Experimental Investigation on Flow and Drying Characteristics of Impinging Stream Drying

Based on the experimental investigation of one-stage semi-circular impinging stream drying, the experiments with the two-stage semi-circular, as well as the vertical and semi-circular combined impinging stream drying were conducted. The variations of system pressure drop, the mean residence time of particles with the mass flow-rate ratio and air velocity etc, were determined. The influences of inlet air temperature, mass flow-rate ratio, initial moisture content of particles and air velocity etc. on drying characteristics were also studied. The results indicate that the vertical and semi-circular combined impinging stream drying can make full use of the advantages of both the vertical and semi-circular impinging stream drying. Reasonable mass flow-rate ratio, air velocity, and higher inlet air temperature should be used for less energy consumption and cost during drying process.

Effects of Modulation Methods on the Drying Characteristics and Nutritional Quality of Medicago sativa Hay

Two-year-old Medicago sativa at budding initial stage was taken as research materials.Five methods were used to make green hay,including flatting stems ＋ spraying 2.5% K2CO3,flatting stems,sun curing,drying in shade and drying under 105 ℃ condition（CK）.Besides,effects of different green hay making methods on dry characteristics and nutritional quality of M.sativa green hay were studied,and a comprehensive evaluation of M.sativa green hays was conducted.Results showed that,except CK,the drying rates in other making methods were all fast at first,and then slow down.Both of drying under 105 ℃ condition and flatting stems ＋ spraying K2CO3 could speed up drying rate and reduce nutritional losses of green hay.Sun curing could also speed up drying rate,but it could not maintain the quality of green hay.The results of Grey Relational Analysis on five green hay making methods indicated that CK had the best comprehensive performance,followed by green hays made by flatting stems ＋ spraying K2CO3.Therefore,flatting stems ＋ spraying K2CO3 was a quick and easy method to make green hay,and it was worth to be recommended in practical production.

Effects of air movement in a hot air dryer on the drying characteristics of colored potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) using computational fluid dynamics

The flow fields of hot air in the dryer for drying colored potatoes of which characteristics are highly sensitive to the temperature were simulated using computational fluid dynamics(CFD)simulation.The local air velocity decreased as the distance from the flow inlet increased.The mass and heat transfer coefficients increased from 0.666×10^(-2) m/s to 1.711×10^(-2) m/s,and 6.555 W/(m^(2)·K)to 16.834 W/(m^(2)·K),respectively,as the air velocity increased from 0.207 m/s to 1.567 m/s at 60°C.The drying simulation model using the heat and mass transfer model made accurate predictions.The thermal properties of colored potato,such as the thermal conductivity and specific heat,decreased significantly from 0.440 W/(m·K)to 0.034 W/(m·K)and 3906.45 J/(kg·K)to 2198.52 J/(kg·K),respectively,as the moisture content decreased from 78% to 5%.With the variable thermal and physical properties,the heat transfer simulation model made accurate predictions of the hot-air drying characteristics for the colored potatoes,and the RMSE values for all cases were(1.85±0.27)℃.

Study of Kinetic Characteristics for Drying Rice Husk

Rice husk (biomass fuel) samples have been dried in drying oven and a series of drying curve for illustrating moisture migration of rice husk have been obtained. It is first research for rice husk drying,and it can provide reference of fuel processing for different boilers which require rice husk with various water contents. In this paper,we apply Page equation to reflect the drying process and obtain drying characteristic curve,then analyze the drying law. Kinetic analysis of the results of moisture migration test has been done,after which, effective moisture diffusion coefficient,activation energy and drying kinetic equation of rice husk samples are obtained in test temperature range (80 - 130 ℃) . And these results show specific influence law of temperature for effective moisture diffusion coefficient.

Innovative superheated steam impingement blanching(SSIB)enhances drying rate and quality attributes of line pepper

Blanching is an essential step before processing of agricultural products as it can inactivate enzymes that cause undesirable changes.In current work the effects of superheated steam impingement blanching(SSIB)time and temperature on drying characteristics and red pigments content of line pepper were investigated.Results showed that after a 3-min SSIB pretreatment at 110℃ the pepper epidermis covered with wax coat was damaged.In addition,the drying time was extensively decreased and the loss of red pigments of dried products was reduced.Results showed that the whole drying process took place in the falling rate period,which indicated that diffusion was the dominant physical mechanism governing moisture movement in the samples.Therefore,the second Fick’s law of diffusion was used to determine the effective moisture diffusivity(Deff)of line pepper,which increased from 1.193×10^-10 to 3.128×10^-10 m^2/s with increasing of the drying temperature and air velocity.The drying activation energy(Ea)of pretreated samples was 34.31 kJ/mol,which decreased by 3% compared with the non-pretreatment group.The findings of this work indicate that SSIB is very promising pretreatment technique as it not only enhances drying process but also improves bioactive substance preservation of red pepper.

Drying kinetics of technical specified rubber

This paper reports the study of crumb rubber drying in different experimental designs.It is important to understand the characteristics of crumb rubber drying in order to formulate a better drying strategy that could give higher energy efficiency.Four experiments were carried out with constant heat at maximum 100℃ and a stainless steel container was used to hold the sample of crumb rubber under study.The surface temperature profile of the rubber was investigated using two types of drying methods,normal hot air drying and vacuum drying.It was found that when the sample was dried,external surface temperature for drying with hot air dryer was higher than vacuum dryer.The results showed the evolution of temperature profile was not in good agreement with the prediction which revealed that there was no temperature gradient within the drying samples.The energy consumption for vacuum drying was higher compared to hot air drying,where there was a difference of 0.7079 MJ/kg H2O evaporated for drying temperature at 100℃.The best fit model generated from the experimental data was the modified Henderson and Pabis model and the highest effective diffusivity obtained was 5.243×10^-9m^2/s heating by vacuum oven at 90℃ under zero atmospheric pressure.