Stability and performance of a spouted bed in drying skimmed milk: Influence of the cone angle and air inlet device

This paper investigates the skimmed milk drying over inert particles in a 30?cm diameter spouted bed. Drying was evaluated for conical bases of three cone angles (45°, 60°, and 75°) operating with 4.5?kg of inert particles, and two air inlet devices with different geometries—a Venturi-type nozzle and a straight section pipe. The drying capacity was evaluated from the maximum paste feed rate that allowed stable operation and spouting dynamic behavior throughout drying. It was observed that drying capacity and dynamic stability were greatly affected by the cone angle and the inlet device geometry. From the conditions evaluated, the best configuration with regard to the drying capacity was obtained for the 45° conical base using the Venturi-type inlet device. In this dryer, a rate of 40?mL/min of skimmed milk was processed and a powder with a moisture content of about 10% was produced. The good performance on this configuration was attributed to several factors that affected positively the solid circulation rates and the dynamics stability. Such factors include the operation under a higher static-bed height, the spouting on conical configuration, and the improved aeration of the annular region provided by the inlet device. At this configuration, and for paste feed rates up to the maximum admissible value, the spouted-bed dynamic was almost not affected by the liquid and the wet bed operated under dynamic conditions very similar to those of the dry bed. Using a 75° conical base with the Venturi-type inlet device under a slightly lower drying capacity (35?mL/min) also resulted in quite stable dynamic conditions. The 60° conical base with the Venturi-type device was the configuration that performed worst with regard to drying capacity (30?mL/min).     

Drying Of Pastes In Spouted Beds Of Inert Particles: Design Criteria And Modeling

The drying of pastelike materials can be performed well in spouted beds (SB) of inert particles. In this work the drying performance of pastes in conical pastes in conical spouted beds is analyzed as a function of column dimensions, fluid flow characteristics and paste properties. imulated data on fluid flow together with the experimental results on drying of different pastelike materials are presented and discussed to provide criteria for the design of a conical spouted bed dryer for suspensions.     

Drying Of Pastes In Spouted Beds Of Inert Particles: Design Criteria And Modeling

ABSTRACT

The drying of pastelike materials can be performed well in spouted beds (SB) of inert particles. In this work the drying performance of pastes in conical pastes in conical spouted beds is analyzed as a function of column dimensions, fluid flow characteristics and paste properties. imulated data on fluid flow together with the experimental results on drying of different pastelike materials are presented and discussed to provide criteria for the design of a conical spouted bed dryer for suspensions.     

SPOUTED BED DRYING OF SLUDGE FROM METALS FINISHING INDUSTRIES WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANTS

A 0.15 m diameter half cylindrical spouted bed was used to dry a ferric hydroxide - zinc hydroxide sludge with a moisture content of 83.4 % wet basis. Heat for drying was provided by an electrical air preheater. The sludge was fed through an air cooled feeder into the spout and dried product was removed by elutriation; it was captured by a cyclone and baghouse. The mechanisms of drying and the performance of the drier were studied as a function of the operating variables. A glass front panel was used for visual observation of the system to elucidate the drying mechanisms, a stainless steel panel was used at other times.

The study showed that a spouted bed drier could produce a consistent fine powder product with a mechanically simple and reliable design. A cost comparison of a spouted bed with other driers for a typical metals finishing installation shows that the spouted bed is cost competitive with conventional technology.     

Experimental Study and Mathematical Modeling of Green Pea Drying in a Spouted Bed

In this study, green pea drying is investigated experimentally in a laboratory-scale spouted bed dryer. A mathematical model is also developed to investigate the effect of operating conditions on the performance of the system. The effect of operating parameters such as inlet air temperature, particle size, and flow rate of the drying air on the performance of the dryer are studied experimentally. In order to build the process model, it is necessary to analyze the transport in both solid and gas phases. A complete set of equations with no adjustable parameters is derived for existing zones in the spouted bed dryer in order to predict variations in the temperature and moisture content of the solid and gas phases with time for batch drying conditions. Model results are compared with corresponding experimental data. Agreement between the model results and experimental data is good.     

SPOUTED BED DRYING OF SLUDGE FROM METALS FINISHING INDUSTRIES WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANTS

ABSTRACT

A 0.15 m diameter half cylindrical spouted bed was used to dry a ferric hydroxide - zinc hydroxide sludge with a moisture content of 83.4 % wet basis. Heat for drying was provided by an electrical air preheater. The sludge was fed through an air cooled feeder into the spout and dried product was removed by elutriation; it was captured by a cyclone and baghouse. The mechanisms of drying and the performance of the drier were studied as a function of the operating variables. A glass front panel was used for visual observation of the system to elucidate the drying mechanisms, a stainless steel panel was used at other times.

The study showed that a spouted bed drier could produce a consistent fine powder product with a mechanically simple and reliable design. A cost comparison of a spouted bed with other driers for a typical metals finishing installation shows that the spouted bed is cost competitive with conventional technology.     

湿污泥颗粒的流化床干燥实验及模型

在鼓泡流化床内以河砂为干燥介质,对单颗粒湿污泥的流态化干燥特性进行实验研究,得到了流化床温度、污泥初始水分、污泥粒径及流化速度对干燥速率的影响规律：流化床温度及污泥粒径对干燥速率的影响都呈指数规律;污泥的水分越大,干燥速率越大;在鼓泡流化床流化速度达到2倍临界流化速度以上时,充分流化,流化速度再增大(2~5倍临界流化速度)对干燥速率没有明显影响. 在基本的扩散传质理论的基础上,利用实验数据回归得到湿污泥在鼓泡流化床内干燥的半经验模型,为流化床污泥干燥器的设计提供了基础数据和依据.     

A Draft-Tube Conical Spouted Bed for Drying Fine Particles

A study has been conducted on the performance of a draft tube conical spouted bed for drying fine particles. Batch operation has been performed with nonporous, porous, and open-sided draft tubes in order to ascertain the optimum configuration of this internal device. The nonporous draft tube requires the lowest minimum spouting velocity. Nevertheless, the solid circulation rate and the drying efficiency of the open-sided draft tube are superior to any other spouted bed configuration. Moreover, it allows for reducing the height of the fountain and, consequently, the height of the drying equipment.     

A Draft-Tube Conical Spouted Bed for Drying Fine Particles

A study has been conducted on the performance of a draft tube conical spouted bed for drying fine particles. Batch operation has been performed with nonporous, porous, and open-sided draft tubes in order to ascertain the optimum configuration of this internal device. The nonporous draft tube requires the lowest minimum spouting velocity. Nevertheless, the solid circulation rate and the drying efficiency of the open-sided draft tube are superior to any other spouted bed configuration. Moreover, it allows for reducing the height of the fountain and, consequently, the height of the drying equipment.     

Behaviour of a conical spouted-bed dryer for animal blood

A 60° conical bed of inert particles spouted with hot air has been used as a medium for drying animal blood into a powder with little thermal degradation. The spouting and drying performances of the dryer were investigated. A feature of considerable practical significance is the existence of an initial regime of incomplete spouting in which the solids in the annulus are partly held stagnant by friction, causing a reduced pressure drop. A model of the drying process was developed to predict the variations in maximum throughput and product properties with changes in operating conditions. Good agreement between predictions and experimental results was found.     

Investigations on heat transfer and hydrodynamics under pyrolysis conditions of a pilot-plant draft tube conical spouted bed reactor

This paper describes the hydrodynamic and heat transfer performance of a pilot-plant scale conical spouted bed reactor designed for the pyrolysis of biomass wastes. The spouted bed reactor is the core of a fast pyrolysis pilot plant with continuous biomass feed of up to 25 kg/h, located at the Ikerlan-IK4 facilities.The aim of this paper is to obtain a deeper understanding of the spouted bed reactor performance at pyrolysis temperatures, in order to operate under stable conditions, improve the heat transfer rate in the reactor and minimize energy requirements. The influence of temperature on conical spouted bed hydrodynamics has been studied and wall-to-bed and bed-to-surface heat transfer coefficients have been determined.     

Measurement of voidage in the fountain of a spouted bed

A γ-ray technique is described for measuring the distribution of fractional voidage in the fountain of an air spouted bed. What appear to be the first experimental data on fountain voidage are presented. For the relatively shallow, 160 mm diameter, conical spouted bed studied, fountain fractional voidage is quite high, 0.88 and upwards. Generally voidage increases with height up the fountain, apart from a plateau or slight fall part way up. This trend differs from that proposed by Grace and Mathur in a theoretical model for a deeper cylindrical spouted bed. Fountain voidage is shown to depend on air flow rate and on particle size distribution.     

Effect of sludge thickness on characteristics of ultrasonic assisted hot air drying sludge

Due to the stratification of sludge particles in the ultrasonic field, the acoustic interaction forces the particles to agglomerate on a plane perpendicular to the direction of ultrasonic propagation. Therefore, the thickness of sludge can significantly influence the characteristics of ultrasound-assisted hot air convective drying municipal sewage sludge. In this paper, the stratified aggregation phenomenon of sludge with different thicknesses was observed in the ultrasonic field using the experimental method. It was found that the stratification of the internal structure of sludge became more obvious with the increase of its thickness. The effects of ultrasound on the drying time and the drying rate of sludge with various thicknesses were studied. Meanwhile, the effective moisture diffusivity (D_eff) was analyzed. The experimental results demonstrated that the larger the sludge thickness, the longer the time length of the first falling rate stage and the promotion of the drying rate was worse when the ultrasonic power was less than 135 W. The situation was opposite at the constant rate stage. Among the sludge with the thicknesses of 5, 10, and 15 mm, the total drying time and energy consumption of the sludge with a thickness of 10 mm decreased the most substantially under the condition of ultrasonic power less than 90 W. The smaller the thickness of sludge is, the less obvious the effect of ultrasound on the effective moisture diffusivity, and vice versa.     

污泥厚度对超声波辅助热风干燥污泥特性的影响

由于在超声波声场中污泥微粒会发生分层现象,声互作用力使得微粒于超声传播方向相垂直的平面上发生凝聚,因此污泥厚度大小对超声波辅助热风干燥污泥特性有着重要的影响。通过实验的方法,对不同厚度污泥在超声波声场中的分层凝聚现象进行观察,发现污泥内部结构的分层现象随其厚度的增加而明显。研究了超声波对不同厚度污泥干燥过程中各时期干燥时长、干燥速率的影响效果,以及分析了湿分有效扩散系数（D_eff）随污泥厚度变化的情况。从实验结果中可以发现,在超声波功率小于135 W范围内,污泥厚度越大,干燥过程中第一降速期时间越长,干燥速率提升效果越差,而对恒速干燥期内干燥速率提升效果更明显;在5、10以及15 mm厚度的污泥中,10 mm厚度的污泥在超声波功率小于90 W的条件下总干燥时长降低幅度最大,干燥速率在各阶段提速也较快;污泥厚度越小,超声波功率对污泥湿分有效扩散系数影响越小,反之影响越大。     

BEAN DRYING IN FIXED, SPOUTED AND SPOUT-FLUID BEDS: A COMPARISON AND EMPIRICAL MODELING

In this work the drying of IAC-Carioca bean was analyzed experimentally in fixed, spouted and spout-fluid beds. A laboratory scale, batch operated apparatus was used. To obtain experimental data, a factorial design technique was used and the influences of the following variables on the process were evaluated: the solids toad, initial grain moisture and drying air temperature. This analysis was done for each dryer by means of drying curves, evolution of grain temperature over time, drying rate and statistical results obtained from factorial design. An energy evaluation was also done and used as a means of comparison between the dryers studied. The three dryers operating under the same conditions showed very similar behavior and the fixed bed dryer showed a performance slightly better. With this work the potential of using spouted bed grain dryerswas confirmed and the possibility of using the spout-fluid bed as a dryer was verified. Two empirical models were proposed and their parameters were correlated with experimental variables. A sensory evaluation was also performed for the purpose of evaluating the effects that the high drying temperatures had on the grain's potential value as food.     

Local porosity in conical spouted beds consisting of solids of varying density

Local bed voidage has been measured in conical spouted beds by means of an optical fibre, for different geometric factors of the contactor (angle and inlet diameter) and under different experimental conditions (height of the stagnant bed, particle diameter and air velocity). The study has been carried out with glass beads and materials of lower density (high- and low-density polyethylene, polypropylene and extruded and expanded polystyrene). From the results, a correlation has been proposed for calculation of the local bed voidage in the spout and annular zones. The effect of the experimental conditions on the bed voidage in the solid ascent (core) and descent (periphery) regions of the fountain has been studied and the fountain has been proven to be of greater importance in the design of conical spouted beds, as solid density and shape factor are lower.     

Spouted Beds of Inert Particles for Drying Suspension

A brief review of Brazilian research on drying process in spouted beds shows its relevance and evolution trends. Needs for applying this technique to dry pasty materials are discussed, focusing on a new model approach in order to overcome operational problems with particle agglomeration and with thermal efficiency. Based on this approach, two cases, drying of black liquor in a conical spouted bed of inert polypropylene particles under intermittent operation and drying of egg emulsion in a conical spouted bed of inert glass beads under continuous operation, are presented and analyzed.     

BEAN DRYING IN FIXED,SPOUTED AND SPOUT-FLUID BEDS: A COMPARISON AND EMPIRICAL MODELING

ABSTRACT

In this work the drying of IAC-Carioca bean was analyzed experimentally in fixed, spouted and spout-fluid beds. A laboratory scale, batch operated apparatus was used. To obtain experimental data, a factorial design technique was used and the influences of the following variables on the process were evaluated: the solids toad, initial grain moisture and drying air temperature. This analysis was done for each dryer by means of drying curves, evolution of grain temperature over time, drying rate and statistical results obtained from factorial design. An energy evaluation was also done and used as a means of comparison between the dryers studied. The three dryers operating under the same conditions showed very similar behavior and the fixed bed dryer showed a performance slightly better. With this work the potential of using spouted bed grain dryerswas confirmed and the possibility of using the spout-fluid bed as a dryer was verified. Two empirical models were proposed and their parameters were correlated with experimental variables. A sensory evaluation was also performed for the purpose of evaluating the effects that the high drying temperatures had on the grain's potential value as food.     

SLURRY DRYING IN GAS-PARTICLE CONTACTORS: FLUID-DYNAMICS AND CAPACITY ANALYSIS

The fluid-dynamic characteristics and evaporation capacities of several substrates (pure water, a mixture of water and carbohydrates, and apple pulps with maltodextrines) for conical spouted bed, fluidized bed and pneumatic dryers was compared.

For fluidized and spouted beds, the presence of fluids increased the fluid-dynamics parameters over the values when only inert particles were present in the beds. In both cases it was proposed correlations to predict those effects. In the spouted bed drier, increasing the load of inert particles resulted in a slight increase of the water evaporation capacity, while in the fluidized bed drier the effect was more marked. For fluidized and spouted beds, under similar operation conditions, the maximums of the suspension drying capacities are lower than the values of water evaporation, but for pneumatic drying this effect was the opposite. In general terms, the maximal capacities of fluidized bed dryers are higher than those observed in the spouted bed dryers.     

Drying of water treatment process sludge in a fluidized bed dryer

The drying characteristics of water treatment process (WTP) sludge were investigated with a fluidized bed. The equilibrium moisture ratio of WTP sludge increased with relative humidity and decreased with temperature of drying air. However, equilibrium moisture ratio of WTP sludge was more sensitively dependent on relative humidity than temperature of drying air. When the sludge was dried in a batch fluidized bed, the drying rate of sludge decreased as the moisture ratio of sludge in the bed decreased. The periods of constant drying rates were apparently not observed on the drying rate curves. In addition, the maximum drying rates were increased with bed temperature and superficial air velocity. As the fluidized bed was operated continuously, the degree of drying of WTP sludge increased with bed temperature but was weakly dependent on superficial air velocity. However, the drying efficiency was decreased with bed temperature and relatively insensitive to superficial air velocity and increased with feed rate of sludge.