INDUSTRIAL DRYERS: Sizing, Selection, Costs To match a dryer to ‘your application ‘means analyzing the properties of the product you want to dry as well as the characteristics of the available dryers. A few basies will help you shave time and dollars when you're ready to buy. he simple corn flake cereal America loves to eat poses a complex drying challenge to its makers. Similarly, the vitamins con- suumers pop into their mouths daily stretch phar acetal manufacturers’ technical drying capa bilities Taking a slurry of ground coin, vitamins and other ingredients to make corn flakes offers as much of a drying challenge as turning a processed chemical into a pil Whether its the food, pharmaceutical or chemi cal industry, the conceens are the same: drying temperatures, material handling and final form of the product. ‘With any number of variables on the route to a quality product, processors have to know their stuff when it's time to buy a dryer, By Stewart Gibson APV Separation Technologies Inc The drying requirements vary from industry to industry, Some involve the removal of moisture o volatiles from materials such as pigments, clays, symthetic rubbers and fine chemicals, which differ in both chemical and physical characteristics Others involve the converting of solutions or liq tid suspensions toa solid form, You can arrive at a reasonably accurate first assessment of the type, size and cost of equipment for a particular duty with some basic information fon the most widely used types of dryers, th approximate sizes and capital costs for typical installations The most basic difference between deyers isthe method of heat transfer. In some cases, the mate rial to be dried is in direct contact with a bor sueface, o drying is achieved through conduction, In other cases hot air, steam Table 1 Dryer Selection Guide or another medium is passed over and through the product, and drying is accomplished by convec tion. evaporation Roe] rus. | Paste, Grantee Mencny | ‘gud | deaatssd | Ponders | pats | Operaton Woah ae Eg, | suspension] “ae oftudates aa | Be28 | poor | tw [tae | weet] ten | ‘Although not as com: mon, radiant heating is used in some applications, particularly where the ‘entire surface is in direct line of sight, such 25 the drying of surface coatings. Combustion ‘Another important var able is whether o not the product of combustion can be applied directly 10 the material being dried Direct heating is used [4 extensively in many indus: = trial dryers because there (trroughtion) are no heat exchanger losses and because maxi mum heat release from the fuel can be achieved. ‘Therefore, direct heating provides higher thermal cficiencies than does indi- rect heat, but direct heat may be unacceptable when product contamination cannot be tolerated ‘Most deyers used in chemical processing rely on forced-convection technology, which isa heating ‘method that uses blowers to force a heated medi- tum, such as air or steam, through the drying vol- tume. The medium can be heated indirectly by steam, electricity or combustion products through a heat exchanger. Systems employing proprietary hheat transfer fluids aso are used. They enjoy the advantage of obtaining elevated temperatures without high-pressure operation, which often is required with conventional steam heating. ‘To handle the myriad challenges posed by the physical and economic variables of drying prod: ucts, manufacturers use any of a number of basic types of dryers: batch, continuous, spray, rotary, peumatic and band. ‘Munt forced-auuvection diyers feature continu: ‘ous operation. Conduetion-based heaters, such as indirectly heated rotary dryers and film-drum dry cs, can be used, but they are limited to applica tions with fairly modest production rates. (See Table 1 for dryer types and application ratings based on practical considerations.) | et Fm Drum 30-60 (armoephori) i PEs i “Note: Evaporation rate for retary dryers are expressedin tr Because bstch dryers work best for small runs and_ in opetatioas requiting, greater flexibility, they have the widest possible applications of any dryer today, TThe majority of designs employ recirculating air systems incoxporating large-volume, low-pressure fans that, when used with properly insulated enclosures, usually provide thermal efficiencies in the region of 50 to 60%. However, in special Dryer Performance pa my Tmt Dyer Numb ot Tweiek Dy Une Comparative perfor mance for Thuow and Cooventional wo-tuck recirelatory dyer. (Fig, 2)plications, for exam ple those that call for total zir rejection, ciencies may be some what lower because of higher cemperature of the Impor tant advantages of atch diryers include relatively law capital investment, nstallation and operat ing costs, and power requicements, Labor costs, though, tend ro be high Thruflow dryer Batch drying cycles trom 24 to 45 hours are (Fig, 3) common because of the low evaporative rate nor * mally involved, typically between 0.18 to 0. lb/fehr “Materal-deying curves clearly show that the ult imate rate governing factor isthe rate of diffusion cof moisture from the wet mass, which is especially true during the later stages ofthe eyele, when the drying rate is decreas Tests have shown that drying races can be improved by preforming the product to inerease the effective surface area. For example been to preform feedstock and use specially dlesigned batch-dryer trays and tay loaders to dry This method of product trend dewatered cakes (Fig. 3 handling results in enhanced evaporative rates using through-air circulation dryers. Fig. 2 shows how a high-performance Thruflow dryer can pro duce 1,950 Ib of dried material in a 24-hour peri fod at a terminal figure of 0.5% moisture when Double-cone vacuum dryer. (Fig. 4) bandlin moisture content © As the cures illustrate, between seven and eight conventional “two-teuck” recirculatory units woul be required to achieve the same production rate. The advantage is more apparent when respective fluor arcas occupied are 55 § for the Truflow dryer and 245 fe for the conventional units using transverse airflow a preformed filter cake having a initial Total-Dispersion Drying Users can receive even further improvements with total-dispersion drying that uses flash or pneumatic dryers of fluid beds in which discrete particles are brought into contact with the hot gas, ‘The interaction produces rapid heat transfer and correspondingly short dryin Fluidized bed dryers have sups convection units in many operations, notably hermoplastics. The seded forced pharmaceuticals and certain dryers generally have capacities from 50 to 200 Ib/he, although much larger units can be designed If the feedstock is at an acceptable level of mois: tute content for fluidization, a batch-fluidized bed dryer provides advantages, such as simplified feed ing and discharging to lower labor costs. Also, high thermal efficiencies, which are common, reduce drying times to minutes as opposed 10 hours required in conventional units Current equipment developments include tech: niques for the simultaneous evaporation of water and the granulation of solids. ‘These newer dry ters ate ideal for use in the pharmaceutical fed. They operate by forced convection — the trans fer of thermal cnergy used co increase the vaporpressure of the absorbed moisture while the cir culated air scavenges the overlaying vapor. ‘The machines maintain good conditions for contin: ued effective drying Drying Thermosensitive Materials For thermosensitive materials, which must be maintained at low temperatures and as a result have low evaporative rats, some improvement in drying speed can be achieved by using sub-atmos- pheric dryers to reduce vapor pressute. There are several configurations of sub-atmospherc dryers, and al all into the category of conduetion-type equipment. The most usual type uses steam heating, although hot water of one of the proprietary heat transfer fluids can be used. However, capital cost in ation to output generally retriets their use to drying ertcal, premium-grade products Two primary types of sub-atmospheric dryers arc the double-cone (Fig. 4) with capacities up to 400 fe and the agitated pan, normally no larger than a diameter of 8 ft with average evaporative rates per unit-werted arca in the region of 4 lb/hr. ‘The units are comparatively simple to operate and, when adequately insulated, are ther mally ecient. They are especially suitable for so vent recovery applications and handle powders and granules moderately well. There is, however, the disadvantage of a tumbling action in the double cone dryer and an agitator action in the agitated pan machine, which produce a degre of attrition in the desired produc that may prove unacceptable. Similarly, large rotary vacuum dryers ate used for pigment pastes and other such materia, espe cially when organic solvents in the feedstock have to be recovered, These units normally are jacketed and equipped with an internal agitator that con scanty lifts and turns the material, Heat wansee i eatiely by conduction from the walls of the deyer and from the agitator. Their construction though, means relatively high inivial cost for a given capacity. Installation costs also are consider able so that in general, these dryers find only limit cd application, iquids, Liquid Suspensions Systems for drying liquids or liquid suspensions typically can be designed for continuous opera tion, Two types of dryers are common: ilm-drum cdryces and spray dryers. A large film-drum deyer with a 4-ft dia by 10 face length, for example, can process feed stock at 500 t0 600 tbr, but a large spray dryer can have drying rates from 12,000 to 50,000 lb/hr (Fig 5), Obviously, when tonnage production is required, the drum dryer is at a disadvantage However, because the thermal efficiency of the ddrum dryer is high — in the region of 1.3 t0 15 Tp of steam per pound of water evaporated — itis ideal for small to medium production runs Drum dryers usualy are steam heated, although some units could ase direct gas or oil as the tel source. They can be divided into two broad css fications: single drum and double drum, Double-drum machines normally employ “nip” feed device where the space berween the drums is adjustable co control film thickness Alternately, and in the case of the single-drum types, a variety of feeding methods can be used to apply material to the deum. The most usual is the simple “tip” fee feed trough is needed to avoid an increase in feed n which good circulation in the concentration from evaporation. For special app a top-roller feed wrere the number of rolls is relat ed to the particular application and the material In general, this feeding used for pasty marerals such as starches the Feed is very avobile, rotating devives such as spray Feeds work best ions, single drum dryers use being handled methoxl is When (Fig. 5) sationDryer th Dryer wih Dyer with Faking and ching Dryer th Spray eed Bottom Roler Feed «Top Feed Rollers Machine withlp Fad ——~lain Dp Fed feet Bomadng oma = %) reosand Ete Q Ba ois Pecan S CY y h- owe) me oven | Dayar with Dryer with Double Dum Dryer wth Caner Double Drum 0 Dryer with ‘Top Roller Feed Sie Trough Feed FedBottom Discharge ‘with Genter Feed Top Role Feed Font 1 red Bree eos Feed gh AN on e eS) s © ¢ oP Tone = C ea : “ / - Fig.6 cee Feeding arangemens for Drum dryers’ feeding arrangements ate their Fora wider panic sive distribution users pi Se wae primary design variable (Fig. 6) Thedchagedmace Almost AlLPurpose Method i ig 6). Materials susceptible to thermal degradation ofien can be handled by spray drying due to rapid flash evaporation and accompanying cooling effet. ‘The continous method of operation slo lends itself to large outputs, and withthe right contol equipment, lower labor cost a8 wel Fundamentally, the spray drying process isa simple one — the feed material is atomized and Sprayed into a chamber with flowing hot ai Three basi feedatomiaing devices are wed exter sively: single-luid nozzle or presse type, the tworfluid nozae or pneumatic ype, and the cen- trfgl or spinning-dite pe Each singe lid noze produces a narrow spray Alera con offine particles. “Tonnage plants use multiple nor Showing (0) tal-form — 2les to get the desired feed rate, but the high pres type and(b) conceal sures employed (up to 8,000 psig) can cause cxes- Alternative configura "ype 7) sive wear, patclay with abrashe products ‘Spray Dryer Configurations eee sir iot —E ino conga inet OA Sonus Nox Nomttr treat rer route Prodvet Product Fa? cally prefer the two-uid nozzle when external mixing is part of the process. The feed fluid is pumped at about 25 psig to induce mobility, ‘while the secondary Aid is introduced at 50 ta 100 psig to produce the required atomization ‘These systems generally are imited to small-capac ity insallatons Centrifugal atomization of a uid achieves dis persion by accelerating the liquid to a higher speed when the feed liquor is pumped onto a spin ning disc. The system is used for small and large production volumes, with feed rates of between 2,000 and 100,000 Ib/hr being common. The nature ofthe spray-dryer chamiber's geome tay is stiety related to the method of atomization. For example, the inverted jet of a two-thid or pressure nozzle typically requires a tll-tower con: figuration, but the spray patern of the disc-rype atomizer necessitates a clinder-and-cone configu ration (Fig. 7) The product collection incorporated in spray drying installations are many and varied and con stitute a substantial portion of the total capital Jnvestment. In some cases it can be as high a8 20, 10.25% of the installed plan cos. Mechanical Dewatering. Generally, mechanical dewatering is less costly than thermal drying. While the spray dryer ‘exhibits high thermal efciences, itis often at a disadvantage relative to other drying systems because more water must be evaporated from the liquid feed. However, an APV comparison of deyers fora typical thixotropic material that can be preprocessed for drying in either a spray dryer or a band dryer shows that the continuous band dryer has a 20% installed cost advantage and the spray dryer has a 6% advantage in energy costs Ie is impossible to generalize when comparing dryer advantages, because the economic viabilityof a drying process ultimately depends on the cost per pound of the dried product. For example, in the case of the thixotropic material, the spray dryer had an evaporation rate of 14,000 Ib/>hr. The evaporation rate can be reduced to 6,000 1b/hr by filtering the feed stock to 50% solids. Plant and operational costs would reduce, because chamber diameter, thermal input, fan size, product collection system and required air volume all would be reduced. A band dryer or spin flash dryer may be required to handle the higher velocity Spray drying does have many advantages, par ticularly regarding the final product form, This is especially so when pressing-grade materials are required as they are in the production of ceramics and dust-free products, such as dye stuffs. With the introduction of new geometries and tech: niques, there will be farther drying developments in certain areas, such as food processing, and pro: duction of easily reconstituted powders, Tonnage Production The continuous rotary dryer, popular in the chemical and process industries, generally is asso: ed with tonnage production. As a result ofits ability to handle products with considerable size ‘arations, the dryer can be used fora wide range of materials Typical inlet temperatures for direct-fired dry rs, using oil, gas or coal fuels, is on the order of 1200 °F (649 °C), bur for some feed materials it may be as high as 1500 to 1600 °F (816 to 871 °C). When feed materials are thermosensitiv, steam heating from an indirect heat exchanger also is used extensively. There are two basic types of these dryers: direct heating and indirect heat ing, but variations exist (Fig 8) With direct heating, the combustion products are in intimate contact with the material t0 be died, With the indirect system, hot gases circu late around the dryer shell so that heat transfer is by conduction and radiation through the shell With the indirect-direct system, hot gases fist pass down a central tube coaxial with the dryer shell and return through the annular space bowen the tube and shell. With this thermally cffcient design, the material being cascaded in the annulus picks up heat from the gases and by conduction from direct contact with the central tube Mainly, rotary dryers are of two types: parallel and counter-current flow. With parallel flow, only high-moisture-content material comes into contact with the hot gases, resulting in higher ‘evaporative rates. Many thermoscasitive materials can be dried successfully by this method. It par ticularly lends iselto the handling of pasty mate: Rotary Dryers Direct Firing Heat In Out Parallel Flow Counter-Current Fiow 4) t Fig.8 { IndirectDirect Firing Indirect Firing Conduction Materials. —— Typical_rotary dryer arrangements (Fg. 8) Heat Flow ——p- Fixed-tube rotary dryer. Fig,rials, because the rapid Hashing off of moisture and surface drying limits the possibility of wall buildup or agglomera CCounter-current operation normally is used when low terminal-moisture con tent is required, In this arrangement, the high-temperature gases are brought into contact with the product immedi ely prior to discharge, when the final traces of moisture in the product must be driven off In both patallel- and counter-flow dryers, gas velocities can be sufficiently high to produce product entrainment, which makes them unsuitable for low density or fine-particle materials, such as carbon black. In such applications, the indirect fired conduetion-type dryer is more suitable, because the dryer shell usually is enclosed in a brick housing or ‘outer steel jacket into which the hot gases are introduced, entirely by conduction, conventional As heat trans is AKO IGN) HEATING Please answer all questions. {1 PLEASE START/CONTINUE MY FREE ‘SUBSCRIPTION To PROCESS WEATING! flighting and csscading of the material is not used. Ratter, the inside of the shell is fitted with smal lifters that gently turn the product while letting them maintain maximum contact with the heated shell Sceam-type indirectly heated dryers are particularly useful for processing fine particles or heat-sensitive materials, ‘Such dryers can have a fixed tube and be equipped with iffing fighes designed for cascading the product through a nest of square-section tubes or a central rotat ing tube nest. Figure 9 shows a fixed tube rotary dryer that normally has an clectrical vibrator fitted to the tube nest to eliminate the possibility of product bridging and loss of heat transfer sur face, Because the heat exchanger is posi tioned within the insulated shell, the air rejection rate is extremely low and ther ‘mal efficiencies are high. In general, this design is suitaole only for freelowing materials ‘A.considerable amount of research has FREE SUBSCRIPTION For your own FREE copy of Process Heating — complete this form and MAIL TODAY! 3.00 ou aren, pen, nscomune wo /on rene Padots Mentha QUEM OR SOMPOMOHTET owes at (Oechow oo 2:3 copeet/Coar re. 3 romano tngreengiore 20 hn ogmome ven 3 Loyeabyerersrne 9 Posasne ES racetn mas coment HO Kernen mam BO Oye ‘frat euifed subsorbas he US, Canada and Mex, ‘Sox eases sopra allio: PH Magazine, P.0. Box 1019, Pearl River, NY 10965 or FAXihisform10313/3620317. been done on the di ‘ous types of lin velopment of vari lights to produce a continous curtain of material over the cross section of the dryer shell, Other special configurations involve cruciform arrangements to produce a labyrinth path, sence time when itis necessary ‘The object is to give longep res: Stewart Gibson isa product manager ofthe dryer group at APV. Separation Teebmolegits Inc, Tonawanda, NY. mm 1 comtte uae Satins