Solid Drying

(Perrys Chemical Engineers Handbook 8th Edition: 12th Section. Hal 32-34)
Original Version
MECHANISMS OF MOISTURE TRANSPORT WITHIN SOLIDS
Drying requires moisture to travel to the surface of a material. There are several
mechanisms by which this can occur:

Diffusion of moisture through solids. Diffusion is a molecular process,

brought about by random wanderings of individual mole- cules. If all the
water molecules in a material are free to migrate, they tend to diffuse from a
region of high moisture concentration to one of lower moisture concentration,
thereby reducing the moisture gradient and equalizing the concentration of

moisture.
Convection of moisture within a liquid or slurry. If a flowable solution is drying
into a solid, then liquid motion within the material brings wetter material to the

surface.
Evaporation of moisture within a solid and gas transport out of the solid by
diffusion and/or convection. Evaporation can occur within a solid if it is boiling

or porous. Subsequently vapor must move out of the sample.

Capillary flow of moisture in porous media. The reduction of liquid pressure
within small pores due to surface tension forces causes liquid to flow in
porous media by capillary action.

DRYING KINETICS
This section discusses the rate of drying. The kinetics of drying dic- tates
the size of industrial drying equipment, which directly affects the capital and
operating costs of a process involving drying. The rate of drying can also
influence the quality of a dried product since other simultaneous phenomena
can be occurring, such as heat transfer and shrinkage due to moisture loss.
Drying Curves and Periods of Drying The most basic and essential kinetic
information on drying is a drying curve. A drying curve describes the drying
kinetics and how they change during drying. The drying curve is affected by the
material properties, size or thick- ness of the drying material, and drying
conditions. In this section, the general characteristics of drying curves and their
uses are described. Experimental techniques to obtain drying curves are

Solid Drying
(Perrys Chemical Engineers Handbook 8th Edition: 12th Section. Hal 32-34)
Original Version
discussed in the Experimental Methods section and uses of drying curves for
scale-up are discussed in Dryer Modeling Design and Scale-up. Several
representations of a typical drying curve are shown in Fig. 12-13. The top plot,
Fig. 12-13a, is the moisture content (dry basis) as a function of time. The middle
plot, Fig. 12-13b, is the drying rate as a function of time, the derivative of the top
plot. The bottom plot,

Solid Drying
(Perrys Chemical Engineers Handbook 8th Edition: 12th Section. Hal 32-34)
Original Version

Fig. 12-13c, is the drying rate as affected by the average moisture content of the drying material. Since the material loses moisture as time passes, the
progression of time in this bottom plot is from right to left. Some salient features
of the drying curve show the different periods of drying. These are common
periods, but not all occur in every dry- ing process. The first period of drying is
called the induction period. This period occurs when material is being heated
early in drying. The second period of drying is called the constant-rate period.
During this period, the surface remains wet enough to maintain the vapor pressure of water on the surface. Once the surface dries sufficiently, the drying rate
decreases and the falling-rate period occurs. This period can also be referred to
as hindered drying. Figure 12-13 shows the transition between constant- and
falling- rate periods of drying occurring at the critical point. The critical point
refers to the average moisture content of a material at this transition. The
sections below show examples of drying curves and the phe- nomena that give
rise to common shapes.
Introduction to Internal and External Mass-Transfer ControlDrying of a
Slab The concepts in drying kinetics are best illustrated with a simple example
air drying of a slab. Consider a thick slab of homogeneous wet material, as

Solid Drying
(Perrys Chemical Engineers Handbook 8th Edition: 12th Section. Hal 32-34)
Original Version
shown in Fig. 12-14. In this particular example, the slab is dried on an insulating
surface under constant conditions. The heat for drying is carried to the sur- face
with hot air, and air carries water vapor from the surface. At the same time, a
moisture gradient forms within the slab, with a dry sur- face and a wet interior.
The curved line is the representation of the gradient. At the bottom the slab (z =
0), the material is wet and the moisture content is drier at the surface.
The following processes must occur to dry the slab:
1. Heat transfer from the air to the surface of the slab
2. Mass transfer of water vapor from the surface of the slab to the bulk air
3. Mass transfer of moisture from the interior of the slab to the sur- face of the
slab
Depending on the drying conditions, thickness, and physical proper- ties
of the slab, any of the above steps can be rate-limiting. Figure 12-15 shows two
examples of rate-limiting cases. The top example shows the situation of external
rate control. In this situation, the heat transfer to the surface and/or the mass
transfer from the surface in the vapor phase is slower than mass transfer to the
surface from the bulk of the drying material. In this limiting case, the moisture
gradient in the material is minimal, and the rate of drying will be con- stant as
long as the average moisture content remains high enough to maintain a high
water activity (see the section on thermodynamics for a discussion of the
relationship between moisture content and water vapor pressure). External rate
control leads to the observation of a con- stant-rate period drying curve.
The bottom example shows the opposite situation: internal rate con- trol.
In the case of heating from the top, internal control refers to a slow rate of mass
transfer from the bulk of the material to the surface of the material. Diffusion,
convection, and capillary action (in the case of porous media) are possible
mechanisms for mass transfer of moisture to the surface of the slab. In the
internal rate control situation, moisture is removed from the surface by the air
faster than moisture is transported to the surface. This regime is caused by
relatively thick layers or high values of the mass- and heat-transfer coefficients

Solid Drying
(Perrys Chemical Engineers Handbook 8th Edition: 12th Section. Hal 32-34)
Original Version
in the air. Internal rate control leads to the observation of a falling-rate period
drying curve.

Generally speaking, drying curves show both behaviors. When dry- ing
begins, the surface is often wet enough to maintain a constant-rate period and is
therefore externally controlled. But as the material dries, the mass-transfer rate
of moisture to the surface often slows, causing the rate to decrease since the
lower moisture content on the surface causes a lower water vapor pressure.
However, some materials begin dry enough that there is no observable
constant-rate period.
MATHEMATICAL MODELING OF DRYING
Mathematical models can be powerful tools to help engineers understand drying processes. Models can be either purchased or home- made.
Several companies offer software packages to select dryers, perform scale-up

Solid Drying
(Perrys Chemical Engineers Handbook 8th Edition: 12th Section. Hal 32-34)
Original Version
calculations, and simulate dryers. Homemade models are often mass and
energy balance spread- sheets, simplified kinetic models, or the simultaneous
solution of the convection diffusion and heat equations together with nonlinear
isotherms. All levels of models have their place. This section begins with the
most rigorous and numerical models. These models are potentially the most
accurate, but require physical property data and simultaneous solution of
differential and algebraic equations. Generally speaking, simpler models are
more accessible to engineers and easier to implement. They can be very useful
as long as the inherent limitations are understood. Numerical Modeling of Drying
Kinetics This section summa- rizes a numerical approach toward modeling
drying from a fundamental standpoint. In other words, predictions are made from
the appropriate sets of differential and algebraic equations, together with
physical prop- erties of the drying medium and drying material. Statistical
methods of data analysis, e.g., design of experiments, are not covered. The
approach in this section is lagrangian; i.e., the model is for a drying object
(particle, drop, sheet, etc.) as it moves through the dry- ing process in time.
More complicated models can use a eulerian frame of reference by simulating
the dryer with material moving into and out of the dryer. The approach taken in
this example also assumes that the mechanism of mass transport is by diffusion.
This is not always the case and can be significantly incorrect, especially in the
case of drying of porous materials. Any fundamental mathematical model of
drying contains mass and energy balances, constituative equations for massand heat-transfer rates, and physical properties. Table 12-8 shows the
differential mass balance equations that can be used for common geometries.
Note there are two sets of differential mass balancesone including shrink- age
and one not including shrinkage. When moisture leaves a drying material, the
material can either shrink, or develop porosity, or both.

Solid Drying
(Perrys Chemical Engineers Handbook 8th Edition: 12th Section. Hal 32-34)
Original Version