Table of Contents

Introduction
Understanding Drying Processes
Case Study 1: Improved Product Quality by Humidity Drying
Case Study 2: High Efficiency Drying Through Superheated Steam Drying
Summary

Introduction
Drying is a process that plays a vital role in almost all industry sectors, including
pharmaceutical, food, ceramics, chemical, semiconductors and construction. This
process always deals with two main criteria, maintaining the product quality and
maximizing the product efficiency. However, in most cases, a competent drying
process often needs a high temperature in order to promote the evaporation of the
water or any solvent from the product.

The product quality can be affected by harsh thermal conditions, which could lead to
distortion and cracks in ceramic products, or cause deactivation of vital ingredients
or undesired phase transitions for pharmaceutical and food products, etc. It is
however possible to maximize product quality by selecting a moderate temperature,
which leads to low process efficiency, i.e. prolonging the drying cycles. This problem
can be solved by either by the proper selection of dryer types/ drying methods or the
optimization of the drying profile.

A variety of drying techniques is available, each with its own disadvantages and
advantages. These include conventional drying (with controlled airflow), vacuum
drying, humidity drying, freeze drying, microwave drying and superheated steam
drying (also known as R-O2 drying).

Understanding Drying Processes

The drying process majorly depends on the composition, shape and type of product.
However, in general, there are two stages throughout the process –the falling rate
drying stage and the constant rate drying stage. Considering drying of a ceramic
product as an example, the product is at first saturated with water and, as shown in
Figure 1, the solid particles are surrounded by a constant water phase. A water layer
is also present on the product surface.

When the drying process starts, evaporation of water occurs from the product
surface and the adjacent air is cooled to the “wet bulb” temperature in a rapid
manner. This results in a large temperature difference between the surrounding air
and the product surface, leading to rapid water evaporation. During this stage, the
drying rate is not influenced by the presence of the solid, hence it is also known as
the constant rate drying stage. During this phase, the removal of the water phase
between the particles results in the corresponding equal volume shrinkage of the
product.

Uniform drying needs water from the interior to flow through the pore system of the
product in order replace the water lost through evaporation at the surface. In a
number of ceramic products, the pore system is made up of many fine diameter
passages, which limits the flow of water. As a result, a moisture gradient is produced
across the product, i.e. the center of the product has a greater moisture content
compared to the surface.

If excessive drying rates are attempted, the slower drying areas will experience
significant shrinkage after the surface areas have become rigid, and limit the
shrinkage of other areas. This would cause the slower drying areas to develop
cracks and tensile stresses.
 Figure 1. Schematic of the condition of the ceramic product before drying.

The situation changes when sufficient water is removed and the solid particles are in
contact with each other; this is called the product’s leather hard point. When the solid
particles in the product are in contact, shrinkage efficiently stops and the falling rate
drying stage begins, as shown in Figure 2. At this stage, a moderately dry layer
develops on the surface, where the pores are filled with water vapor or air, and the
residual water in the center of the product has to diffuse out via the pore system. As
a result, the drying usually progresses very slowly.

Figure 2. Schematic of the condition of the ceramic product at the leather hard point.

To achieve an efficient and safe drying process for ceramic products, Manufacturers
should try to:
  Maintain a high humidity and comparatively low temperature in the initial
drying stage, in order to stimulate a controlled and slow drying rate for the
product
 Increase the heat input into the product while the humidity is high. This will aid
the diffusion of water out of the piece once the leather hard point is reached
 In the final stage of drying, maintain as high a temperature as possible,
consistent with a safe drying rate, but allow the humidity to be as low as
possible.

Unfortunately, based on the shape, quantity and composition of the products, not all
drying techniques* are capable of fulfilling the aforementioned principles. As a result,
if an improper drying process is performed, problems can occur such as: damage to
the dryer and the product through the formation of condensation, wet products and
surface cracking via edge and body cracking.

The following case studies outline scenarios where optimizing the drying process
has resulted in significant advantages for Manufacturers.

Case Study 1: Improved Product Quality by

Humidity Drying
A tableware Manufacturer discovered that its products experienced high product loss
after drying using an intermittent gas heated dryer. By monitoring the humidity and
temperature throughout the drying process, it was identified that the problem
originated from the wrong drying profile that was being used in the preliminary stage
of drying, as shown in Figure 3. It was found that, during the initial 18 hours of
drying, the temperature steadily increased from 30 °C to 60 °C, while the humidity
decreased dramatically from 95% to 70% within the first 30 minutes of drying and
then slowly reduced to 20% by the end of the cycle.

An optimized drying cycle is recommended after on-site drying trials, as shown in

Figure 4. The drying rate could be slowed down by providing high humidity in the
initial stages, preventing the product from distorting and cracking. The total drying
time was reduced and the diffusion rate of residual moisture was increased by
increasing the temperature after reaching the leather hard point.
Case Study 2: High Efficiency Drying Through
Superheated Steam Drying
For the drying of special shaped bricks, through a conventional drying approach, the
best previous practice to allow safe drying needed 48–60 hours. However, it was
discovered that by using superheated steam drying, this was reduced to 15–24
hours. Drying energy consumption was reduced from a typical value of 3150 MJ per
1000 bricks in the conventional dryer, to 2415 MJ per 1000 bricks in the superheated
steam system. A significant increase in the product quality was also recorded after
drying.

In the manufacture of vitreous china, the drying process takes at least 14 hours
when a modern conventional dryer is used and the product also needs several hours
standing time in the casting shop in order to undergo initial drying, before being
transferred to the dryer. Other potential drying techniques were examined in order to
increase drying efficiency and it was found that by using a superheated steam dryer,
it was possible to dry most products in 2.5 hours without having to be held in the
casting shop. This decreases energy consumption in the drying process and the total
production time, thus significantly increasing production efficiency.

Figure 3. Temperature – humidity profile recorded during drying.

 Figure 4. Optimized drying process to improve the tableware quality.

Summary
Drying may appear to be a simple process but, in practice, perfecting the process is
not. Each drying technique has its pros and cons for the drying of certain products.
Finding the best drying approach and its respective heating profile could lead to
savings for Manufacturers in terms of reducing energy use and scrap (due to defects
caused by the drying process). A more controlled and homogeneous drying process
will also be able to increase overall productivity by growing throughput and working
capital.

* The pros and cons of varied drying techniques can be found in Lucideon’s
whitepaper – “The Value of Drying - Choosing the Right Equipment and Methods”.

This information has been sourced, reviewed and adapted from materials provided
by Lucideon