TG-DSC method applied to drying characteristics and heat requirement of cotton stalk during drying

Drying characteristics of cotton stalk were investigated at four temperatures (60, 80, 100 and 120?°C) using a simultaneous thermal analyzer (TG-DSC). Heat requirements of cotton stalk during drying were calculated ranging from 189 to 406?kJ/kg. Consequently, Midilli-Kucuk model showed the best fit to experimental drying data. The values of effective diffusivity ranged from 4.38?×?10^?9 to 8.15?×?10^?9?m²/s, and the activation energy was calculated to be 11.6?kJ/mol.     

Design of an experimental set up for convective drying: experimental studies at different drying temperature

An experimental setup is designed to investigate the convective drying of moist object experimentally. All the design data, components of setup, materials and specifications are presented. Transient moisture content of a rectangular shaped potato slice (4 × 2 × 2 cm) is measured at different air temperatures of 40, 50, 60 and 70 °C with an air velocity of 2 m/s. Two different drying rate periods are observed. Results are compared with available results from literature.     

Hydrodynamics of a drying multicomponent liquid droplet

Using microscopy methods on light and dark fields, the flow patterns developing in drying droplets of pure transparent liquids, solutions, and suspensions of micro- and nanoparticles are investigated. The flow patterns inside drying droplets of real, colloid, and mixed solutions containing nanoand microparticles-markers are studied by means of video and photo registration of microscopic images. The analysis of particle displacements indicates the existence of a global convective flow which forms a toroidal circulation with an ascending jet at the droplet center. The typical types of the structures depending on the droplet composition are distinguished. It is shown that the intensity of the flow inside the droplet affects the surface convection. The effect of the hydrodynamic flow on the transport of a substance, forming the dry-deposit texture, is studied.     

Theoretical models of vegetable drying by convection

The results of experiments are often used to model empirical phenomena. However, the term model is applied in various meanings. A model is usually treated as an abstract formal structure that can replace a material system considered as original, in respect to the aim of modeling. Certain formal structures may be treated as theoretical models of empirical phenomena. On the other hand, a material system can also be referred to as a model of an abstract system, e.g., a set of equations or a hypothesis. Such a material system, if it is a distinct empirical interpretation of the language of a given theory, is then called a real model. Both kinds of models are applied in drying technology, but the second one is more inventive. The mathematical structures are treated as empirical formulae or as theoretical models properly derived from true or legitimated promises of a given theory. The advantages of some mathematical theoretical models of drying processes versus empirical formulae are discussed. The creation of new mathematical theoretical models of convection drying kinetics of some shrinking solids is presented and analyzed. One of the above models was also hypothetically suggested for modeling the drying of cut vegetables in a fluidized-bed. Despite its initial acceptance due to peer empirical justification on cut carrots and celery, it still requires further theoretical analysis. Other models indicated here are theoretical models of vegetable drying in a tunnel drier. These models are created by deduction from laws of heat and mass transfer theory and its basic equations. XI Polish Drying Symposium, Poznań, Poland, 13–16 September 2005.     

Concentration profiles in drying cylindrical filaments

We analyze theoretically the drying of cylindrical filaments. For modelling the mass transfer on the gas side of the liquid-gas interface of the shrinking circular cylindrical filament, we apply the model of Abramzon and Sirignano, which was originally developed for spherical geometry. As a consequence of mass transfer at constant Sherwood number, we obtain a d²-law for the shrinkage of the cylinder as in the case of the spherical geometry, which expresses that the cross-sectional area of the cylinder shrinks at a constant rate with time. For this situation, the diffusion equation for the liquid phase mixture components becomes separable upon transformation into similarity coordinates and is solved analytically to obtain the concentration profiles inside the filament as functions of time. The dependency of the profiles on the radial coordinate is determined by a series of Kummer’s functions. Applying this result, we study the evolution of the concentration profiles in the liquid phase with time as dependent on a parameter given as the ratio of rate of shrinkage of the cross-sectional area of the cylinder to liquid-phase diffusion coefficient, which was identified as relevant for the shape of the concentration profiles formed in the liquid during the drying process. As an example, we present computed results for the constant evaporation rate regime in the dry-spinning process of a polyvinyl-alcohol (PVA)-water system. Comparison of our analytical results with full numerical solutions of the diffusion equation from the literature, achieved with concentration-dependent diffusion coefficient, reveals very good agreement.     

On the spray drying of uniform functional microparticles

Spray drying is a typical method to produce particles in dry powder forms at industrial scale. Most spray-dried products often show a wide range of particle properties even within the same batch. At Monash University, we utilise a microfluidic spray drying approach to generate uniform microparticles with tightly controlled characteristics and sizes in a scalable, almost waste-free process. The technique is useful to correlate the effects of formulation and spray drying conditions on the properties of spray-dried particles, and can be used to test new formulations for targeted applications such as encapsulation and release of active ingredients. The synthesis route can be applied to other self-assembling systems, including mesoporous, crystalline, and hierarchically structured microparticles. As spray drying is commonly used in commercial scales, the understanding of how functional particles are formed in relation to formulations and process conditions could assist in developing a cost effective, energy and material-efficient route to produce powders with better properties and ease of handling for more advanced applications such as selective adsorption and bio-separation.     

On the spray drying of uniform functional microparticles

Spray drying is a typical method to produce particles in dry powder forms at industrial scale.Most spray-dried products often show a wide range of particle properties even within the same batch.At Monash University,we utilise a microfluidic spray drying approach to generate uniform microparticles with tightly controlled characteristics and sizes in a scalable,almost waste-free process.The technique is useful to correlate the effects of formulation and spray drying conditions on the properties of spray-dried particles,and can be used to test new formulations for targeted applications such as encapsulation and release of active ingredients.The synthesis route can be applied to other self-assembling systems,including mesoporous,crystalline,and hierarchically structured microparticles.As spray drying is commonly used in commercial scales,the understanding of how functional particles are formed in relation to formulations and process conditions could assist in developing a cost effective,energy and material-efficient route to produce powders with better properties and ease of handling for more advanced applications such as selective adsorption and bio-separation.     

Moisture transfer analysis during drying of slab woods

This article presents an analytical technique for determining the moisture diffusivities and moisture transfer coefficients for slab shaped woods subjects to drying process. The analysis of transient moisture diffusion is carried out on the basis of two important practical criteria: 0.1<Bi<100 and Bi>100. The drying coefficients and lag factors are defined for wood-drying applications and incorporated into the models. In order to verify the present models, the model results are compared with experimental measurements taken from the literature and good agreement was found. Results show that the technique presented here is capable of determining the moisture diffusivities and moisture transfer coefficients for slab woods in a simple and accurate manner for practical applications and will be beneficial to the relevant wood␣drying industries. This approach can be extended to␣different wood products of regular and irregular shapes. Received on 23 January 1998     

An approximate analysis of drying operation of wet fabric

This study describes an approximate theoretical analysis of drying a moving wet fabric exposed to constant radiant heat and hot air blown normal to its surface. By considering the problem as a combination of heat and mass transfer processes, the governing dimensionless groups are identified and their influence on the residence time is established. These groups are then utilized in the prediction of either the residence time or the total length of travel needed to achieve a specific drying level of the fabric.     

Convective and radiant drying of a polymer aqueous solution

The aim of this work is to minimize the drying time of a polymer aqueous solution placed into a Petri dish while respecting strict constraints. Several experiments performed in a laboratory setup have shown the interest of a drying combining convective and infrared radiation as long as irradiation is correctly controlled. In this way, a one dimensional liquid diffusion model taking into account the product shrinkage was developed. Model predictions are in good adequacy to mass and temperature experimental data.     

Hot-air drying of purslane (Portulaca oleracea L.)

Drying characteristics of purslane was experimentally studied in a cabinet dryer. The experimental drying data were fitted best to Modified Henderson and Pabis and Midilli et al. models apart from other models to predict the drying kinetics. The effective moisture diffusivity varied from 1.12 × 10^?9 to 3.60 × 10^?9 m²/s over the temperature range studied and activation energy was 53.65 kJ/mol.     

Multiscale aspects of heat and mass transfer during drying

The macroscopic formulation of coupled heat and mass transfer has been widely used during the past two decades to model and simulate the drying of one single piece of product, including the case of internal vaporization. However, more often than expected, the macroscopic approach fails and several scales have to be considered at the same time. This paper is devoted to multiscale approaches to transfer in porous media, with particular attention to drying. The change of scale, namely homogenization, is presented first and used as a generic approach able to supply parameter values to the macroscopic formulation. The need for a real multiscale approach is then exemplified by some experimental observations. Such an approach is required as soon as thermodynamic equilibrium is not ensured at the microscopic scale. A stepwise presentation is proposed to formulate such situations.     

Effect of wetting and drying on soil physical properties

Agricultural soils are subject to seasonal wetting and drying cycles. Effect of drying stress, as influenced by one cycle of wetting and drying, on physical properties of a clay–loam soil was investigated in the laboratory. The physical properties studied were soil bulk density, cone penetration resistance, shear strength, adhesion and aggregate size and stability. Three drying stress treatments were made by wetting air-dried soil of initial moisture content of 12% (on dry weight basis) to three different higher moisture contents, namely 27, 33 and 40%, and then drying each of them back to their original moisture content of 12%. Thus, the soil was subjected to three different degrees of drying stress. The results showed that the soil strength indicated by cone penetration resistance and cohesion, and soil aggregate size, increased with the degree of drying stress. However, the soil bulk density did not change significantly with the drying stress.     

A one dimensional analysis of convective drying of porous materials

A one-dimensional finite element analysis has been carried out to study temperature and moisture variation of porous materials during convective drying. The predicted results for brick and mortar with constant transport properties agree with available experimental data. Henderson’s modified equation has been used to obtain the desorption data for the materials.     

Modeling of vacuum desorption of multicomponent moisture in freeze drying

A mathematical model of multicomponent vacuum desorption, which occurs in the vacuum freeze drying process has been developed. Drying with conductive heating and constant contact surface temperature was considered. Pressure drop in the layer of the material to be dried was taken into account in the model formulation and process simulation. Equilibrium moisture content for pure water, toluene, and m-xylene and their two- and three-component mixtures on zeolite DAY 20F were described by means of the multitemperature extended Langmuir isotherm equation. Model equations were solved by the numerical method of lines. Moisture content and temperature distributions within the drying material were predicted from the model as a function of drying time.     

Thin-layer drying characteristics of sweet potato slices and mathematical modelling

The effect of blanching and drying temperature (50, 60 and 70°C) on drying kinetics and rehydration ratio of sweet potatoes was investigated. It was observed that both the drying temperature and blanching affected the drying time and rehydration ratio. The logarithmic model showed the best fit to experimental drying data. The values of effective moisture diffusivity and activation energy ranged from 9.32 × 10⁻¹¹ to 1.75 × 10⁻¹⁰ m²/s, and 22.7–23.2 kJ/mol, respectively.     

Estimates of backwater and drying levels in a hydrodynamic model

The form of an irrigation system is determined from the condition of an extremal value of the backwater or water-table lowering subject to isoperimetric constraints. The unknown functionals and equations of the extremals are written down in explicit form on the basis of the method of Lagrangian multipliers. Seepage in the region of irrigation systems can have both a negative effect on the adjacent territory (water-table elevation, swamping, salination near large canals and reservoirs) and improve the water regime of the soil (regulation of the drying norms by drainage). From the practical point of view, it is important to know how to find the distortions of the natural level of ground water introduced by such systems, and also to determine the influence of the resulting flows on artificial (foundations, screens to prevent seepage) and natural (troughs, slopes) objects. For known hydrogeological conditions, regimes of pressure variation, and disposition of the supply and discharge regions, these problems can be solved either in the framework of a hydraulic [1] or hydrodynamic [2] flow model. In this paper, a hydrodynamic model is used to estimate the raising of the ground-water level due to seepage from a channel, its lowering by a drain, and the seepage pressure force on the foundation near a reservoir. It is important that these estimates are obtained by solving problems of constructive type, i.e., problems in which the arrangement of the system (supply, water receiving, or topping-up contour) is not specified in advance but is found as an extremal of an isoperimetric problem.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 2, pp. 82–90, March–April, 1991.     

Modification of ADP extinguishing powder by siliconization in spray drying

Superfine spherical fire-extinguishing powder, ammonium dihydrogen phosphate (ADP, NH₄H₂PO₄), was prepared by spray drying and modified in situ with methyl hydrogen silicone oil (MHSO) emulsion and the fluorinated surfactant FK-510. The influences of the MHSO mass ratio on the hydrophobicity, surface composition, surface morphology, dispersion and particle-size distribution of the NH₄H₂PO₄ were studied, and the influence of the drying air temperature on the decomposition of the NH₄H₂PO₄ was also researched. The results indicate that the MHSO and FK-510 congregate on the particle surfaces and then form a hydrophobic shell. This shell improves the particle hydrophobicity and leads to a fine dispersion of the particles. During the process of preparing the precursor solution, 3 wt% (based on the weight of NH₄H₂PO₄) was chosen as the optimum value of the MHSO mass ratio. During the spray drying, a low absolute humidity of the air should be maintained, and it is very important to keep the exit-air temperature below 100 °C to avoid decomposition.