A Computational Heat Transfer and Optimization Study of Drying of Peas and Rice in a Rotary Dryer

Author(s):  
Atinder Pal Singh ◽  
P. S. Ghoshdastidar

Abstract The paper reports a numerical simulation study of drying of peas and rice grains in a rotary dryer with superheated steam, dry air, and humid air (20%, 40%, 60% and 80% moisture content by volume) at 1 bar as the drying media. The initial water contents in peas and rice grains are 75% and 13% (by weight), respectively. The thermal model includes turbulent convection heat transfer from the gas to the refractory wall and solids, radiation exchange among the gas, refractory wall and the solid surface, conduction in the refractory wall, and mass and energy balances of the gas and the solids. In the absence of experimental data of food drying, the present model has been satisfactorily validated with the experimental and numerical results reported in Sass (1967, Sass, A., “Simulation of Heat-Transfer Phenomena in a Rotary Kiln”, Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Process Design and Development, 6(4), pp. 532–535) for iron ore and cement. It is found that for superheated steam there is an optimum kiln inner diameter at which the predicted kiln length is the highest. For dry air, the predicted kiln length monotonically decreases with a decrease in kiln inner diameter. A detailed parametric study lent a good physical insight into the drying process. An optimization study has been conducted for superheated steam as the drying medium using the Univariate Search method to minimize the length of the kiln with an upper limit on the inlet gas temperature as the constraint.

Author(s):  
P. S. Ghoshdastidar ◽  
Ankit Agarwal

The present work reports a computer simulation and optimization study of heat transfer in a rotary kiln used for drying and preheating wood chips with superheated steam at 1 bar. A rotary kiln employed for drying and preheating wet solids consists of a refractory lined cylindrical shell mounted at a slight incline from the horizontal plane. The kiln is slowly rotated about its longitudinal axis. Wet solids are fed into the upper end of the cylinder, and during the process, they are dried and heated by the counter-current flow of the hot gas. Finally, it is transferred to the lower end, where it reaches the desired temperature and is discharged. The heat transfer model includes radiation exchange among hot gas, refractory wall and the solid surface, transient conduction in the refractory wall, and mass and energy balances of the hot gas and solids. A finite-difference based computational heat transfer approach is used. A univariate search method has been used to obtain the minimum kiln length with respect to various kiln operating parameters subject to a constraint on the inlet gas temperature. The parametric study lent a good insight into the physics of the drying process in a rotary kiln. The optimization study reveals that for the same predicted kiln length, lower inlet steam temperature can be used, which will result in saving of energy cost.


Author(s):  
Koustubh Sinhal ◽  
P. S. Ghoshdastidar ◽  
Bhaskar Dasgupta

The present work reports a computer simulation study of heat transfer in a rotary kiln used for drying and preheating food products such as fruits and vegetables with superheated steam at 1 bar. The heat transfer model includes radiation exchange among the superheated steam, refractory wall and the solid surface, conduction in the refractory wall, and the mass and energy balances of the steam and solids. Finite-difference techniques are used, and the steady state thermal conditions are assumed. The false transient approach is used to solve the wall conduction equation. The solution is initiated at the inlet of the kiln, and proceeds to the exit. The output data consist of distributions of the refractory wall temperature, solid temperature, steam temperature, and the total kiln length. The inlet of the kiln is the outlet of the gas (superheated steam), since the gas flow is countercurrent to the solid. Thus, for a fixed solid and gas temperature at the kiln inlet, the program predicts the inlet temperature of the gas (i.e. at the kiln exit) in order to achieve the specified exit temperature. In the absence of experimental results for food drying in a rotary kiln, the present model has been satisfactorily validated against numerical results of Sass [1] for drying of wet iron ore in a rotary kiln. The results are presented for drying of apple and carrot pieces. A detailed parametric study indicates that the influence of controlling parameters such as percent water content (with respect to dry solids), solids flow rate, gas flow rate, kiln inclination angle and the rotational speed of the kiln on the axial solids and gas temperature profiles and the total predicted kiln length is appreciable. The study reveals that a good design of a rotary kiln requires medium gas flow rate, small angle of inclination and low rotational speed of the kiln.


Author(s):  
Koustubh Sinhal ◽  
P. S. Ghoshdastidar ◽  
Bhaskar Dasgupta

The present work reports a computer simulation study of heat transfer in a rotary kiln used for drying and preheating food products such as fruits and vegetables with superheated steam at 1 bar. The heat transfer model includes radiation exchange among the superheated steam, refractory wall and the solid surface, conduction in the refractory wall, and the mass and energy balances of the steam and solids. The gas convection is also considered. Finite-difference techniques are used, and the steady state thermal conditions are assumed. The false transient approach is used to solve the wall conduction equation. The solution is initiated at the inlet of the kiln and proceeds to the exit. The output data consist of distributions of the refractory wall temperature, solid temperature, steam temperature, and the total kiln length. The inlet of the kiln is the outlet of the gas (superheated steam), since the gas flow is countercurrent to the solid. Thus, for a fixed solid and gas temperature at the kiln inlet, the program predicts the inlet temperature of the gas (i.e., at the kiln exit) in order to achieve the specified exit temperature of the gas. In the absence of experimental results for food drying in a rotary kiln, the present model has been satisfactorily validated against numerical results of Sass (1967, “Simulation of the Heat-Transfer Phenomena in a Rotary Kiln,” Ind. Eng. Chem. Process Des. Dev., 6(4), pp. 532–535) and limited measured gas temperature as reported by Sass (1967, “Simulation of the Heat-Transfer Phenomena in a Rotary Kiln,” Ind. Eng. Chem. Process Des. Dev., 6(4), pp. 532–535) for drying of wet iron ore in a rotary kiln. The results are presented for drying of apple and carrot pieces. A detailed parametric study indicates that the influence of controlling parameters such as percent water content (with respect to dry solids), solids flow rate, gas flow rate, kiln inclination angle, and the rotational speed of the kiln on the axial solids and gas temperature profiles and the total predicted kiln length is appreciable. The effects of inlet solid temperature and exit gas temperature on the predicted kiln length for carrot drying are also shown in this paper.


2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. S. Ghoshdastidar ◽  
Ankit Agarwal

The present work reports a computer simulation and optimization study of heat transfer in a rotary kiln used for drying and preheating of wood chips with superheated steam at 1 bar. A rotary kiln employed for drying and preheating of wet solids consists of a refractory lined cylindrical shell mounted at a slight incline from the horizontal plane. The kiln is very slowly rotated about its longitudinal axis. Wet solids are fed into the upper end of the cylinder and during the process, are dried and heated by the countercurrent flow of the hot gas. Finally, it is transferred to the lower end where it reaches the desired temperature and discharged. The heat transfer model includes radiation exchange among hot gas, refractory wall and the solid surface, transient conduction in the refractory wall, and mass and energy balances of the hot gas and the solids. A finite-difference based computational heat transfer approach is used. A Univariate Search method has been used to obtain minimum kiln length with respect to various kiln operating parameters subject to a constraint on the inlet gas temperature. The parametric study lent a good insight into the physics of the drying process in a rotary kiln. The optimization study reveals that for an economical design of a rotary kiln low rotational speed, small inclination angle and medium gas flow rate is required.


Author(s):  
Ashish Agrawal ◽  
P. S. Ghoshdastidar

In the present work, a steady-state, finite difference-based computer model of heat transfer during production of lime in a rotary kiln has been developed. The model simulates calcination reaction in the solid bed region of the rotary kiln along with turbulent convection of gas, radiation heat exchange among hot gas, refractory wall and the solid surface, and conduction in the refractory wall. The solids flow countercurrent to the gas. The kiln is divided into axial segments of equal length. The mass and energy balances of the solid and gas in an axial segment are used to obtain solids and gas temperature at the exit of that segment. Thus, a marching type of solution proceeding from the solids inlet to solids outlet arises. To model the calcination of limestone, shrinking core model with surface reaction rate control has been used. The output data consist of the refractory wall temperature distributions, axial solids and gas temperature distributions, axial percent calcination profile, and kiln length. The kiln length predicted by the present model is 5.74 m as compared to 5.5 m of the pilot kiln used in the experimental study of Watkinson and Brimacombe (1982, Watkinson, A.P. and Brimacombe, J. K., “Limestone Calcination in a Rotary Kiln,” Metallurgical Transactions B, Vol. 13B, pp. 369–378). The other outputs have been also satisfactorily validated with the aforementioned experimental results. A detailed parametric study lent a good physical insight into the lime making process and the kiln wall temperature distributions.


2021 ◽  
pp. 146808742110072
Author(s):  
Karri Keskinen ◽  
Walter Vera-Tudela ◽  
Yuri M Wright ◽  
Konstantinos Boulouchos

Combustion chamber wall heat transfer is a major contributor to efficiency losses in diesel engines. In this context, thermal swing materials (adapting to the surrounding gas temperature) have been pinpointed as a promising mitigative solution. In this study, experiments are carried out in a high-pressure/high-temperature vessel to (a) characterise the wall heat transfer process ensuing from wall impingement of a combusting fuel spray, and (b) evaluate insulative improvements provided by a coating that promotes thermal swing. The baseline experimental condition resembles that of Spray A from the Engine Combustion Network, while additional variations are generated by modifying the ambient temperature as well as the injection pressure and duration. Wall heat transfer and wall temperature measurements are time-resolved and accompanied by concurrent high-speed imaging of natural luminosity. An investigation with an uncoated wall is carried out with several sensor locations around the stagnation point, elucidating sensor-to-sensor variability and setup symmetry. Surface heat flux follows three phases: (i) an initial peak, (ii) a slightly lower plateau dependent on the injection duration, and (iii) a slow decline. In addition to the uncoated reference case, the investigation involves a coating made of porous zirconia, an established thermal swing material. With a coated setup, the projection of surface quantities (heat flux and temperature) from the immersed measurement location requires additional numerical analysis of conjugate heat transfer. Starting from the traces measured beneath the coating, the surface quantities are obtained by solving a one-dimensional inverse heat transfer problem. The present measurements are complemented by CFD simulations supplemented with recent rough-wall models. The surface roughness of the coated specimen is indicated to have a significant impact on the wall heat flux, offsetting the expected benefit from the thermal swing material.


Author(s):  
Ajay Kumar Kaviti ◽  
Akkala Siva Ram ◽  
Amit Kumar Thakur

In this experimental study, permanent magnets with three different sizes (M-1: 32 mm inner diameter, 70 mm outer diameter and 15 mm thick, M-2: 25 mm inner diameter, 60 mm outer diameter and 10 mm thick, M-3: 22 mm inner diameter, 45 mm outer diameter and 9 mm thick) are fully submerged in the single-slope glass solar still. The performance of magnetic solar stills (MSS) with three different sizes at 2 cm depth water to ensure that magnets are fully submerged is compared with conventional solar still (CSS) at the location 17.3850°N, 78.4867°E. Tiwari model is adapted to calculate the heat transfer coefficients (HTC), internal and exergy efficiencies. MSS with M-1, M-2 and M-3 significantly enhanced the convective, radiative, and evaporative heat transfer rate for the 2 cm depth of water. This is due to the desired magnetic treatment of water, which reduces the surface tension and increases the hydrogen bonds. The MSS's total internal HTC, instantaneous efficiencies led CSS by 25.52%, 28.8%, respectively, with M-1. Having various magnetic fields due to different magnets sizes increases MSS's exergetic efficiency by 33.61% with M-1, 33.76% with M-2, and 42.25% with M-3. Cumulative yield output for MSS with M-1, M-2, and M-3 is 21.66%, 17.64%, 15.78% higher than CSS. The use of permanent magnets of different sizes in the MSS is a viable, economical and straight forward technique to enhance productivity.


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