ME6203 Mass Transport

Single droplet evaporation and drying

Problem statement Water droplet evaporation experiment is carried out. Variation of the mass of droplet vs. drying time is shown in Figure 1. The experimental conditions are as follows: Temperature of air surrounding water droplet, oC Temperature of droplet, oC Wet bulb temperature of ambient air, oC Dry bulb temperature of ambient air, oC Velocity of air, v (m/s) Initial diameter of water droplet, D (m) Initial mass of droplet, m (g) The observed drying time, t (s) From above data: (1) Determine the evaporation rate using energy balance and mass transfer/diffusion methods. Also, compare the numerical results with the attached experimental results. (2) Discuss the effects of air humidity, air velocity, air operating pressure and temperature on drying performance = 48.4 = 27.2 = 21.5 = 26.0 = 1.0 = 0.002052 = 4.522 10 3 =354(s)

Figure 1 Mass of water droplet vs. drying time at air temperature 48.4oC and air velocity 1.0m/s Solutions: (Method-1: based on the energy balance) From tables, Pr a a Kd = 0.7027 = 19.46 x 10-6 kg/ms = 1.098kg/m3 = 27.7895 x 10-3 W/m.K

For estimation of the convective heat transfer coefficient, we have the following correlation:
Dv a hcD = 2.0 +0.6 a Kd
0.5

( Pr ) 0.33

(1)

Substituting the corresponding values, Eq 1 yields hc= 105.28W/m2.K Droplet surface area: A= D2= 1.323 x 10-5 m2 Temperature difference between drying air and droplet:

T= 48.4 27.2 = 21.2 oC Latent heat of water: = 2417.44 kJ/kg

The evaporation rate of this droplet is calculated from

Nc = hcA( T )

(2)

i.e.: Nc= [(105.28) * (1.323 x10-5) * (21.2)] / (2417.44)= 1.22 x 10-5 g/s From the graph in Figure 1, the evaporation rate is obtained as 1.28 10 5 g/s Thus, the error by computation is = [(1.28 x10-5- 1.22 x 10-5)/ 1.28 x10-5] x 100%= 4.7%, which is negligible. In fact the error in estimation of h using empirical correlations can exceed 10%

Solution: (Method-2: Based on mass transfer/diffusion equation) For mass transfer from a spherical droplet subjected to a relative velocity of a drying medium, we have the Sherwood number correlation as follows:
Sh = kc D a 1 / 3 Dv a 1 / 2 1/ 2 = 2.0 + 0.6 Sc 1 / 3 Re p = 2.0 + 0.6( ) ( ) Dg a Dg a

From property tables, Pr a a = 0.7027 = 19.46 x 10-6 kg/ms = 1.098kg/m3

The diffusion coefficient for vapor in air at 50oC is 2.91 10 5 m 2 / s

kc = =

Dg D

[ 2.0 + 0.6(

a 1 / 3 Dva 1 / 2 ) ( ) ] a D g a

2.91 10 5 19.46 10 6 0.002052 1.0 1.098 1 / 2 [2.0 + 0.6 ( )1 / 3 ( ) = 0.0776(m / s ) 5 0.002052 1.098 2.91 10 19.46 10 6

Based on the initial dry-bulb and wet-bulb temperatures of air, the humidity is found from the psychrometric chart as 0.013 kgH2O/kg dryair. Then, the vapor concentration at the droplet surface ( C s )(kmol/m3); vapor concentration in the bulk gas ( C g ) (kmol/m3). They are defined as
Cs = p sat (T p ) RT p
pop RTg

3600 = 1.443 10 3 ( mol / m 3 ) 8314 300

0.013 / 18 101325 = 7.78 10 4 (mol / m 3 ) 1.0 / 29 + 0.013 / 18 8314 321.4

Cg = X i

Based on the mass transfer equation, the mass transfer rate from the water droplet surface to the bulk air is calculated as
N c = k c A p M p (C s C g ) = 0.0776 1.323 10 5 18 10 3 (1.443 10 3 7.78 10 4 ) = 1.23 10 5 ( g / s)

The drying time is then given by

3 D w 0.002052 3 1.0 10 6 6 6 t= = = 370.6( s ) Nc 1.22 10 5

The calculation error is then:

1.28 10 5 1.23 10 5 1.28 10 5 100% = 3.9%

Discussion about the effects of the operating parameters

(a) Effect of air humidity Assume the absolute humidity is increased to 0.016 kg H2O/kg dry air. Then,
Cg = X i pop RTg = 0.016 / 18 101325 = 9.53 10 4 (mol / m 3 ) 1.0 / 29 + 0.016 / 18 8314 321.4

Now the evaporation rate becomes

N c = k c A p M p (C s C g ) = 0.0776 1.323 10 5 18 10 3 (1.443 10 3 9.53 10 4 ) = 9.06 10 6 ( g / s )

and the drying time becomes:

3 D w 0.002052 3 1.0 10 6 t= 6 = 6 = 499( s ) Nc 9.06 10 6

The reduced percentage of the evaporation rate is due to the increase of humidity in air is computed by
=
1.23 10 5 9.06 10 6 100% = 26.3% 1.23 10 5

The increase of drying time is (499-370) = 129(s). Reduction in mass transfer driving potential is responsible for this reduction. (b) Effect of the operating pressure Assume the operating pressure is only half of the normal ambient atmospheric pressure, i.e., 50663Pa. Therefore,
Cg = X i pop RTg = 0.013 / 18 50663 = 3.89 10 4 (mol / m 3 ) 1.0 / 29 + 0.013 / 18 8314 321.4

Then the evaporation rate becomes

N c = k c A p M p (C s C g ) = 0.0776 1.323 10 5 18 10 3 (1.443 10 3 3.89 10 4 ) = 1.95 10 6 ( g / s )

The drying time becomes:

3 D w 0.002052 3 1.0 10 6 6 6 t= = = 232( s ) Nc 1.95 10 5

The increased percentage of the evaporation rate due to the decrease of the operating pressure in air is computed by

1.23 10 5 1.95 10 5 1.23 10 5

100% = 58.5%

The decrease of drying time is (370-232) = 138(s) (c) Effect of the air velocity Assume the air velocity is increased to 5.0m/s. Then,
kc = = Dg D [ 2.0 + 0.6(

a 1 / 3 Dva 1 / 2 ) ( ) ] a D g a

2.91 10 5 19.46 10 6 0.002052 5.0 1.098 1 / 2 [ 2.0 + 0.6 ( )1 / 3 ( ) = 0.2019( m / s ) 5 0.002052 1.098 2.91 10 19.46 10 6

The evaporation rate now becomes

N c = k c A p M p (C s C g ) = 0.2019 1.323 10 5 18 10 3 (1.443 10 3 7.78 10 4 ) = 3.20 10 5 ( g / s )

The drying time therefore is:

3 D w 0.002052 3 1.0 10 6 6 6 t= = = 141( s ) Nc 3.20 10 5

The increased percentage of the evaporation rate due to increase of air velocity is computed from:
=
1.23 10 5 3.2 10 5 1.23 10 5 100% = 160%

The decrease of drying time is (370-141) s i.e. 229(s)

(d) Effect of the air temperature Assume the air temperature is increased to 71.85oC. From the corresponding tables, the following parameter values for air can be obtained Pr a a = 0.698 = 20.52 x 10-6 kg/ms = 1.023kg/m3

Dg

=3.24x10-5m/s

Then the mass transfer coefficient is calculated by

kc = = Dg D [ 2.0 + 0.6(

a 1 / 3 Dva 1 / 2 ) ( ) ] a D g a

3.24 10 5 20.52 10 6 0.002052 1.0 1.023 1 / 2 [ 2.0 + 0.6 ( )1 / 3 ( ) = 0.113( m / s ) 5 0.002052 1.023 3.24 10 20.52 10 6

Then the evaporation rate becomes

N c = k c A p M p (C s C g ) = 0.113 1.323 10 5 18 10 3 (1.443 10 3 7.78 10 4 ) = 1.79 10 5 ( g / s )

The drying time becomes:

3 D w 0.002052 3 1.0 10 6 t= 6 = 6 = 252( s ) Nc 1.79 10 5

The increased percentage of the evaporation rate due to the increase of air temperature is computed by
=
1.23 10 5 1.79 10 5 1.23 10 5 100% = 45.5%

The decrease of drying time is (370-252) =118(s) From the above computation, we can conclude that: (1) When the air humidity is increased, the evaporation rate is decreased. (2) When the air operating pressure is decreased, the evaporation rate is increased and vice versa. (3) When the relative velocity between air and droplet is increased, the evaporation rate is increased, as well. (4) When the air temperature is increased, the evaporation rate is increased. (5) Among the four affecting factors, we can see that the air temperature and relative velocity between air and droplet play a significant role on the drying performance. However, in real condition, the relative velocity between air and droplet is not easy to control. If the droplet is smaller as those found in spray dryers, the particle evaporation rates are always controlled by the drying

medium due to its small diameter. From this point, we show by example why the air temperature is always very important in spray dryer not only because it is easy to control but also because it affects the drying performance significantly.
If drying below the critical moisture content i.e. in the internally controlled falling rate period, one must have the FRP data or effective diffusivity value (also obtained experimentally from drying kinetics). Since the evaporation rates are necessarily small, measurement errors in X vs time data are large. To obtain the drying rate one must differentiate the X vs t data , which is an error-amplification process. Such data always have large scatter. In general, care must be exercised when converting X vs t data into drying kinetics. It is often better to smooth such data numerically and then differentiate it. It can be done, for example, by fitting a polynomial and the differentiating it. Note that the onset of falling rate can also be detected by a sudden rise in surface temperature under constant drying conditions. In a spray dryer the drying conditions seen by the droplet vary along its trajectory. This, it is difficult to determine the precise critical moisture content. Also complications arise due to crystallization, puffing, shrinkage, break-up and/or agglomeration as the droplets/particles travel within the drying chamber. The model given above in simplistic and for illustrative purposes. A S MUJUMDAR and Lixin Huang, 2005