MOISTURE CONTENT
AND DRYING RATE
CALCULATIONS
SOLIDS
 

MOISTURE CONTENT
RELATIONSHIPS
 MOISTURE/SOLID
EQUILIBRIUM
RELATIONSHIPS
 FIGURES 9.4-1 AND 9.4-
2 FOR SEVERAL TYPES
OF SYSTEMS
 DEFINED ON THE BASIS
OF RELATIVE HUMIDITY
AT A SPECIFIC
TEMPERATURE

EQUILIBRIUM
OF MOISTURE AMOUNT
TENDS
TO DECREASE WITH
INCREASING
TEMPERATURE
 

MOISTURE CONTENT
VARIABLES

 BASED ON THE MASS OF MOISTURE

RELATIVE TO THE MASS BONE DRY SOLID 
SOLID 

 M ass  Li
 Mass  Liquid 
quid 
 X t     9.5  1
ass  Dry Solid  B
 Mass
 M DS 
 BDS 
 X *   E
 Equil
quilibriu
ibrium  M
 Moisture
oisture Content 
*

 X    F
 Free
ree  M oisture Content    X t    X  (9.5  2)
 Moisture
 X  B   M oisture Content @ Saturation with  H  R  100%
 Moisture
Unbound  M
 Moisture
oisture
 X U    M
 Moisture
oisture Content   A
 Abov
bov e B ound    X t    X  B .
 Bound 
( Surface  M oisture)
 Moisture
 

DRYING RATE CURVES

 DEPEND ON WHETHER HEAT OR

MASS TRANSFER CONTROLS
•

FREE MOISTURE VS. TIME

• DRYING RATE VS. MOISTURE CONTENT

http://www.ias.ac.in/sa
dhana/Pdf2005Oct/PE1
280.pdf
 

DRYING REGIMES
 CONSTANT RATE - NO LIMIT TO MASS
TRANSFER IN SOLID PHASE
• SURFACE MOISTURE
• TRANSFER NEAR SURFACE
 FALLING RATE   –

MOISTURE FLUX
THROUGH THE SOLID
IS HINDERED
•

CRITICAL
 BETWEENPOINTS OCCUR
CONSTANT
RATE AND FALLING RATE
 WITH A CHANGE IN THE

FALLING RATE DRYING

MECHANISM
 

DRYING MODELS


RATES FROM EMPIRICAL DATA
 LS  X 
 R  
 
(9. 5  3)
 At 

 CONSTANT RATE DRYING

• CONTROLLED BY HEAT TRANSFER TO
VAPORIZE
TRANSFER THE MOISTURE OR MASS

hT   T W    
 RC     k  y M  B ( H W   H  ) 9.6  7 
 W 
 

HEAT TRANSFER
CORRELATIONS
 TO PREDICT CONSTANT RATE DRYING

 PA
 P A R A LL
LLEE LTO SURFACE :
  W   
h 2   0.0204G 0.8  
 BTU 
 B TU  
h 2   0.0128G 0.8 (9.6  9)
 m  K      ft 
 f t   R  
 PE
 P E R P E NDI
NDICU 
CU 
 LAR
 LA R TO SURFACE :
   
h 
 mW 
2  
  1.17G 0.37
h  B
 BTU 
TU 
2   0.37G 0.37 (9.6  10)
   K      f t  R  

 RADIATION CAN ALSO BE A FACTOR

 

THAT AFFECT h 
FACTORS THAT AFFECT h 


AIR VELOCITY (G)
 GAS HUMIDITY (T  TW) AND (HW-H)
–

 GAS TEMPERATURE (T  TW) AND (HW-H)

–

 SOLID THICKNESS - NO EFFECT ON RATE

FOR SURFACE MOISTURE
 MATERIALS SURFACE FINISH OR ANY
CONDITION THAT STIMULATES
TURBULENCE
•  J. E. SUGARMAN & T. J. VITALE, OBSERVATIONS ON THE
DRYING OF PAPER: FIVE DRYING METHODS AND THE DRYING
PROCESS Journal of the American Institute for
Conservation  , 1992,
, 1992, Volume 31, Number 2, Article 3 (pp.
175 to 197) http://www.jstor.org/stable/3179491?seq=1
http://www.jstor.org/stable/3179491?seq=1  
 

CONSTANT RATE DRYING TIME

 DRYING TIME CAN BE CALCULATED

BY INTEGRATING (9.5.-3)
•
LOWER VALUE OF X > XC (CRITICAL
POINT)

 X 1
 L dX 
t  RC  
 A
S  

 X 2  R
C 
   
  WHERE   X 2  X C 
 

FALLING RATE DRYING

 CONTROLLED BY
• GAS PHASE MASS TRANSFER FROM
SOLID
• OR HEAT TRANSFER INTO THE SOLID
TO VAPORIZE THE MOISTURE.
•
GENERAL FORM OF THE EQUATION:
 X1 < XC
 X  1
 LS  dX  
t  F   9.6  1
 A  X    R( X  )
 2

FALLING RATE DRYING

 NUMERICAL CALCULATION FOR

COMPLEX SYSTEMS
• SEE EXAMPLE (9.7-1) FOR NUMERICAL
INTEGRATION
 SIMPLIFICATIONS FOR LINEAR
RELATIONSHIPS:
RELATIONSHI PS: R(X) = aX + b
 R1  R2    LS  ( X 1   X 2 )  R1
a   X 1   X 2 SO t  F    A( R1  R2 ) ln  R2 (9.7  4)
 FOR b = 0, LINEAR THRU ORIGIN

 R aX  SO t F  LS  X  C  ln  RC   LS  X C  ln  X C  (9.7 8)

  F 
 ARC   R2  ARC   X 2
 

FALLING RATE EXAMPLE

Shibata, H.;Drying
Y., Vacuum Iwao,
of Sintered Spheres
of Glass Beads,
Ind. Eng. Chem.
Res.; 1999; 38(9);
3535-3542
 

FALLING RATE EXAMPLE