Pergamon

Chemical Engineerino Science, Vol. 50, No. 1, pp. 99-104, 1995 Copyright 1994 Elsevier Science Ltd Printed in Great Britain. All rights reserved 0009-2509/95 $9.50 + 0.00

0009-2509(94)00213-4

DESIGN OF STAGED THROUGH-CIRCULATION DRYING WITH AIR REVERSALS

WU YUAN Department of Chemical Engineering, Zhejiang University of Technology, 310014 Hangzhou, P.R. China and R. B. KEEY Department of Chemical & Process Engineering, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch, New Zealand
(Received 1 July 1993; accepted for publication 29 June 1994)
Abstract--A universal mathematical model has been developed for staged through-circulation dryers with air reversals on the basis of the general expression of the characteristic drying curves. The model can be used for analysis and design calculation of the drying of any material in such a process. The effects of some factors and a method for the decision of operating conditions and parameters are discussed.

INTRODUCTION

Dryers, such as the conveyor and suction-drum types, Can be operated for staged through-circulation with air reversals. In air-through drying, the external surface of the material is more completely exposed for heat and mass transfer, so that higher drying rate may be expected. However, single-stage air-through drying often results in non-uniformity in moisture content because of the progressive humidification of the air as it passes through the material, causing a vertical variation of moisture content in the material being dried, and thus low quality of the products, especially, in the case of heat sensitive materials. By comparison, multistage through-circulation drying with air reversals between stages reduces moisture content variation in the material with bed depth, to yield uniformly dried product of high quality, and preserves high drying intensity at the same time. Because of these advantages, dryers of this type are widely used for loose materials, fibres and lumpy porous particles, etc. [e.g. Keey (1993)]. Such dryers are suitable, however, only for materials that form a bed of open structure, for otherwise difficulty in operation would result from large resistance to gas flow (Williams-Gardner, 1965). Figure 1 shows the operating scheme of a staged through-circulation dryer with air reversals. The material to be dried enters the dryer at its inlet and then moves towards the outlet. Hot air flows through the material bed alternatively downward and upward in successive stages. Flow of material and gas can be arranged in three ways: (1) co-current, air exitting from each stage is used as the input air in the next stage; (2) counter-current, the opposite of co-current; and (3) cross-current, a mixture of fresh hot air and recycled air from all the stages enters all stages in parallel. In general, counter-current operation gives 99

higher energy efficiency, while cross-current is often employed for heat-sensitive materials to avoid over drying. Depending on design, the material bed may take different forms: half cylinder in a suction-drum dryer and flat belt in a conveyor dryer, for example. However, the material beds can in both cases be treated as flat in process analysis and design calculation without significant error, since the ratio of bed thickness to drum diameter is usually very small ( < 0.5%). In consideration of the generality of the processes, a universal mathematical model can be developed for dryers of the types under consideration.

DRYING KINETICS

Drying kinetics of many solid materials can be described well by the so-called two-period model: (1) an initial constant-rate period, followed by (2) a falling-rate period. It is difficult to describe drying rate in detail because of the complex mechanism involved. A promising process design method (Keey, 1977) is to define the relative drying rate f by
f = N/N,.,

(1)

and to express the drying rate per unit surface area by

N = fKc/)( Yw - Y,).

(2)

The value of the relative drying rate, f, depends on the extent to which drying has occurred. Define the "characteristic moisture content", or relative "free" moisture content
(I)
X -- X*
X c -X*

(3)

100 Air flow Material

-)

W u YUAN a n d R. B. KEEY

Air flow

Air flow

4,

1'

/,

1'

~,

Product

I
Air flow

'

Air flow

Fig. 1. Operating scheme of through-circulation drying with air reversals.

Since = 1 at x = xc, the relative drying rate, f can be expressed as f= 1, f(tl)), q~>l ~ < 1 (4)

For any specific material, its drying rate under any condition is fully determined by eq. (2), provided the f - O relationship, the value of the critical moisture content, xc, and the mass transfer coefficient, K, have been obtained from bench-scale data of drying. UNIVERSALMATHEMATICALMODEL Consider the ith stage in a dryer system with a bed length of zl. Assume that the width and thickness of the bed are uniform and equal to b and w, respectively, and that gasflow is uniformly distributed. Mass balance around the differential volume of w x dh x dz shown in Fig. 3 can be written as ~x G ~Yg 0z - pbU~ 8h

from the two-period model of drying. The plot o f f v s is the so-called characteristic drying curve. The drying rate outside the range of ~ 1 is very easy to calculate. On the other hand, for energy saving, the material is usually dewatered to the lowest moisture content level possible by suitable mechanical methods before it enters the dryer. In most cases of practical interest, x0 < xc, i.e. the drying curves are those within the range of < 1. Various types of characteristic drying curves may result from experimental data, depending on the thermo-physical properties of the materials being dried, as shown in Fig. 2. Yet, there could be drying curves of even more complex forms, involving more complex drying mechanisms. From the wetted surface model (Peck and Kanh, 1969), the characteristic drying curves may be represented by the power function f = ~" (5)

(6)

And, from the drying rate relation within the volume, we have
~x 49K a . Oz - f ~ [ rw -- ro)

(7)

which is generally applicable for most materials, e.g. n < 1 for Curve A, n = 1 for B, and n > 1 for C i n Fig. 2. In principle, it is possible to represent any characteristic drying curve with a mathematical expression, while, for convenience, continuous-analytic functions are preferred. For materials with discontinuous drying curves, such as shown by Curve F in Fig. 2, one may still use approximate continuous expressions.

wherefis the function defined by eq. (4) according to experimental data for the material being dried. For conveniently solving the above set of equations, define Non-dimensional drying time:
(a K a z
0 (xc x*)pbUs

ffgK a t
- (xc x*)pb

(8)

Non-dimensional depth toward the inside of the bed:

= dpKah/G

(9)

Humidity potential:
n = Yw11o.

(10)

1.0

Then, by substitution of the variables, for the ith stage, eqs (6) and (7) become, respectively,
-

f
0

~0

~(
W flow

(11)

~" flow

z ~'z+dz

zi

~,

M ~
)

0 0 ~ 1.0 Fig. 2. Characteristic drying curves of various types.

Y~+ Y" b,

Fig. 3. Differential mass balance for the ith stage.

Design of staged through-circulation drying with air reversals

c3(I)(o
-- - = f ( i ) l - I (0 (12)

101

00 where l-I(/) can be eliminated by combining eq. (11) with eq. (12):

Substituting eq. (21) into eq. (19) and rearranging gives the recurrence formula for the determination of function p(0(~):
p(il( ~) = ~,~(i- 11
z'~(Nt-~),Oi t

- P ( i - ( N, - ~)

(22)

OtI)' ~[
dO

I OtI))l = ~-0[
f(,) ~-0 j

I O(I:)")l
f(i) d( .J"

(13)

Integration of eq. (13) yields

O(i)+
1 0 0 (

A dryer is normally so designed that the material has the same residence time in all stages, i.e. 01 = 0e . . . . . 0i . . . . . ON. In this case, eq. (22) can be simplified to
p(i)(() = 9mi-1~
~ ( N t - ~),Oi

p(i)(~)

(14)

f(0 aC where P is a function of C. When 0 is given, eq. (14) can be reduced to an ordinary differential equation: dO(i)
-

- P(i-I~(N, - ~).

(23)

If the material enters the dryer with uniform moisture, then at the inlet of the first stage
dO(1~

dC

=f")[P")(()

- (]

(constant 0)

(15)

dC

= 0

and

0 (I) = (1)o.

(24)

which defines a family of first-order, non-linear differential equations describing the profiles of characteristic moisture content, O, along the bed depth at various values of 0 in the ith stage. An equation analogous to eq. (15) has been solved for batch dryers [e.g. Keey (1968)]; while, for stagewise through-circulation drying with air reversals, the following problem needs to be considered. Function H((() depends on the boundary conditions. F r o m eq. (9), we have
qt, = Nt = Kfab/G

Equation (15) can thus be solved with eq. (24) from initial conditions set by operation for P " ) ( ( ) for the first stage:
P)(C) = Oo.

(25)

(16)

at the air outlet of the bed. As a convenient and reasonable approximation, it is assumed that the material beds for all the stages have the same number of transfer units. Nt. In addition, it can be safely assumed that the material beds move in "plug flow". Thus, because of air reversal, we have at the juncture between the (i - 1)th and ith stages

In general, perfect mixing can be assumed for air before it enters the bed of any stage. This means that initial humidity potential, I-I~) ( i = 1,2 . . . . . N), is a constant, independent of 0, for each stage. In the case of cross-current operation. 1-ltoll= 1-I~o 2) . . . . = I'I~) . . . . . l-lto N) = Ho; while, in other cases, H~ ) may have different values for different i. Thus, at ( = 0, eq. (12) can be rewritten as dO( i)
-- - -

d(

= f(0H~)

(26)

with the initial conditions

0(o,o = (1)~,~ , .

(27)

~J~,o
and
~,0

dC ,(~,-~),o,,
.

(17,

Sincefis a known function of O, eq. (26) can be solved with eq. (27) for Og!0, as a function of the non-dimensional drying time, 0:
( = F(i)(O) 0,0

(o = (b((- x)

(28)

= ( N ~ - O,0i

(18)

Note that in the above modelling (1) air flow is always taken as positive in the direction for C, and (2) drying times are counted in each stage separately, i.e. 0 = 0 at the material inlet of each stage. Substituting eqs (17) and (18) into eq. (15) and rearranging yields
P((C) - r ( i -

which defines the initial conditions of the family of differential equations expressed by eq. (15). I f ( I / f ) is a continuous integrable function of O, eq. (26) can be integrated to yield an analytical expression for F((O). In the case of f = ~, for example, the integrated results of eq. (26) are For n = 1: O("o.0-- F " ' ( O ) = exp [lnO~,~]], - 0FI~)]. For n # 1:
O(i) o,o = F(O(O)

1 FdO(i- 1)1 -'(N, tj 0,0,, L dC ](N,-O.O,

d.~(i_ D

+--(N,-~).O, ,
(19)

(29)

On the other hand, eq. (15) can be written for the (i - 1)th stage, as dO(i- i)
_ _

dC

_f(i-1)[g.

I)(()_0.-I)].

(20)

= { [0(~,~: ,]'-"

- (I -

n)ll~)O} t/"-").

(30)

At point [(N, -- ~),0i-1], eq. (20) becomes dO(i- ')

.

. _ dMi1) --(N,-).o, ~]'

d~

l(N,-).o, , = f(~--~2).o, , [P('- X)(N, - C)

(21)

Thus, we have the universal model consisting of eqs (15), (22), (25) and (28) for staged through-circulation drying with air reversals, which can be solved stage by stage to yield the moisture content profiles both in the direction of material movement and throughout the

CES 50:I-H

102

WU YUAN and R. B. KEEY

depth of the material bed. The average moisture content, x , , at any non-dimensional drying time, 0, in any stage is defined by x, :

,lfi't

x(Od( =

~. x(~,)A(,.

(31)

The initial humidity potentials for different stages, 1-I~), depend on the operating conditions and the configuration of gas flow. In analysis and design, it is important to determine the values for 1-I~ ) correctly. This involves mass and heat balances. For cross-current operation, all 17x) are equal, as mentioned above, and can be determined from the overall mass and heat balances of the dryer; while a stage-wise calculation is required for both co-current and counter-current operations, and even a trial-and-error procedure is needed for the latter.

the outlet air would lead to lower energy efficiency. The initial conditions and the flow rate of drying air should be determined from mass and heat balances in a manner similar to that for any other types of dryers. The mass flow velocity of air through a material bed, G, affects strongly the mass transfer coefficient, K, and (also positively) the mean driving force for mass transfer throughout the bed. In general, for cases of Pe <~ 12, the following linear relation holds (Kunii and Suzuki, 1967; Martin, 1977; Schlunder, 1977; Fedkiw and Newman, 1978):
B = K/G

(32)

DECISION OF OPERATING CONDITIONS AND DESIGN PARAMETERS

Problems of design decision For the drying of any specific material, the initial moisture content, x0, is set by the last step of the Upstream processing, and the final moisture content, Xy, is specified according to the quality requirement of the product. Whether or not air-through drying should be employed depends on the state and properties of the material to be dried. Once a staged through-circulation dryer is chosen for use, the following conditions and parameters need to be determined:

where B is a proportionality constant. Therefore, a high G would be preferred from the point of view of dryer efficiency. For that, a part of the air is often recycled. Air recycling also prevents over-drying by decreasing the mean humidity potential, although excessive recycling increases resistance to air flow and thus power consumption. Generally, a suitable value for G could be determined by either experiment or calculation on mass transfer coefficient and flow resistance. For example, a value of 3.5 for G has been found suitable for loose wool drying (Keey and Wu, 1989a).
R-Nt-analysis For the simultaneous decision of ti and Ai, the combined "feed-ratio-transfer-unit number ( R - N t ) analysis" can be used as described below. In the model developed above, the independent variables, ~ and 0, in particular, are highly lumped, i.e. each is a combination of several design parameters and/or operating variables. Certain transformations of these variables would facilitate the choice of design conditions. First examine the final values for ~ and 0, Nt and 0~. Since Lt~ b = --

number of stages, N, or times of air reversals, (N - 1); relative movement through the dryer of material and drying air; initial conditions of drying air, Tg and Yo; air flow rate, G', and to recycle air or not; residence time of material in each stage, t~; surface area of material bed in each stage, A~. The number of stages needed, N, depends only on the desired uniformity in moisture content of the product. The determination of N is a problem of optimization, which could be solved with a trial-anderror procedure as follows: first assume a small N, then examine whether or not the desired uniformity could be obtained using the model developed above; if not, increase N and repeat the procedure until the calculated results are satisfactory. The final value of N should not be unreasonably large. Normally, with experience, few iterations are needed; and, a value of N ~< 5 would generally give sufficiently uniform drying (Keey and Wu, 1989a). To ensure an acceptable drying rate, the drying air should have a high enough humidity potential H. This calls for an air at a sufficiently high temperature. However, two factors must be considered: (1) air temperature should not be so high as to adversely affect heat-sensitive materials; and (2) high temperature of

pbAi

(33)

eq. (16) becomes

Nt =

4~KaLtl
-

GAipb

4aKaLti = - G'pb

(34)

By using eq. (32), eq. (34) can be rewritten as

q~ BaLt i Nt = - -

AiPb

(35)

In most cases, a dryer is so designed that all the stages have the same surface area, Ai. For convenience, define the feed ratio for each stage:
R = G'/L = GAffL.

(36)

On the other hand, from eq. (8), the non-dimensional residence time of the material in each stage is
dpKati Oi = (xc - x*)pb "

(37)

Design of staged through-circulation drying with air reversals Combining eq. (34) with eqs (36) and (37) yields R = -~/(xc -- x*).

103

N,

(38)

Now it follows from the expressions for R [eqs (36) and (38)] and for N, [eqs (34) and (35)], that: (1) For a given material throughput, L, and mass flow velocity of air, G, parameter R is related only to Ai, and parameter N,, to A~ and t~. Once the optimal values for R and N, are determined, A~ and t~ are fixed. (2) N, is the final value of the independent variable (, while R is inversely proportional to the ratio of (OdN,), where 0~ is the final value of the other independent variable 0. Therefore, the effects of parameters R and N, on the process can be analyzed conveniently with the above model. (3) From eq. (33), it follows that t~ is related not only to the velocity of the material movement, Us, but also to A~ via b. That is, the surface area A~ can be varied with an appropriate change in bed-depth, in order to keep t~ constant. In other words, different combinations of t~ and A~ can be used to carry out the same drying operation (constant L, Xo, and x:). Consequently, optimal values of R and N, have to be determined jointly. (4) An increase in R suggests a larger consumption of total energy, thermal and mechanical, per unit dried product as well as a smaller drying capacity per unit surface area of dryer. So, a smaller R should be reasonably selected. Calculated results (Keey and Wu, 1989a) showed that a larger number of transfer units N, enables a dryer to operate at a smaller value of R to carry out a given duty. However, with too small a value of R, the required extent of drying might not be obtained, even if N, is very large. Since product uniformity is ensured by the optimal number of stages determined earlier, the average moisture content, xm or ~m, can be taken as the unique criterion for further analysis. For the design of a staged through-circulation dryer with air reversals, a combined "feed-ratio-transfer-unit number (R-N,) analysis" can be used for the simultaneous choice of the optimal values for R and N,, which can be determined graphically on an R vs N, plot. To do this, two calculated R-N, curves (e.g. 1 and 2 in Fig. 4) can be drawn, corresponding respectively to the upper and lower limits of characteristic moisture content, specified for the dried product. These curves define three regions: (1) under Curve 1, the under-dry region yielding an outlet moisture content greater than the upper limit, (2) above Curve 2, the over-dry region yielding an outlet moisture content less than the lower limit; and (3) between the two curves, the operating region yielding an acceptable outlet moisture content. On the other hand, a separate detailed analysis, as briefly described above, may lead
. . . . . . . . . 4

Nt--~ Fig. 4. Operating region of parameters R and N,. to the optimal range of the values for R, say, represented by Curves 3 and 4 in Fig. 4. Thus, the region surrounded by Curves 1-4 can be used to define optimal operation, which enables one to determine the optimal values for parameters R and N,. The detailed method for R-Nt analysis and some worked examples have been given by Wu (1991). Once the values for R and Nt, and thus Ai and t~, are set, the width and length of the bed in each stage, w and z , can be determined by geometric consideration from Ai.

Consideration on bed non-uniformity

The universal mathematical model given above was developed with the assumption of uniform bed thickness. In practice, material beds are seldom uniform in thickness. This non-uniformity leads to non-uniform air flow distribution, which effects, in turn, both the coefficient and the driving force for mass transfer, and thus local drying rates in the bed. Because of the limitation of the feeding device, the material bed has a limiting, or maximum, thickness, denoted also by b. For convenience, the thickness profile in the bed-width direction can be rearranged into an equivalent profile in which the thickness y is an increasing function of the width coordinate w, as represented by y = b exp ( - k/w) (39)

where k is the non-uniformity factor. The air-flow velocity and all the parameters related to it can thus be expressed as functions of w. With eq. (39), Keey and Wu (1989b) analyzed the influence of unevenness of a wool mat on its drying. The results showed that the non-uniformity of bed-thickness results in: (1) an increased transverse moisture content variation, and thus increased percentages of both over-dried and under-dried products; and (2) an increased overall average moisture content of dried product and a decreased capacity of the dryer. It is difficult to determine the design parameters with the model for non-uniform bed because of the randomness and irregularity of the non-uniformity. The model developed in the last section for uniform bed could be used for actual design calculation, provided one were to leave sufficient leeway for anticipated loss in the capacity of a dryer caused by nonuniformity in bed-thickness, A simple approach for

104

Wu YUANand R. B. KEEY 0 0i 1-I

Pb

this purpose is to choose an "operating point" on the R - N t graph near Curve 2, say Point P in Fig. 4.
Acknowledgement--The authors wish to thank the Wool

Research Organisation of New Zealand (WRONZ) for financially supporting their work at Canterbury University a few years ago, of which the present paper is an outgrowth, NOTATION specific surface area of material, m2/m 3 surface area of material bed in the ith stage, m 2 thickness or limiting thickness of material bed, m relative drying rate, dimensionless function of 0, solution of eqs (26) and (27), dimensionless mass flow velocity of drying air, kg/m 2 s air flow rate in each stage, kg/s depth variable in material bed, m non-uniformity factor of bed thickness, dimensionless mass transfer coefficient based on humidity difference, kg/m 2 s throughput of material, kg/s exponent, dimensionless drying rate, kg/m 2 s number of stages in dryer system, dimensionless number of transfer units, dimensionless Peclet number, dimensionless = G'/L, feed ratio in each stage, dimensionless drying time, s residence time in the ith stage, s velocity of material movement, m/s width or width coordinate of bed, m moisture content of material, kg/kg thickness variable of bed, m humidity of drying air, kg/kg distance variable of bed movement, m length of bed in the ith stage, m

q~ O

non-dimensional drying time, dimensionless non-dimensional residence time in the ith stage, dimensionless humidity potential of drying air, kg/kg bulk density of bed, kg/m 3 humidity potential coefficient, dimensionless characteristic moisture content defined by eq. (3), dimensionless

(2

Ai

Superscripts

* (i)

in equilibrium ith stage

f
F G G' h k K L
n

Subscripts

c f g m w 0

critical point final drying air averaged wet bulb initial or known
REFERENCES

Nt

Pe R

Fedkiw, P. and Newman, J., 1978, Low Peclet number behavior of the transfer rate in packed beds. Chem. Engng Sci. 33, 1044-1048. Keey, R. B., 1968, Batch drying with air recirculation. Chem. Enong Sci. 23, 1299-1308. Keey, R. B., 1977, Introduction to Industrial Drying Operations. Pergamon, Oxford. Keey, R. B., 1993, The drying of textiles. Rev. Prog. Coloration 23, 57-72. Keey, R. B. and Wu, Y., 1989a, An analysis of the suction-drum drying of scoured loose wool, in Proceedings of
the 4th Australasian Conference on Mass and Heat Transfer, pp. 217-226, Christchurch, New Zealand.

t
ti U~
W X

Y Y
Z Zi

Greek letters

( (b

non-dimensional depth variable, dimensionless = N,, non-dimensional thickness of bed, dimensionless

Keey, R. B. and Wu, Y., 1989b, The influence of unevenness of the wool mat on the drying of loose wool. Chem. Engng Proc. 26, 127-137. Kunii, D. and Suzuki, M., 1967, Particle-to-fluid heat and mass transfer in packed beds of fine particles. J. Heat Mass Transfer 10, 845-852. Martin, H., 1977, Low Peclet number particle-to-fluid heat and mass transfer in packed beds. Chem. Engn9 Sci. 33, 913-919. Peck, R. E. and Kanh, J. K., 1969, Evaluation of drying schedules. A.LCh.E.J. 15, 85-88. Williams-Gardner, A., 1965, Selection of industrial dryers. Chem. Proc. Engng 46, 609-616. Wu, Yuan, 1991, Design calculation of through-circulation dryers with air reversals--(lI) Decision of operating conditions and design parameters, d. Wuhan Inst. Chem. Tech. 19(3), 8-15 (in Chinese).