THERMAL DEWATERING OF DILUTED ORGANIC SUSPENSIONS: PROCESS MECHANISM AND DRYING KINETICS

ABSTRACT

Drying of raw hog manure, a highly diluted suspension of organic and inorganic matter was studied experimentally in the multistage screw-in-trough dryer. Laboratory tests included material characteristics (rheological properties, thermodynamic equilibrium, critical settling point), boiling pattern, and kinetics of convective drying at temperatures from 90 to 120°C and air velocity from 0.5 to 1.5 m/s. Three phases of manure drying were identified, namely boiling and release of volatile compounds, evaporation from viscous liquid, followed by drying of a soft paste, and finish drying of semi-dry granular product. Drying kinetics were quantified in terms of reduced moisture content and a generalized drying curve using the characteristic drying time concept. Field tests were carried out in the pilot multistage screw-in-trough dryer to validate design calculations.

     

MODELLING AND PRACTICAL OPERATION RESULTS OF A DRYER FOR WOOD CHIPS

ABSTRACT

A model of drying of fixed and moving bed in cross-flow is presented. A single particle model described as a multiple moving boundary problem applicable for an icy wood particle is proposed. The simultaneous drying and melting are described by shrinking cores and the effect of thermal storage is taken into account approximately. The results with both the single particle and the bed model compare favourably with reported laboratory measurements. The drying of a deep fixed bed is a two-stage process. A constant rate of drying period with saturated outlet air at constant temperature is followed by a decreasing rate of drying with increasing air outlet temperature and decreasing degree of saturation. The bed modelling is performed to support the development work of a boiler plant using a dryer. Practical operation of dryers within the boiler plants is discussed.     

EFFECT OF EDTA ON COLOR DURING OSMOTIC DEHYDRATION OF BANANA SLICES

ABSTRACT

Five conditions of the osmo-dehydration process of banana slices, which in our previous study underwent the most adequate color parameters changes were used with the presence of EDTA added to the syrup solutions at five concentrations of 0.01, 0.05, 0.1, 0.5 and 1% w/w. EDTA presence did not change the tendency of polyphenol activity decrease during osmotic drying as well as has not effect on chroma, hue and total color difference changes. EDTA presence had an effect on L value decrease in the inner and outer part of the slice, and did not depend to osmotic dehydration conditions. It is highly recommended to use EDTA during osmotic dehydration of some fruits that would undergo undesirable darkening.     

DRYING OF CARROTS IN A FLUIDIZED BED. I. EFFECTS OF DRYING CONDITIONS AND MODELLING

ABSTRACT

Drying curves were determined in a mechanically agitated fluidized bed dryer, at temperatures between 70°C and 160°C, air velocities between 1.1 m/s and 2.2 m/s and stirring rates between 30 rpm and 70 rpm for batch drying of 3 kg lots of carrot slices, measuring the moisture content and shrinking of the particles in time. This was complemented by a study of the rate and degree of swelling of dried carrot particles in water between 20 and 75°C. Drying kinetics were modeled by Fick's second law, for which an optimal agreement with the experimental data was obtained when the effective diffusivity (D _e ) was determined by a correlation based on the air velocity (v), the air temperature (T) and the dimensional moisture content of the carrot particles (X/X _o ). Loss of carotenes is minimized when dehydration is carried out at about 130°C with a drying time below 12 min.     

DRYING KINETICS AND PARTICLE RESIDENCE TIME IN SPRAY DRYING

ABSTRACT

A unique experimental equipment for extensive trials on the spray drying kinetics and particles residence time involving “in situ” analysis of the properties of continuous and dispersed phases was designed, built, and tested. Advanced experimental techniques (including laser techniques) to determine current parameters of spray drying process (temperature, humidity, moisture content) and current structure of spray (particle size distribution, particle velocities, etc.) were employed. Full scale spray drying tests of baker's yeast and maltodextrin enabled identification of the effect of process parameters on drying kinetics and spray residence time in the tower. Quantitative relationship describing spray drying kinetics as a function of atomization ratio and drying agent temperature were determined. The experimental results proved that spray residence time was controlled by atomization ratio and airflow rate. Drying kinetics in spray drying process is presented for the first time in the literature.     

THE INFLUENCE OF COMPRESSION WOOD ON THE DRYING CURVES OF PINUS RADIATA DRIED IN DEHUMIDIFIER CONDITIONS

ABSTRACT

Measurements of drying rate of Pinus radiata at 55°C and 30% RH are presented. The data, which has been used to establish empirical models for P. radiata under dehumidifier drying conditions, was obtained in four drying runs in a drying tunnel, each yielding detailed drying curves for twelve sample sapwood boards of size 350 × 100 × 50 mm. Compression wood was found to have a significant effect on the drying rate curve, giving lower drying rates at 40–100% MC. This effect is interpreted through the use of a numerical multiple-mechanism two-zone model and quantified by using best-fit diffusion parameters from an isothermal diffusion model. A positive correlation was discovered between the moisture diffusion coefficient and initial moisture content, a strong indicator for the presence of compression wood. In the two-zone model, the compression wood effect was replicated by using a tenfold decrease in permeability to liquid flow. Attributes of compression wood that could cause reduced permeability include an increased proportion of latewood, narrower lumen, and a scarcity of bordered pits on the radial walls of longitudinal tracheids.     

THE EFFECT OF DRYING AND STORAGE OF SOYBEAN ON THE QUALITY OF BEAN,OIL, AND LECITHIN PRODUCTION

ABSTRACT

A comparative study of soybean drying was carried out between one-stage and two-stage (high–low temperature) drying with shade drying as control. In one-stage drying, the beans were dried at 80, 100, 120, and 140°C, respectively while in two-stage drying, beans were dried at 100, 120, and 140°C in the first stage followed by 80°C in the second stage. The evaluation values after drying showed that high drying temperature caused high skin cracks of the beans. Qualities of extracted crude oil characterized by free fatty acids (FFA), peroxide value (PV), phospholipids (PL) and nonhydratable phospholipids (NHP) were not significantly effected at p<0.05 by different drying methods but NHP had the increasing trend with the drying temperature and two-stage dried beans tended to have NHP higher than one-stage dried beans. The quality of protein in meal determined in terms of protein dispersibility index (PDI) was less than 15% when drying temperature in one-stage drying was higher than 80°C and when the temperature at the first stage of two-stage drying was higher than 100°C. Drying temperature also had the effect on the quality of lecithin when considered in term of the acetone insoluble value (AI). Free fatty acids of extracted crude oil increased when dried beans were stored for two months at 35°C while PL decreased especially in the first month of storage. However, the AI value of lecithin did not change with time.     

A Method to Measure Emissions from Dryers with Diffuse Leakages,Using Evaporated Water as a Tracer

Abstract

This paper describes a novel method to measure emission from dryers. The method resolves the known difficulties caused by diffuse emissions, and also solves the problems associated with high moisture content of the drying medium. The basic idea is to use water vapor to determine the exhaust flow, while a dry ice trap is used both to preconcentrate emitted VOCs and to determine the moisture content of the drying medium.     

A Vacuum Drying Model for Mango Pulp

Abstract

Vacuum drying of mango pulp at varying conditions of pulp thickness (2, 3, and 4 mm) and vacuum chamber plate temperature (65, 70, and 75°C) was carried out under 30–50 mm of mercury absolute pressure. A model based on moisture diffusivity was found to give close prediction to moisture content of the pulp at different times of drying with correlation coefficient varying between 0.98–0.99 for pure mango pulp and pulp with ingredients. Color change of reconstituted pulp made from mango powder was found to depend more on pulp thickness than plate temperature. For getting low color change vacuum drying should be carried at maximum pulp thickness of 2.6 mm and vacuum chamber plate temperature of 72.3°C.