Drum Dryer Condensate Removal, Heat

Transfer, and Energy Recovery

Project

Rebuild of a drum dryer syphon, rotary joint, and associated steam and condensate
system used in the food industry for the manufacturing of potato flakes.

Process

The drum dryer is fed with live steam and operates at 8 bar G steam pressure.  Heat is
transferred from hot, condensing steam inside the drum dryer to the cooler product
passing over the rotating drum. This evaporates moisture from the incoming slurry
and drying the product for onward processing.

Operation and Configuration Before Kadant Rebuild

Steam was fed into the dryer under a two-stage pressure reduction control system. 
This took the steam from high-pressure to the 8 barG drum operating pressure.  The
steam condensed within the drum dryer and drained from the dryer by two simple
bent-pipe stationary syphons which entered the cylinder at either end of the drum
dryer through dual-flow rotary joints.  The condensate from the drum dryer drained
via a steam trap from the dryer to a flash steam vessel and this condensate was then
drained to an atmospheric vessel.

There were several problems with this configuration. 

First, draining hot, higher-pressure condensate to a vessel at lower pressure creates

flash steam as the heat energy contained within the condensate effectively boils a
proportion of the condensate and converts it to steam.  When the lower pressure vessel
is vented to atmosphere the steam is lost along with all its energy.  Also, the design of
the simple bent pipe stationary syphons was not robust.  The clearance at the syphon
tip was not always maintained due to the syphons moving within the drum, causing
inconsistent drainage.  This movement of the syphon also increases the possibility of
syphon failure if it contacts the internal surface of the dryer. As a result, the syphon
clearances are set quite high, leading to more condensate being inside the drum dryer
and so, reducing the effectiveness of heat transfer to the product.  Air evacuation from
the drum dryer was also poor with the system, due to the installation of the steam trap
and its poor air handling capability.  The build-up of air within heat transfer
equipment reduces both the effective temperature of the steam and affects the
uniformity of the heat transfer profile across the width of the rotating drum. 

Kadant’s Solution

 The two-stage pressure reduction was modernized to a single stage pressure

reduction using a high-quality pressure control valve capable of accurately
controlling with high differential pressures. This modernized the system to
reduce future maintenance.

 A new flash recovery system was designed to eliminate the flash steam loss to
atmosphere. The flash steam was recovered to a low-pressure user to reduce the
amount of live steam required in the lower pressure system. This reduced total
steam use and boiler make-up water usage.

 A high-capacity scoop syphon was installed to replace the two bent pipe
syphons. This high-capacity scoop rotates with the dryer drum. The four scoop
buckets are installed at 90 degrees to each other, so they continuously evacuate
the condensate, draining it from the drum without the need for differential
pressure.  This improved drainage of the condensate and reduced the amount of
equipment installed on the drum, further reducing future maintenance
requirements.

 The steam trap was removed and a new drainage system with modern,
automatic air removal control was installed in the condensate system. This
automated process ensured the correct evacuation of air from the drum on start-
up, decreasing warm-up times, and improving heat transfer through the drum.

Energy Recovery Benefits

The energy saving from the above system being implemented was over 2.9 million
kWh / year, worth approximately €86,000 per year in saved energy and a
CO2 reduction of almost 160 ton/year.