger of
product accumulation on the walls due to stickiness.
This dryer type is a modification of the conventional rotary dryer, in which the
drying gas contacts the wet particles rather inefficiently as the particles shower down
from the flights and get exposed to the axial cross-flow of the gas. In a Roto-Louvre
design, (Figure 19) the slowly rotating (2-3 rpm) horizontal drum is fitted with
longitudinal louvres which make a tapered drum within the external drum. Diameters up
to 3.5 m and lengths up to 12 m have been built commercially. The particles form a
DRYERS FOR PARTICULATE SOLIDS, SLURRIES 57
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gently rolling fluidized bed at the bottom of the inner drum as the drying gas is
introduced. The resulting heat and mass transfer rates are much greater than those
achieved in a conventional rotary dryer. This may reduce the size of the dryer by up to 50
percent. However, the added complexity of the equipment increases the initial cost.
Product handling is gentler and hence results in less attrition.
In this simple dryer concept, cabinets, trucks or trolleys containing the material to
be dried are transported at an appropriate speed through a long insulated chamber (or
tunnel) while hot drying gas is made to flow in concurrent, countercurrent, cross-flow or
mixed flow fashion (Figure 20). In the concurrent mode, the hottest and driest air meets
the wetted material and hence results in high initial drying rates but with relatively low
product temperature (wet-bulb temperature if surface moisture is present). Higher gas
temperatures can be used in concurrent arrangements while in counter-current dryers the
inlet drying gas must be at a lower temperature if the product is heat-sensitive. If the
material to be dried is not heat-sensitive and low residual moisture content is a
requirement, one may employ higher gas temperatures in the countercurrent arrangement
as well. Combination flow or cross-flow arrangements are used less commonly. The latter
offer high drying rates but the tunnels must be designed to fit the trolleys snugly so the
drying gas flows through the material much like a through-circulation packed bed dryer.
Total drying times that can be handled range from 30 minutes to 6 hours.
58 DRYERS FOR PARTICULATE SOLIDS, SLURRIES
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For relatively free-flowing granules and extrudates that may undergo mechanical
damage if they are dispersed, band dryers are a good option. It is essentially a conveyor
dryer wherein the band is a perforated band over which the bed of drying solids rests.
Drying air at rather low velocities flows upwards through the band to accomplish drying.
Clearly, this type of dryer is not a good choice for very wet or very fine solids. If the bed
depth is large (over 10-15 cm) there may be a significant moisture profile in the bed with
the solids resting on the band over dried and overheated. One option to alleviate this
problem is to reverse the gas flow direction alternately over the length of the dryer. This
evens out the moisture profile while increasing the drying rate as well. Another option is
to cause mixing of the bed at appropriate interval of space. In some commercial designs,
so-called multi-pass dryers, several bands are stacked one above the other and the
material is made to drop under gravity from the higher to the next lower band which
causes some random mixing of the material before it undergoes further through-
circulation drying. It is possible to use a temperature profile along the length of the
conveyor so that the drier product can be exposed to lower gas temperatures if that is
desired. Also, the final section may be a simple cooler so the product is ready for
packaging or storage. Residence times from 10 minutes to 60 minutes are economically
feasible. These dryers are quite versatile and can handle relatively large and arbitrary-
shaped particles that may be heat-sensitive and fragile at the same time. Gas cleaning
requirements are minimal as low gas velocities are used. Also, power requirements for air
handling are low due to the low pressure drops needed. In commercial designs of very
large band dryers, it is important to ensure uniform distribution of the product on the band
and also uniform distribution of the air flow within the chamber of the dryer to ensure
uniform product moisture content. A schematic of a single-pass band dryer is shown in
Figure 21.
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CLOSING REMARKS
The reader probably now has a sense of the bewildering array of dryer designs that
one could possibly use for a given application. As noted in Chapter 2, selection of dryers
and drying systems is not a task to be taken lightly since it can lead to major costs and
even catastrophic failures. Since the dryer will typically last 25-40 years in operation, the
incremental cost (in terms of capital costs, operating costs, loss of productivity, loss of
product quality, etc.) persists over a long period. One must devote the necessary time,
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effort and even budget to the selection phase to avoid paying for it over the lifetime of the
dryer. Retrofitting an existing malfunctioning dryer can be expensive with long payback
times. It is strongly suggested that the newly emerging technologies of drying should be
evaluated closely before selecting the time-honored drying schemes. Finally, the user is
encourages to make the preliminary selection of one or more possible systems before
enlisting the assistance of a vendors who typically specialize is a narrow range of drying
equipment for obvious reasons.
REFERENCES
Filkova, I., Mujumdar, A.S, 1995, Industrial Spray Drying Systems, pp. 263-307, in A.S.
Mujumdar (Ed.) Handbook of Industrial Drying, 2nd Edition, Marcel Dekker, New York.
Strumillo, C., Kudra, T., 1986, Drying: Principles, Applications and Design, Gordon and
Breach, New York.
Liapis, A.I., Bruttini, R., 1995, Freeze Drying, pp. 309-343, in A.S. Mujumdar (Ed.)
Handbook of Industrial Drying, 2nd Edition, Marcel Dekker, New York.
Masters, K., 1991, Spray Drying Handbook, Longman Scientific & Technical, Burnt
Mill, Essex.
Moore, J.G., 1995, Drum Dryers, pp. 249-262, in A.S. Mujumdar (Ed.) Handbook of
Industrial Drying, 2nd Edition, Marcel Dekker, New York.
Mujumdar, A.S. (Ed.), 1995, Handbook of Industrial Drying, 2nd Edition, Marcel Dekker,
New York.
CHAPTER
FOUR
Arun S. Mujumdar
1. INTRODUCTION
Notice that it does not use adjectives like better, superior, improved, more cost-
effective, higher quality, etc., to qualify an innovation. In our vocabulary, however, we
are not interested in innovation for the sake of novelty or even originality of concept but
for the sake of some other positive economic attributes.
I prefer instead the following definition given by Howard and Guile (1992):
Innovation is crucial for their very survival of industries with short time scales (or
life cycles) of products/processes, i.e., a short half-life (less than one year, as in the case
of some electronic and computer products). For longer half-lives (e.g., 10-20 years
typical of drying technologies) innovations come slowly and less readily accepted.
The management of innovation depends on the stage it is at. Thus,
The vision required by the management teams of such organizations must be truly far-
sighted!
It is natural to inquire if it is possible to predict or even estimate the best time
when the marketplace requires an innovative technology or the mature technology of the
day is ripe for replacement. Foster's well-known S curve (Figure 1; Foster, 1986),
which gives a sigmoid relationship between product or process performance indicators
and resources devoted to develop the corresponding technology, is a valuable tool for
such tasks. When the technology matures (or is saturated in some sense), no amount of
further infusion of R&D resources can enhance the performance level of that technology.
When this happens (or even sooner), time is right to look for alternate technologies which
should not be incremental improvements on the dominant design but truly new concepts,
which once developed to their full potential, will yield a performance level well above
that of the current one. As proven by Foster with the help of real world examples, the
performance versus effort (resources) curve occurs in pairs when one technology is
replaced by another. They represent discontinuity when one technology replaces another
and industry moves from one S-curve to the next.
Resources
Performance
Table 1 lists examples of some new drying technologies that were developed via
technology-push versus market-pull. In some cases, a sharp distribution or grouping in
just two types is not possible since a market-pulled development may require a
technology-push to succeed.
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Technology-push* Market-pull**
Microwave/RF/induction/ultrasonic Superheated steam dryers enhanced
drying energy efficiency, better quality product,
reduced environmental impact, safety,
etc.
Pulse combustion drying PC developed Impulse drying/Condebelt drying of paper
for propulsion and later for combustion (also need technology-push)
applications
Vibrating bed dryers originally deve- Combined spray-fluid bed dryers to
loped for solids conveying improve economics of spray drying
Impinging streams (opposing jets) origi- Intermittent drying enhance efficiency
nally developed for mixing, combustion
applications
*Technology originally developed for other applications applied to drying
**Developed to meet current or further market demand
Since one must think in terms of drying systems (including pre-drying operations,
such as dewatering), we will include in our listing some innovative dewatering
technologies as well.
For lack of space, it is impossible to include schematics of all the dryers
mentioned in this chapter. Details are available in the chapter on Special Drying
Technologies and Novel Dryers by Kudra and Mujumdar (2000). Only the innovative
aspects will be mentioned here. It should be noted that the focus here is on innovation and
not on dryers per se.
To reduce the thermal load on dryers, it is important to minimize the water content
of the wet feed material. Conventionally, this is done using vacuum or pressure filters,
decanters, centrifuges, etc. With colloidal materials, e.g., waste streams from tertiary
treatment of paper mills, food processing wastes, tailings from coal mines or oil sands,
dewatering is difficult due to the small particle sizes (< 5 m) involved. In recent years,
the following novel processes have evolved successfully, partly as a result of technology-
push and partly as a result of market-pull.
FBDs have become very popular over the past three decades owing to their
numerous favorable features for drying of particulates that can be fluidized. Table 2 of
Chapter 5 summarizes the enormous number of possible variants of FBDs that are now used
to dry not only particulates (which was the original idea) but also slurries, pastes,
continuous webs and sheet-form materials. Large pieces that cannot be fluidized by
themselves can be immersed in a fluidized bed of smaller fluidizable inert particles and
dried. Most of the variants shown are used in industrial drying applications to varying
extent. Many users seem to be unaware of some of these innovative modifications of the
FBDs.
Interestingly, by fluidizing only parts of the particulate bed at a time, it is possible
to effect a major saving in energy costs, e.g., so-called pulsed fluid beds (Gawrzynski and
Glaser, 1996). In batch fluidized bed drying, a control strategy that keeps the bed
temperature constant by adjusting heat input saves energy (and time) while enhancing the
quality of heat-sensitive products (Devahastin and Mujumdar, 1999). Such a dryer based
on a fuzzy logic control is already on the market.
which have not been exploited fully yet. It is noteworthy that for particles with primarily
internal resistance to heat and mass transfer (e.g., grains) use of intermittent heating of the
spouting air as well as intermittent spouting can lead to a substantial saving in energy
costs with possible improvement in quality. This is achieved in the rotating jet spouted
bed (Jumah et al., 1996).
Impinging jets (IJs) provide the best configuration for convective heat/mass
transfer to a surface. For optimal design, it is important to choose the right geometry for
the nozzles as well as the right operating conditions. IJs are used in paper, photographic
film, textile, coatings, veneer, etc., industries extensively; sometimes in conjunction with
infrared heat sources between modules of IJs. In some cases (e.g., textiles, double-sided
coated papers, pulp sheets), the web may be supported by jets impinging on both sides of
the web for contactless drying. IJs can be used also to dry particles or chips by pseudo-
fluidizing a bed supported on a conveyor belt.
In order to improve the drying rates even further, it is important to find ways of
enhancing the conventional impinging jet heat transfer rates. One way to do this is to
attach a collar that causes oscillations and vortex shedding in the jet exit flow to a tubular
nozzle. The so-called SOJIN (Self-Oscillating Jet Impinging Nozzle) has been shown to
enhance the heat transfer rate significantly (Chinnock and Page, 1994). No application in
drying has been reported so far although the concept is a truly innovative result of
technology-push. Use of a gas-particle impinging jet has also been found to yield
significant enhancement in impingement heat transfer.
Table 2 summarizes the various drying technologies for paper, both conventional
and alternates are being considered (de Beer et al., 1998). While a need exists for an
improved drying technology for paper to replace the century-old multi-cylinder dryers,
none is on the horizon yet. The Condebelt dryer developed by Tampella-Valmet, Finland
for linerboard has already been successfully commercialized in Finland and South Korea.
The superheated steam dryer concept for paper first proposed and initially demonstrated
by the author in 1981 has yet to be validated at mill scale. Paper dried in superheated
steam using impinging jets and/or through drying has been shown to yield better strength
properties especially when the pulp is mechanical pulp, i.e., has low lignin content.
Mechanical pulp is so-called high-yield pulp since one can obtain a higher yield of
mechanical pulp per ton of wood used. Chemical pulp is low yield and highly polluting,
i.e., environmentally unfriendly. Thus, by using steam drying one can use less amount of
chemical pulp and yet produce newsprint of good mechanical strength. Therefore, steam
drying of paper saves energy as well as resources. However, the dryer becomes
mechanically complex to design and operate.
Table 2 Comparison of several paper drying technologies
Measure Possible saving on Number and State of the art Bottlenecks for Motivation for Expected costs
Fuel Electricity type of further development of new paper
groups working development mill
on development
Dry sheet 100% Increase because of higher If any, paper Commercial for Fundamental; no High-speed Low:
pressing demands; manufacturers bulky grades of technology machinery, energy elimination of
decrease because of less paper; no exists for conservation, drying section
pumping power and research for other broadening field
elimination of drying grades of application
section
Impulse drying 50-75%, depending on Increase because of higher Machinery Several pilot Fundamental/ Paper quality Medium:
the in- and out-going pressing demands and manufacturers and plants; technical: sheet improvement, high- reduction of
consistency and the heating press (IR, large research experiments with delamination, speed machinery, drying section.
type of heating induction); decrease insti- IR and induction paper quality energy conservation, New equipment
because of shorter drying tutes heating; speed size of machinery
section. Probably net approx. 240-400
increase m/min.
Press drying 50-75%, depending on Increase because of higher Machinery Large number of Fundamental: Paper quality Medium:
the in- and out-going pressure demands; manufacturers and pilot scale delamination, improvement, energy reduction of
consistency and the decrease because of large research experiments operational conservation, shorter drying section.
type of heating shorter drying section and insti- speed is limited machine possible New equipment
less refining tutes
Condensing belt Approx. 20% Increase because of One machinery Pilot plant is Standard: High-speed Medium:
drying pressing demands and manufacturer being built with a increasing operation, paper reduction of
extra vacuum suction length of 18 m machine speed quality improvement, drying section.
boxes; decrease because of and a web width energy conservation, New equipment
elimination of of 0.7 m size of machinery
conventional drying
section
Airless drying Almost 100% Increase because of power One small research Not tested yet for Technical: air Energy conservation, Medium:
for compressor; decrease institute (one to paper drying tightless with cost reduction reduction of
because of elimination of three persons) continuous drying section.
drying section drying New equipment
Superheated 60-75% Increase due to power for McGill Univ., Basic R&D; Air infiltration Quality, energy Medium:
steam drying compressor; decrease due VTT (Finland) lab/pilot scale at high machine conservation reduction of
(impinging jets, to smaller drying section tests speeds drying section.
through drying) New equipment
Because of the enormously capital-intensive nature of the papermachine it is difficult to
introduce a totally new drying technology in a large scale. Most likely, the initial mill-scale
testing will take place in smaller machines producing specialty papers and not commodities
like newsprint, or tissue, where the potential benefits of successful deployment are
enormous. The dilemma in introducing innovative technologies is that no one wants to be
the first in the field due to the higher risk levels involved.
Rotary dryers have been the workhorses of many industries that produce high
tonnage products. They are generally capital-intensive, less efficient but very flexible.
Use of steam tubes immersed within the rotating shell makes the cascading rotary dryer
thermally more efficient. However, there has not been much true innovation in this
technology for some time.
Recently, Yamato Sankyo Mfg. Co. of Tokyo, Japan has patented a simpler design
of the rotary dryer wherein the drying air is injected into the bed of material being carried
in a rotating cylindrical shell through a multiplicity of pipes branching off from a central
pipe. The heat and mass transfer rates are almost doubled with all the resulting
advantages of smaller size, simplicity and lower cost (Yamato, 1996). Such a dryer is not
suited for all types of materials normally handled by a cascading rotary dryer, however.
When feasible, the Yamato design can reduce dryer volume by a factor of two for similar
operating conditions. This is a major advantage of this truly innovative idea in rotary
drying.
The impingement zone created by the head-on collision of two confined turbulent
streams of gas or gas-particle is particularly favorable for high heat/mass transfer rates. It
also is a zone wherein de-agglomeration, atomization or dispersion of particles can occur.
Larger particles have a longer residence time in the confined opposing jet flow field due
to their higher inertia. Impinging streams are thus ideal for flash drying of particulates,
pastes or slurries. Several stages of impingement zones can be generated to reach the
desired final moisture content. Kudra and Mujmdar (1995) have classified the wide
assortment of ISDs although only a few have been studied so far. Most recently,
Hosseinalipour and Mujumdar (1997) examined, via computational fluid dynamic
modeling and Monte Carlo simulations, a novel two-dimensional ISD using superheated
steam as the carrier medium. Effects of the degree of superheat, operating pressure and
jets Reynolds number were examined numerically assuming a power law model for the
falling rate drying kinetics. New criteria are formulated to characterize performance of
dispersion dryers. Experimental validation is required although the computed results do
appear physically plausible. The model predicts the number distribution function for
particle moisture content and residence time. Particle Biot numbers were assumed to be
small and the maximum number of particles tracked in the Eulerian-Lagrangian
simulation was limited to 2000 owing to the enormous computer time required.
72 INNOVATION IN DRYING TECHNIQUES
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While much of the laboratory and pilot scale work in this area was done in the
former USSR, no commercial ISD suppliers exist in the rest of the world. ISDs have
strong potential to replace conventional flash dryers in some applications once the
problems of scale-up are resolved. See Tamir (1992) for additional information on ISDs.
This by far is the most exotic and innovative drying process. By mixing the fuel
with the liquid (water) to be evaporated and combusting it in a controlled manner, where
the energy is needed, the drying is both efficient and rapid. The dryer is effectively a
combustion chamber (at 600o C) wherein the fabric residence time is just equal to the
time required for complete drying. A 34% methanol solution in water gives an ideal fuel-
water mixture to accomplish combustion to meet the drying needs. It is unfortunate that
this idea is not generally applicable to many other products. Details are available in von
der Eltz and Schon (1984). Use of alcohol as the fuel has the additional advantage of
environmentally friendly, pollution-free combustion. Among its other advantages noted
by the manufacturer are:
Smaller space (~ 1 m long)
Easily cleaned and maintained
No energy wastage due to over drying
Energy consumption unaffected by width of fabric
Fully automatic control, safe operation
Among the limitations are cost variability of methanol, extra care needed in
transportation, handling, and storage of methanol, non-suitability for drying knitted
goods, limitation of fabric speed and possible singing or melting of edges. The idea of
producing heat exactly where it is needed to evaporate the moisture does not have wide
applicability, however.
Today, over 20,000 spray dryers are in operation around the world. It is often
considered a mature technology. However, there is still ample scope for improvement,
particularly in the following:
Higher production rates (using multi-stage designs)
More uniform (ideally monodisperse) particle size distribution determined
by atomizer design
Containment of powder preferably within dryer chamber
Reduction or elimination of deposits on walls which lead to fire hazard,
large down time and high maintenance costs
Better designs using modern CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics)
Table 3 compares the performance of a 1600 kg/h capacity spray dryer for
production of emulsion PVC using rotating disk, conventional two-fluid nozzles and
INNOVATION IN DRYING TECHNIQUES 73
__________________________________________
newer two-fluid sonic nozzles (Shah and Arora, 1996). It is easy to see the advantages of
the sonic nozzle as it yields a smaller drying chamber, lower power consumption for
atomization and also a better monodisperse powder. More recently, ultrasonic nozzles are
being tested for high value, low production rate product applications (e.g.,
pharmaceutical, biotech products) using a spray chamber at low pressures. For high
production rates two-stage or three-stage spray dryers are most cost-effective. The final
stage (fluid bed or vibrated bed) can also granulate or agglomerate the product for easy
handling, better rehydration characteristics, etc.
To reduce the footprint of the drying system and fully contain the powder within
the spray chamber, Niro A/S have introduced integrated particulate filters within the
drying chamber near the roof of the dryer so that external cyclones are not needed
(Masters, 1999). Figure 2 shows a spray dryer with a second stage dryer and a filter
assembly at the top. Figure 3 compares the plant layouts for the conventional system
versus the new integrated filter system. Design of the new atomizers which consume less
power (e.g., low rpm disk atomizers) or produce a more uniform spray (e.g., sonic or
ultrasonic nozzles) are central to advances in spray drying technology. Operation under
vacuum or using superheated steam may also find niche applications as a result of some
unique properties such processing may impart to the powders produced. Finally, multi-
stage operations involving spray drying as the first stage to remove the surface moisture
and hence the surface stickiness of the particles as well as to engineer the product size
and geometry, followed by less-expensive drying technologies such as fluid bed, vibrated
bed, through circulation conveyor drying, will no doubt become increasingly common in
the future.
74 INNOVATION IN DRYING TECHNIQUES
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3.10 Batch Dryers
Batch dryers are commonly used to dry small quantities or when the drying times
are very long (of the order of several hours, days or even months as in the case of some
certain wood drying applications). They are common in the pharmaceutical industry for
the former reason while they are used in the wood industry and for freeze drying of ultra-
heat-sensitive products in the pharmaceutical and biotechnological industries for the latter
reason. Some dryers can operate in both batch and continuous modes, e.g., fluid beds. On
the other hand, most continuous dryers cannot operate in the batch mode, e.g., spray,
rotary, flash dryers. There is a limited choice of dryers for batch drying.
Figure 2 Spray drying chamber with integrated fluid bed and particulate filters
Figure 3 Plant layouts. (A) Conventional layout (B) Powder containment layout
INNOVATION IN DRYING TECHNIQUES 75
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Among some of the recent developments in batch drying one may cite the
following:
Combined filtration and drying in a single unit, e.g., Nutsch dryers used in the
pharmaceutical industry to minimize chances of contamination during transfer
of a wet cake from a filter to a dryer.
Use of intermittent and/or time-dependent drying, e.g., varying the drying air
temperature or velocity with time to match the requirements of the
instantaneous drying kinetics. The drying air temperature can be varied from a
higher initial value in the constant rate drying regime when the surface
moisture is being removed to a lower value when the critical moisture is
reached. For heat-sensitive materials reducing the heat input as the moisture
content decreases ensures that the product temperature will not exceed a pre-
specified permissible value during drying. Numerous studies have been
reported in the literature on intermittent drying using variable air temperature,
air velocity, pressure of drying chamber as well as intermittent supply of other
forms of energy, e.g., microwave or infrared radiation. The possibilities are
immense and limited only by the imagination of the designer.
CLOSING REMARKS
REFERENCES
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the International Symposium on Turbulence, Heat and Mass Transfer, Lisbon, Portugal,
pp. 15.41-15.46.
de Beers, J., Worrell, E., Blok, K., 1998, Long-Term Energy-Efficiency Improvements in
the Paper and Board Industry, Energy, 23, pp. 21-42.
Devahastin, S., Mujumdar, A.S., 1999, Batch Drying of Grains in a Well-mixed Dryer-
Effect of Continuous and Stepwise Change in Drying Air Temperature, Transactions of
the ASAE, 42, pp. 421-425.
Gawrzynski, Z., Glaser, R., 1996, Drying in a Pulsed-Fluid Bed with Relocated Gas
Stream, Drying Technology-An International Journal, 14, pp. 1121-1172.
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Jumah, R.Y., Mujumdar, A.S., Raghavan, G.S.V., 1996, Batch Drying Kinetics of Corn
in a Novel Rotating Jet Spouted bed, Canadian Journal of Chemical Engineering, 74, pp.
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Kudra, T., Mujumdar, A.S., 1995, Impinging Stream Dryers, pp. 539-566, in A.S.
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Shah, R.M., Arora, P.K., 1996, Two Fluid Nozzles and their Application in Spray Drying
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INNOVATION IN DRYING TECHNIQUES 77
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Tamir, A., 1992, Impinging Streams and Their Applications in Drying, pp. 209-223, in
A.S. Mujumdar (Ed.) Drying'92, Vol. 1, Elsevier, Amsterdam.
von der Eltz, H-U., Schon, F., 1984, The Remaflam Process, pp. 350-364, in A.S.
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