● ● Drying time is long (12 to 48 h)
● Drying for chemical, food, pharmaceutical,
plastic, timber, paper etc
MODULE 5
3. Fluidized-bed Dryers
Drying ● Have an appearance of a boiling liquid, has
● Process of removing water or other liquid from a bubbles which rise and appear to burst
solid-liquid mixture to produce a dry solid. ● Drying for chemical, pharmaceutical, food, dairy,
● Drying can be classified into: direct (convection), indirect metallurgical, dyes etc
(conduction), radiant (radiation), dielectric (microwave)
drying 4. Freeze Dryers
● Extreme form of vacuum drying in which water
Drying Endpoint or other solvent is frozen and drying takes place
● The product temperature starts to rise signalling that the by subliming the solid phase.
desired moisture content has been reached ● Drying for food dairy, pet food, starters and
cultures, pharmaceuticals, research, document
recovery, floral
TYPES OF DRYERS
5. Microwave Vacuum Dryers
1. Adiabatic Dryers
● Utilized high-frequency radio with frequency
● Dry solids by direct contact with gases
from 300 to 30,000 MHz
METHODS
CONTINUOUS DRYERS
Used where large production is required.
A. Cross Circulation - gases are blown across the
surface 1. Spray Dryers
B. Through-circulation - blown through a bed of ● Divided into four sections: atomization of the
stationary solids fluid, mixing of the droplets, drying, and removal
C. Rotary Dryers - solids are slowly dropped thru small and collection of the dry particles
moving downstream ● Drying for food processing, pharmaceuticals,
D. Fluidized-bed Dryers - blown through a bed of solids industrial
E. Flash Dryers - solids are introduced into a
high-velocity hot gas stream 2. Rotary Dryers
● Mainly used for chemical and mineral industry
● Consists of metal cylinder with internal flights or
louvers
2. Non-Adiabatic Dryers ● Drying for mineral industry and food industry
● Use an indirect method to remove liquid from
solid materials by applying heat through a metal 3. Drum Dryers
wall that separates the heat transfer medium ● Also called as roller dryer
from the product ● Materials to be dried are usually slurry or
● Known as conductive dryers viscous in nature
● Flexible in nature
CLASSIFICATION OF DRYERS ● Pressure: 29 to 115 psi
BATCH DRYERS ● Rotation Speed: 2 to 30 rpm
Common in chemical and pharmaceutical industries ● Width: 0.05 to 0.5 mm
1. Tray Dryers ● Ratio of Drum Rotation to Speed: 1 to 5
● Operates by passing hot air over the surface of ● Drying for food and dairy, chemical and
a wet solid pharmaceuticals
● Simplest and least expensive
● Most widely used in food and pharmaceuticals SAFETY RISKS AND PROCEDURES
● Low initial cost and versatility
● Suitable for drying chilies, spices, papads, Common Hazards of Drying Operations:
potato chips, onions etc 1. Fuel Explosions
● Drying pharmaceuticals, chemicals, powder, 2. Release of Flammable Vapors/Solvents and organic heat
granules, plastic granules transfer fluids
3. Accumulation of materials
2. Vacuum Dryers 4. Overheating leading to spontaneous heating and
● Offer low-temperature drying of thermolabile autoignition of the solid being processes
materials or recovery of solvents from a bed 5. Sparks
● Heat is supplied by passing steam or hot water 6. Dust fire or explosions
thru hollow shelves 7. Discharge of hot product to downstream processes or
storage
Prevention and Control of Fires and Explosions in
Direct-fired Dryers
1. Combustion and makeup air must be free from
combustible materials.
2. The combustion burner should be cleaned regularly and
operated in a correct air/fuel ratio
3. In specific types of applications, drying equipment may
need to be designed for containment or with explosion
protection/prevention systems
Prevention and Control of Fires and Explosions Caused
by Self-Heating
1. Self-heating is prevented by controlling the powder
residence time in the dryer.
2. Equipment should be designed to eliminate any blind
spaces or areas where product can accumulate for
extended periods of time.
3. Inspection and cleaning frequencies should be
established to ensure unplanned accumulations of the
materials do not occur inside of equipment.
4. When powders are being stored after drying, the storage
temperature must not exceed the self-heating onset
temperature.
5. Where ignition-sensitive powders are being dried,
consider installing CO sensors to detect the onset
combustion.
6. Consider installing fixed fire protection inside of drying
equipment prone to fires
7. In equipment where the concentration of the dust cloud
can exceed the minimum explosible concentration,
equipment may need to be designed for containment or
explosion protection/prevention.
Prevention and Control of Fires and Explosions Caused
by Electrostatic Ignition
1. All conductive components inside the drying equipment
must be grounded
2. MIE data should be obtained for the product being dried
3. Drying of powder with hazardous levels of electrostatic
charging inside the dryer is unavoidable
4. A process hazard assessment should always be
performed when new drying equipment is commissioned
or when changes are made to the drying process.
1.
