RESULTS

Table A
Description Unit
Weight of empty tray
Weight of dry sand + tray
Weight of dry sand
Weight of wet sand + tray
Weight of wet sand
Air velocity
Value
g 307.4
g 1095.0
g 786.6
g 1115.0
g 807.6
m/s 1.11

Table B
Time Mass of wet Inlet (oC) Outlet (oC)
(min) sand (g) Dry bulb Wet bulb Dry bulb Wet bulb
0 807.6 40 24 48 27
5 802.7 54 28 57 29
10 797.1 58 29 59 29
15 791.1 61 30 63 31
20 786.7 65 31 63 30

Table C
Total
Mass of wet Free moisture Drying rate, R
Time (min) moisture
sand (g) content, X (g/m2.min)
content, XT
0 807.6 0.0267 0.0266 18.063
5 802.7 0.0205 0.0204 20.976
10 797.1 0.0133 0.0132 22.141
15 791.1 0.0057 0.0056 16.315
20 786.7 0.0001 0 0
From the graph;

Critical moisture content = 22.141 g/m2.min

Equilibrium moisture content = 0.0001 moisture content

Constant rate period = 0.0266 – 0.0132 moisture content

Falling rate period = 0.0132 – 0 moisture content

DISCUSSION

The main objective of this experiment is to produce drying and drying rate curves for a
wet solid being dried with air of fixed temperature and humidity. The solid is used was sand
and based on the results that obtained two graphs was plotted which are free moisture content
as a function of time and drying rate against free moisture content curve.

Firstly, the tray filled with sand to 10mm of dry sand and the height measured
accurately. Then, spray the water using water sprayer until the weightage of sand in the tray
increase to ± 20 grams. The mass of dry sand, dry sand+tray, empty tray, wet sand and wet
sand+tray were measured and recorded in the table given. The wet sand with tray placed in the
portion of the dryer. The heater and power control switched on to the maximum and let them
be stable until the experiment end. While doing the experiment, record the air velocity and keep
it constant. Dry bulb temperature and wet bulb temperature of inlet and outlet were measured
using psychrometer and record the readings. Lastly, weight the mass of wet sand with tray for
every 5 minutes until the mass should be equal to dry sand with tray.

According to the theoretical, moisture contents can be measured in the terms of weight
of wet sand per unit of dry sand. Based on the free moisture content curve achieved, it was
decreasing as the time increases. The free moisture contents can be calculated from the formula
below:
 X = XT – X*

XT = Total moisture content against time

X* = Equilibrium moisture content

Total moisture content, XT versus Time

0.03

0.025
Total moisture content, XT

0.02

0.015

0.01
y = -0.0014x + 0.0269
R² = 0.9979
0.005

0
0 5 10 15 20 25
-0.005
Time (min)

Graph 1 : Relationship of Total moisture content, XT versus Time

From the graph 1, the total moisture contain,XT decrease with the time.The sand
influence to lost moisture as the wet sand was brought in contact with air of lower humidity
than that the primary content of the experiment. The solid absorbs moisture from air as the air
is high humid than the solid in equilibrium state. The contain of the water in the wet solid
cannot be extracted by air is called equilibrium moisture this is because of humidity of the last
part. As the weight of the wet sand becomes constant it said to be equilibrium. Free moisture
content was calculated for every 5 min time interval. From the graph obtained, it is clearly
shown that the slope is negative where it is fall off as the time increases until there is no more
free moisture content in the sand. Somewhere, the sand is dried fully at the end of this
experiment. By attaining a graph with a negative slope, it can be said that the results were obey
the theory of the drying process.
 For the drying process, drying rate is one of the necessary variable where the drying
rate can be calculated from the formula given below:

ms dX
R
A dt

ms = mass of dry sand

A = exposed surface area for drying

Drying rate from graph 2 shows that there is increase in drying rate until 10 minutes and then
started to decrease by the free moisture content. Drying rate can be affected by flow rate of the
air, temperature, surface area and even types of material could affect the rate of drying.

Drying Rate, R versus Free moisture content, X

25
22.141
20.976

20 18.063
16.315
y = 587.36x + 7.7694
Drying Rate, R

15 R² = 0.4971

10

0
0
0 0.005 0.01 0.015 0.02 0.025 0.03
Free moisture content, X

Graph 2: Relationship of Drying Rate, R versus Free moisture content, X

As the calculation stated at the result, the critical moisture content is 22.141 g/m2.min,
equilibrium moisture content is 0.0001 moisture content, constant rate period is 0.0266 –
0.0132 moisture content and the falling rate period is0.0132 – 0 moisture content. Constant rate
phase specifies the time interval at which the sand started to wet and at that period the rate of
evaporation will be same to the rate of a free liquid surface. As the rate of drying increases at
constant rate, the crudity of the sand surface too increases.
APPENDIX

1. Total moisture content, XT

𝑚 − 𝑚𝑆
𝑋𝑇 =
𝑚𝑆

𝑚 :mass of wet sand

𝑚𝑆 :mass of dry sand

807.6 − 786.6
𝑋𝑇 =
786.6

= 0.0267

2. Free moisture content, X

𝑋 = 𝑋𝑇 − 𝑋 ∗

𝑋 ∗ : equilibrium moisture content

𝑋 = 0.0267 − 0.0001

= 0.0266

3. Drying Rate , R

𝑚𝑆 𝑋1 − 𝑋2
𝑅=
𝐴 𝑡2 − 𝑡1

A :area of tray (0.054m2)

786.6 0.0266 − 0.0204

𝑅=
0.054 5− 0

= 18.063