Mathematical model and numerical investigation of the influence of spray drying parameters on granule sizes of mold powder

In this work,the formation mechanism of the droplet-to-granule was investigated in detail based on mold powder manufacturing.A specific mathematical model of two-stage spray drying was established to describe droplet and granule motion,heat and mass transfer,and granule morphology during spray drying.Then,the relationships between spray drying parameters(inlet temperature,atomization pres-sure,slurry mass flow rate)and the properties of the drying tower(temperature and velocity fields)and mold powder granules(temperature,evaporation rates,moisture content,and diameter)were simulated and calculated using ANSYS/Fluent software.To ensure that the granule size of mold powder was controlled within the ideal range(0.2-0.6 mm)for producing granules with appropriate mechanical and metallurgical properties,the following optimum spray drying parameters were chosen based on the results of the numerical simulation:inlet temperatures,873 K;slurry atomization pressure,1.8 MPa;slurry mass flow rate,0.05 kg s-1.Among these parameters,the slurry mass flow rate has the most significant effect on granule size.

The effects of grain texture and phenotypic traits on the thin-layer drying rate in maize(Zea mays L.) inbred lines

To explore the relation of maize grain texture and phenotypic traits with grain thin-layer drying rate,we observed the ultra-structure of maize grain,and tested three traits about the maize grain texture and four phenotypic traits.The vitreous part percentage was different（P〈0.05） among different maize inbred lines.There was a significant relationship between the drying rate with grain texture and phenotypic traits.Main factors that influenced the drying rate were different during different drying stages.New results observed that empirical constants（k and N） in drying equation were different for seed of the 30 inbred lines of maize.The k of simplified diffusion equation and N of page equation were significantly influenced by both grain texture and phenotypic traits.These results could be used as guideline parameters for drying maize seeds having different grain characteristics during different drying stages.

Optimization of process conditions for drying of catfish(Clarias gariepinus)using Response Surface Methodology(RSM)

Drying is applied to lower the moisture content of fish to a level that can prevent the growth of mould and infestation of micro-organism and thus minimizes microbial degradation.The goal of this work was to optimize the process conditions during electrical oven drying of catfish.Moisture content(MC)was quantitatively investigated during the drying process of catfish sizes using response surface methodology(RSM)to obtain minimum moisture content.The independent process variables for the drying process were temperature(50–70◦C),product thickness(10–20 mm),salt concentration(0–20%)and drying time(480–600 min.).Two factorial interaction(2FI)regression model describing the effects of independent drying process variables on the moisture content was developed.The effects of temperature and drying time were more pronounced for MC than the thickness and salt concentration.The optimum conditions were found to be temperature=63.43◦C,product thickness=14.81 mm,salt concentration=9.07%and drying time=600 min.At these optimum conditions,moisture content was found to be 2.64%w.b.Validation of experimental results with the empirical model was evaluated using coefficient of correlation(R2)which was found for the model equation as,R2=0.994.