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Computer Simulation of Industrial Dryers

a a a
D. Marinos-Kouris , Z.B. Maroulis & C.T. Kiranoudis
a
Department of Chemical Engineering. National Technical University , Athens, GR 157 80,
Greece
Published online: 07 May 2007.
To cite this article: D. Marinos-Kouris , Z.B. Maroulis & C.T. Kiranoudis (1996) Computer Simulation of Industrial Dryers, Drying
Technology: An International Journal, 14:5, 971-1010, DOI: 10.1080/07373939608917137
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DRYING TECHNOLOGY. 14(5). 971-1010 (1996)
COMPUTER SIMULATION OF INDUSTRIAL DRYERS
Department of Chemical Engineering. National Technical University,

Downloaded by [University of Bristol] at 12:24 22 February 2015
GR 157 80.Athens. Greece
Key Words and Phrases: process flowshceting, process analysis. modular and
equation-oriented simulation software. modeling o f industrial
dryers, object-oriented programming
ABSTRACT
The use o f computers to perform simulation of chemical engineering processes

has lead to the develooment of software tools that oerform most tedious cornoutations
in the field o f process analysis and design. The most popular StNClUres regarding
process simulation o f conventional and specialized processes are analyzed properly by
considering the basic parts of commercial programs. Computational procedures.
graphical aspects. management of properties database are outlined. Modeling aspects o f
drying technology -
-. regarding simulation are summarized and classified. The need for
s&ci&d software and development efforts in the field of commercial dryers
.. .
simulation are enlohasized and nooro~riatelvaddressed. Modem asoects. such as obiect-
oriented programming i n simulation of industrial dryers are suitably presented and
various case studies are used to indicate the effectiveness of modern simulation methods
i n the field of dryers operation.
INTRODUCTION
- - have made considerable progress

Computer aids in process engineering . - during
- the
last few decades in the on-growing fields of process analysis. synthesis, and design. The
-
increasine develooment of software tools coverine conventional and soecialized
engineering operations has had an enormous impact on the productivity of design
97 1
CapyrighlO 1996 by Marcel Dckkcr. Inc.

972 MARINOS-KOURIS. MAROULIS. AND KIRANOUDIS
engineers and the quality

. . o f final products that basically involve tedious mass and
energy balance calculations, optimization and evaluation o f the operational performance
- number o f process plants. As the available hardware becomes more vowerful
for a large
and less expensive and new programming environments are introduced that allow
tremendous programming efficiency with even less computer code development effon.
the frontiers o f what is feasible are continuously pushed forward. Funhermore, new
programming styles adopted, have changed the-^=^ that developers treat basic data
structures and code representation leading to revolutionarv technoloeical advances i n all
fields of programming. More specifically, the development o f object-oriented
programming logether with window-driven operational systems have produced new
concepts regarding programming, flowsheeting and anificial intelligence. Despite the
fact that commercial computer-aided packages lag significantly behind the current state-
of-the-an computer technology, the implementation o f new programming technologies
is undoubtedly the future face of commercial research i n this area.
Computer simulation packages are basically computational tools for carrying out
heat and mass balance calculations within a specified flowsheet. The appropriate
calculations are based on the mathematical models involved and differ in detail and
depth of process description, ranging from empirical models to sophisticated
mechanistic ones. I n this way, process engineers are significantly aided when designing
new plants or rearranging a process flowsheet of an existing plant. Apart from
exploring various flowsheet construction characteristics, the operating variables
involved can be appropriately evaluated so that the plant operates under optimal or
near-optimal conditions. Expansion of software tools available through the simulation
environment such as optimization. dynamics, planning, expen systems. control toolkits
etc, lead to simplification of the design and operability judgment procedures.
Furthermore, problems arising during the operation of a process plant can be dealt with
by embodying operational experience into the model parameters o f the simulator.
m a i n g such a tool able to learn and simulate simultaneously. Last but not least, the
experience gained by using such software tools by process trainees is significant.
-
revealing the educational aspect o f simulation tcchnologies.
A computer-aided process engineering software environment should generally
aim to meet the following basic specifications (Stephanopouloset al.. 1987):
- Systematic representation of process units and streams involving graphical
description. connectivitv and interaction information at various levels of
abstraction.
Gcnemtion o f flowsheet structures through graphical description of problems by
means o f integrated high-level interactive communication between user and
computer (thro&h sophi&cated user-interface technology)
- Automatic generation
- of mathematical models related to units involved i n the
process flowsheet and data structures describing the type of problem to be solved
and level of computational detail desired.
Simulation of the flowsheet. economic and operability analysis o f the generated
process designs. completion of the design by sizing and costing all major
equipment involved i n the flowsheet.
Unified management o f thc database systems involving information that concerns
thermodynamical description of phenomena taking place i n the flowsheet units.
COMPUTUl SIMULATION OF INDUSTRIAL DRYERS 973
economic evaluation o f the plant and technological or environmental constraints

of sidc products.
I n this way. computer-aided process engineering is significantly aided to solve
synthesis problems that are underdefined. hierarchical in nature, in which solution of
the original problem must be sought in a large search space, and the overall solution
emerges from the solution of the subproblems (Stephanopoulos. 1981). As a
consequence of this. the artistic nature of design results in the lack of strong standards
in the methodologies, which are followed during either the synthesis or the analysis
phase.
The use of digital computers for the purpose of solving heat and mass balances
for process engineering purposes has already an active history of three decades (Nagiev.
1957. Kesler and Kessler. 1958). Literature in the field of process flowsheeting and
simulation has been reviewed for a time span o f more than two decades (Evans el al..
1968. Flou,er and Whitehead. 1973). while effons to produce textbwks on related
subjects have been made since the beginning of the last decade (Westerberg el al..
1979). A most extensive review by Hlwacek (1977) lists over 400 references in the
nrens of rcconcilintian of plant data. steady-state and transient simulation and process
synthesis. Motard et al. (1975) have over 100 flowsheeting-oriented references covering
the wriod 1970 to 1974. Mah (1974) has reviewed much o f the literature on structural
analysis o f equations and flowsheets as well as various approaches used for
computation in flowsheeting systems. Kehat and Shacham (1973 a. b, c) review much
of the flowsheeting literature up to 1973. giving a set of general classifications as to the
type of systems. During this time, a large number o f process simulation products have
been produced. both in the commercial and in the acndemic field. basically confronting
the simulation of processes involved in thc conventional chemical plants (Douglas.
1988). Their differences are concentrated in the way that flowsheer equations are
solved, and in the facilities they provide (Rosen and Pauls. 1977. Pandelides. 1988).
Within the environment of many process simulators. various problems arc handled.
concerning flowsheet analysis (Barkley and Motard. 1972. Pho and Lapidus. 1973.
Upadhye and Grens. 1975). flowsheet optimization (Berna e l al.. 1980. Biegler and
Hughes. 1982, 1985. Chen and Stadherr. 1985. Lang and Biegler. 1987). and
simultaneous process optimization and heat integration (Lang et al.. 1988).
The need for detailed simulation of plants made up of units and streams which
greatly differ in structure from those o f a conventional chemical plant. leads to the
development of specific-purpose simulators which trea the panicular proces*es in a
more dedicated way, aiming at producing more accurate and robust results within an
environment which is lailored to the needs of each flowsheet (Bush and Silvestron.
1978. Neville and Seider. 1980. Pelrides et al.. 1989. Kiranoudis et al.. 1994 a. b.
Maroulis el al.. 1995).
Although drying processes are included in the computational environment of
many commercial process simulators. the mathematical models used me simplc and
therefore, inappropriate
.. . for more deta~led simulation, while the databasc of
thermophysical properties and transport phenomena constants is limited. basically to the
. .
extent of some commercial oooular solids. Futhermore. the wculiarities o f each orocess
unit and stream that make up a dehydration plant are not taken into consideration
(Houska el al.. 1988).
974 MARINOS-KOURIS.MAROULIS. AND KlRANOUDlS
This work presents a11 aspects of classical and modern simulation regarding
process simulation of conventional and specialized drying processes, with emphasis l o
the simulation of industrial dryers. Computational procedures. -nraphical
. tools, modeling
ospccts of drying technology regarding simulation are summarized and classified.
.. .
Soecialized software develooment is emohasized and aoorooriatelv addressed. Modern
aspects i n simulation, such as object-oriented programming in simulation of industrial
dryers, are presented and several case studies indicating the effective use of simulators
for drying purposes are given.
COMPUTER FLOWSHEETING
Flowsheeting is regarded as the use of computer aids to accomplish steady-state

heat and mass balancing, sizing and costing calculations for processes participating in a
plant flowsheet. From the steady-stale design point o f view, where a process flowshect
is practically dealt with as a structure entity. computer flowsheeting procedures
constitule all important step of the design effort briefly illustrated in Figure I. At this
point. the design procedure is partitioned into three basic steps: synthesis, analysis and
optimization. I n the synthesis part o f design, the flowshect configuration is chosen, i.e.
the appropriate process units infrastructure. the particular equipment used and all
corresponding interconnections are actually selected. Also in the synthesis step, an
initial point for the free process variables is provided. I n the analysis design step. the
evaluation effort involves three pans: heat and materials balances, sizing, and costing o f
the equipment. in other words assessment o f the worth, and perhaps safety and
operability. o f the flowsheet previously synthesized. I n the final design stage.
optimization, and i n particular, structural and parametric optimization is carried out. I n
the course of evaluating a given flowsheet structure, i t is likely to come up with cenain
process variables that profoundly influence the resultinn - equipment
. . sizes and flowshect
characteristics, or to decide whether an equipment or interconnection change will be
beneficial for reasons that bccome obvious from the technolonical- .point of view. or the
currently selected design configuration appears to be rather costly. Changing the
flowsheet structure or equipment and its interconnections. constitute structural
optimization procedures. while simply altering operational parameter levels within a
fixed flowsheet is parametric optimization. The ultimately selected flowsheet with its
decision variable values and resultina- flows represents the final desian.
-
Computer flowsheeting is the basic compulational tool as far as the analysis phase
- . . .
of the orocess desien effort is concerned. With a oroDer oroblem formulation. one can
often describe the process adequately for a certain type of analysis by a set o f equations.
Solving them quickly and repeatedly for slight changes to the structural and operational
parameter levels. allows the engineer to get a feel for the flowsheet, even if this feel is
more qualitative than quantitative. The setting up and solving o f these equations by
hand is tedious, error prone, often not possible to carry out due l o the extent o f the
problem solved, and certainly, it is difficult to embody even a few requirements on the
flowsheet. At this point, one can easily visualize the usefulness o f a computer
programming system to help i n setting up the flowsheet structure, the required data, the
flowrates and problem requirements, and consequently, solve the problem formulated
and give execution diagnostics i f an unexpected error occurs. I n practice. computer
Flowsheet
(Initial Values)
Analysis . Decision
Variables
7
Flowsheet
Figure 1. Partitioning the process design task into interrelated subtasks

976 MARINOS-KOURIS. MAROUUS. AND KlRANOUDlS
will perform all necessary work that a process engineer could do i n theory, but it
definitely reduces the labor related to this task.
The first flowsheeting developments occurred before computers were of any
significant size and speed and before high-level computer languages became generally
available. The programs which had any degree of success had limited scope, usually to
perform the design calculations for a single unit lype. During the following years
several simulators appeared. Some systems that have survived the period and are still in
use were developed in a high-level language, such as FORTRAN. in a modular
architecture and provided rigorous physical property correlations. with robust process
routines so that an experienced user could always reach a solution for his problem.
Despite the fact that many of these programs did not live up to their developers
expectations a1 that time, i t is presently well recognized thal flowsheeting programs are
useful and cost effective. They are becoming fast enough and reliable enough to be
practical for even moderately large processes. The real success, where considerable
engineering time is saved, belong to those. often special-purpose tools for processes that
are repeatedly contracted and built. such as many drying processes. Sometimes. the
calculations that can be set up and run. replace several man-weeks o f hand calculations.
The initial programs developed for flowsheeting dealt with specific process
structures. They were written for a single problem and, even i f they were successful.
they still made i t evident that [hey were too restrictive. The flowsheet structure could
not be readily, i f at all. modified. A lack of consistency for physical property
calculalions existed, the numerical techniques tended l o appear similar i n SlNCture and
-
representation, and the diagnostics seemed to be unorganized. Despite [he fact that these
products were fast. their limited. almost noncxistenl. ability to make flowsheet changes
was far too restrictive as the ~ r i n c i p a requirement
l - is to provide alternative
o f design
cases. I t was soon recognized that by putting libraries o f unit operation programs into a
system which could directly perform the calculations as needed for the entire flowsheet.
considerable engineering effort could be saved. Pan of the problem is closely attached
to the specific design, including the flowsheet structure. its components and the various
plant requirements that have to be met. The major part o f the problem involves unit
operations and methods for evaluating physical propenies and costing information.
Furthermore, a compilation of numerical techniques would prove to be very useful
since they could be written only once and used i n many different cases.
The operation of a flowsheeting program performing simulation evaluations is
given i n Figure 2. As the first step, the information regarding the flowsheet structure is
prepared and entered into the simulator. This informarion involves the list of units and
their interconnections together with the appropriate components and design
specifications. Consequenlly. the problem is defined by requesting the appropriate
methods regarding physical properties. units, streams, costing and supporting data from
the corresponding part of the simulator. The calculations to be performed for each unit
within the plant flowsheet must be collected. These calculations involve the
corresponding heat and mass balance equations as well as the appropriate equipment-
sizing types related to the conaruction characteristics of the plant units. Once the
problem is properly defined, a solution procedure to solve i t must be developed. I t must
involve robust and efficient algorithms to solve the set o f hundreds to thousands of
equations defining the problem. I f a very restrictive problem is defined, i t might turn
out to be quite simple. I n most cases it becomes very complex indeed. The various
C0MPUTE.R SIMULATION OF INDUSTRIAL DRYERS
I User-supplied information
Flowsheet
Design specifications
Physical properties
.
Initial guess for iteration variables
Costing details
5-Solullon procedure
Mathematical routines
I
Cost routines
Costing
Economic analysis
Figure 2. Operation of a Flowsheeting program

978 MARINOS-KOURIS. MAROULIS. AND KlRANOUDlS
methodologies developed to eventually converge a flowsheet will be analyzed and

criticized in the following paragraphs. The acmal calculation step reflects the approach
taken to develop the solution procedure. This step faces many problems of numerical
nature. In particular. the system has to get the problem to converge l o an answer and to
overcome the difficulties concerning a poor problem specification. The final step is to
perfornt equipment sizing. costing and operational evaluation.
There are two basic approaches to the way the set o f the resulting process
algebraic equations is solved. They are listed below and analyzed appropriately.
B e seauential modular aooroach I n this approach !he flowsheeting program is

actually written so that one can calculate the output stream values of a unit. provided
that its input stream values and the unit parameter values are given. This is a handy way
of evaluating a flowsheeting program and in fact most commercial process simulators
SO far (FLOWTRAN. PROCESS. DESIGN 2000. ASPEN) have a sequential modular
structure. The user has to define the feed streams and process parameters for each
module involved in the flowsheet and expect that the system will converge l o m
appropriate solution. However. in flowsheets where recycling of materials or
i?formation takes place, which is usually the practice in most process flowsheets. the
user has to guess initial values for the recycles and utilize special logical units called
stream canvergcs in order l o solve the resulting system of equations created by
inlroducing recycles. I n other u,ords. the user has to prweed to a so-called stream
(caring. and break as many recycle loops as necessary for the proper convergence o f the
process flowsheet. The literature contains a number of articles related to finding tear
streams for a flowsheet (Sargent and Westerberg. 1964. Lee and Rudd. 1966.
Christensen and Rudd, 1969. Forder and Hutchison. 1969, Johns. 1970, Barkley and
Morard. 1972. Upadhye and Grens. 1972. Pho and Lapidus, 1973. Cheung and Kuh.
1974. Guardabassi. 1974. Janicke and Biess. 1974. Smith and Walford. 1975). Most
C A D packages built in the sequential modular fashion include an algorithm that will
indicate under all circumstances which streams to tear. in order lo minimize the number
o f convergence blocks that needed to be included in the flowsheet. The same goes for
recycled information within the process flowsheet, i.e, when the user wishes to l i x the
value for a strcam leaving a module. which otherwisc ought to be evaluated by the
flawsheeting procedure. I n this case specialized logical units. called controllers. are
used. Again the user will guess an initial value for a corresponding process variable that
in this way will hccome of input type. A variation of sequential modular approach is the
simullancous modular approach in which a11 nowsheet streams are converged
simullaneously l o the desired solution. This techniquc eliminates technical problemr
regarding recycle of materinls but involves more elaborate computational techniques
since convergence bccomcs more difficult to be achieved due to the extent o f
mathematical problem complexity.
The eouation-oricntcd aooroach, In this approach. the flowsheet structure is represented

by a collection o f nonlinear cquations thithave to be solved simultaneously. There are
- (SPEEDUP. OUASILIN. ASCEND 11) that are based on the equation-
C A D oackaaes
oriented approach. in which the equalions involved include all model and
interconnection equations. dictated by the process streams. as well as the spcificalions
introduced by the user (problem constraints). When dealing with the whole flowsheet as
COMPUTER SIMULATION OF INDUSTRIAL DRYERS 979
an entire set of equations none of the problems encountered in the previous approach is
valid. I n this case. however. developing of the corresponding routines as well as
representation of the particular problem is far more difficult. Once the full set of
equations are put together, a solution procedure for them is derived automatically by [he
computer. This effort is considerably more complex because of its large size than
having the computer to find a solution procedure for the simultaneous modular
approach. However, many of the underlying ideas are similar. I n this case, we need aids
by a robust and efficient solver of non-linear algebraic equations. The problem
peculiarities are focused on the sparsity of the Jacobian matrix. The structure of the
Jacobian matrix implies in many cases individual blocks separated from each other in
many forms and types. I n this case, the group of equations to be solved have to be
appropriately panitioned and placed in a precedence order. Partitioning a flowsheet is to
locate for i t the groups of units which must be solved together and precedence ordering
is placing these groups in a proper sequence for computation. These groups should
contain thc fewest number o f units possible. Appropriate mathematical techniques can
[hen be applied for solving each block.
The sequential modular approach is the easiest to develop. The assumption that
each unit operation module will calculate its output stream values given its input stream
values and equipment parameter values, solves many problems for the simulator
executive system. On the other hand. the equation-oriented approach can become
extremely complex. The problems are those of making sure that the design engineer
will give a legimate problem definition l o the system and that the solution procedure
used by the system will actually converge to an answer. The user of a modular type
simulator has to properly analyze the flowsheet structure, something completely useless
for the equation-oriented approach. But in this case. the exact use to be made o f each
and every equation and where i t is to occur in the computational sequence must be
determined. The choice o f other decision variables that the user might usefully specify
to aid the computation, has to be fixed i f the user has not given a sufficient number of
specifications. The design engineer also has no problem understanding what he has to
specify for the sequential modular approach in order to make a problem well-defined.
I n all cases. the trade-off between problems and requirements have to be well taken into
consideration before working for the development o f the executive part of a simulator.
MODELING A N D SIMULATION OF INDUSTRIAL DRYERS
Drying is a complicated process involving simultaneous heat, mass and

momentum transfer phenomena, and effective models are necessary for process
simulation and design procedures (Brook and Baker-Arkema. 1978. Benin and
Blazquez. 1986. vige"as and Marinos-Kouris. 1991). The development of
. -.
mathematical models to describe dwine orocesses has been a looic of much research for
several decades. Presently. more and more sophisticated drying models arc available
comprising roughly three major aspects of a modeling effort; thermophysical propenies,
drying kinetics. and heat and mass balances of a dryer. The availability of necessan,
l h ~ m i p h y s i c a lpropenies for a wide range o f cokmercial solids involved in ihk
evaluation o f a drying model within the environment o f a sirnulalor. remains i m ~ o n a n t
for the general applic~bilityof the drying model. The choice and use of drying kinetical
980 MANNOS-KOWS. MAROUUS, AND KlRANOUDlS
model expressing heat and mass transfer mechanisms i n porous mcdia is o f utmost
imponancc regarding computational complexity and depth o f detail involved. More
.
soecificallv. i n tvoical
, ..
industrial aoolications. kinetic models are often emoirical or
semi-empirical equations involving parameters o f phenomenological nature. Although
these parameters have obviously no essential physical meaning. they can lead to ample
prediction o f drying kinetics when they are connected to the most appropriate driving
force. In this case, these models can replace more complicated mechanistic ones and arc
therefore appropriate for design or simulation purposes. In all cases, there is a trade-off
between con~putationallabor and demand for detailed simulation o f the process. The
overall dryer model consists o f heat and mass balances within the dryer region
combined with the appropriate drying kinetic and thermophysical models.
An information flow diagram for a drying model appropriate for simulation
needs, is presented in Figure 3. The model can calculate the material moisture content
and temperature as a function of position and time whenever thedrying conditions
(i.e. air humidity, temperature and velocity o f air stream in the case o f convective
drying) are known as a function of time, together with h e model parameters. If the
-
model takes into account the controlline mechanisms of heat and mass transfer. [hen
the transport properties are included i n the model as parameters. I f the dependence of
the drvine . . .
, " conditions on transoon oro~ertiesis also considered. then the constants of
the relevant empirical equations are considered as model parameters. I n Figure 3 l c
part of the model that contains equations for the heat and mass transfer phenomena is
termed the process model, while the equations describinr! - the dependence o f drying
. -
conditions on transport propenies form the propenies model. I n the process model, each
-
mechanism o f heat and mass transfer is exoressed usine a drivine force and a transoon
property as a coefficient of proportionality between the rate and the corresponding
driving force. In the properties model, several formulas can h considered. A l l aspects
of modeling of dryers are analyzed in the following paragraphs.
Out o f the full set of thermophysical properties necessary for the analysis of
drying of a material, the most imponant thermodynamic and transport propenies
incorporated i n the drying model as model parameters are the effective moisture
diffusivity. the effective thermal conductivity. the air boundary heat and mass transfer
coefficients. the drying constant and the equilibrium material moisture content.
Effective thermal conductivity and effective moisture diffusivity are related to internal
heat and mass transfer. respectively, while air boundary heat and mass transfer
coefficients are related to external heat and mass transfer, respectively. The above
transporl propenies are usually coefficients in the corresponding flowrate to driving
force relationship. The equilibrium moisture content, on the other hand. is usually
related to the mass transfer driving force. The above transport propenies, i n conjunction
with a transport phenomena mechanistic model, can adequately describe the drying
kinetics, but sometimes an alternative property. the drying constant, is also taken into
consideration. The drying constant is essentially a combination o f the above transport
propenies and i t must be used in coniunction with the socalled thin-laver model.
'Effective moisture diffusivity and eifective thermal conductivity are. generally
considered to be functions of material moisture content and temoeramre. as well as of
the material structure. A i r boundary heat and mass transfer coefficients are functions o f
the conditions o f the drying air, that is to say humidity. velocity, temperature, as well as
system geometry. Equilibrium moisture content of a given material is a function of air
COMPUTER SIMUUTION OF INDUSTRIAL DRYERS
M o d e l results
(material moisture
content
and temperature)
Process model
D r y i n g conditions
(heat and mass transfer
equations)
Transport properties
(moisture diffusivity,
thermal conductivity.
heat and mass transfer coefficients) :
:...... - - .,
(empirical equations describing
the effect of various factors
.. - - -.
Empirical constants
Figure 3. Model information flow diagram
humidity and temperature. The drying constant is a function of material moisture

content, temperature, and thickness. as well as air humidity, temperature and velocily.
The requircd accuracy of the above mentioned propenies depends on the controlling
resislance to heat and mass transfer. If. for example, drying is controlled by the internal
moisture diffusion, then the effective moisture diffusivity must be known with high
accuracy. This situation is valid when relatively large particles are dried with air o f high
velocity. Drying o f small panicles with low air velocity is controlled by the external
mass transfer. and the corresponding air boundary mass transfer coeflicienl must be
known with high accuracy. On the same grounds, there are situations where heat
transfer is the controlling resistance, as i n the case o f drying of solids with high
porosity. i n which high mass and low heat transfer rates are obtained. An extensive
compilation o f therrnophysical propenies o f solids used i n modeling of dryers was
recently given by Marinos-Kouris and Maroulis (1995). From the lechnical point of
view, the simulation models of the flowsheeting system need to make frequent requests
for propenies at specific state variables values. These calls for data are usually made i n
a rigorously defined manner which i s ibdependent of both the point data generation
models and the particular components. These point generation routines provide the
propeny values using lhe selected methods that base their calculations on the set of
parameters for each component, as previously discussed.
982 MARINOS-KOURIS. MAROULIS, AND KIRANOUDIS
The effort involved i n studying the basic physical or chemical steps. which is the
essence o f most chemical engineering operations, aims at deducing or discovering a
suitable process model. A mathematical model which can sufficiently describe the
fundamental process phenomena is of great significance l o the analysis and synthesis o f
the operation. as well as to process design and simulation. Based upon the available
process information for basic transport mechanisms and the extent of the theoretical
aspects we intend to cover, we often shirt from a purely stochastic model l o a fully
theoretical one. The former provides negligible considerations for the fundamental
structural process mechanisms, putting forward expressions that could be nothing more
than a functional relation, for instance a . polynomial-type
. . . correlation. The lauer
essentially anticipates a detailed system behavior through proper validation of process
- .
mechanisms which are evaluated indewndentlv. and is exoressed throueh svstems of
coupled time- and space-dependent differenttal equations. I n the first case we know
practically nothing about the process internal structure; in the second we know
practically everything. I n most cases the situation lies somewhere i n between, since
most models referred to i n the literature are of a predictive deterministic type. When
theory accounts for the process inadequately, we are aided by experience i n order to
arrive at a working model. i n the sense that i t would at least account for the maior
theoretical a,,pects o f the controlling mechanism. Such a model contains information
-
over certain ranees o f the variables involved. bv means of eauations which reflect the
basic features of the mechanisms and parameters, which somehow, lump the existing
model inadequacies with respect to process variables. Clearly, i t will probably fail over
tnore extensive ranges. where effects previouslv -
. nealected become important.
Drying involve complex heat and mass transfer which =cur
inside the material beina dried (Roman et al.. 1983. Stanish el al.. 1986. Fortes and
Okos. 1981. llic and ~ u r n e r .1989). ~ e v e l o ~ m e of
n t mathematical models to describe
the drying o f porous solids has been a topic of research i n many fields for several
decades. Several review articles on drying. have recently been published. Keey (1980)
describes the historical development of drying theory. Van Brakel (1980) provides a
critical review of the topic of mass transfer during convective drying. Van Arsdel
(1963). Holdswonh (1971). Rossen and Hayakawa (1977). Fones and Okos (1980).
Bruin and Luyben (1980) and Chrirife (1983) review drying theory as applied to rood
materials. A l l agree that the key characteristics of drying models include internal and
external mechanisms o f moisture and heat transfer. as well as structural and
thermodynamic assumptions. Typically, drying is divided into a constant-rate and a
hlling-rate periods. The drying rate in the former period is influenced by conditions
external to the material being dried, including temperature, gas velocity, and gas water
activity when referring to convective drying. The controlling resistance may be
associated with the transfer o f energy to the solid, or the transfer of mass away from the
solid. Mass transfer during the falling rate period involves the diffusion o f water
through material pores into the drying medium. During this period. the drying rate
decreases with time. and the rate o f internal mass transfer typically controls the process.
I n porous solids. internal mass transfer may occur within the solid phase or within the
void spaces (Bruin and Luyben. 1980. Karel. 1975). Several mechanisms have been
proposed in the drying literature. including liquid and vapor diffusion, surface
diffusion. hydrodynamic or bulk flow, and capillary flow. An excellent review o f these
mechanisms is given by Waananem et al. (1993). The theoretical representation of
. - data, consisting- o f material moisture content and temperature responses, is

drying
fundamentally a problem of heat and mass transfer under transient conditions. The
result i s a svstem of couoled non-linear ~ n n i a differential
l eauations. which reoresent
the heat and mass balances in the solid and air phases of the systems undergoing drying
(Arnaud and Fohr, 1988. Luikov. 1975. Keey and Suzuki. 1974, Luikov e l 81.. 1974).
The solution o f these equations prowdes profile.; of material moisture content and
temperamre. Houska el al. (1988) classified most mathematical models of dryers with
or without convective heat supply and indicated the use o f certain rules in the
simulation and design o f dryers.
The last approach to be dealt with concerning the modeling o f dryers involves the
integration of the drying kinetics expressing the individual transport mechanisms within
the dried solid, corn-binid with the heat and mass balances of air streams when dealing
. -.
with convective drvine. or for alternative enerav sources in the individual cases where
air is not used as the heating medium (freeze, vacuum. microwave drying). An
extensive compilation of individual dryer models as well as valuable information on
types and operation o f the corresponding dryers was recently given by Mujumdar
(1995). In all cases. the cri[iczl step o f all possible simulation effoons remains thc
selection o f an appropriate model concerning the drying kinetics. on the basis of the
accuracy . regarding
. .evaluation of material moisture content and temperature. compared
l o the corresponding computational effort for carrying out the simulation procedure. I n
addition to the system of algebraic and differential equations constituting the dryer
model, several constraints implied by thermodynamics and construction characteristics
alwavs come uo. These constraints involve orocess variables evaluated when the overall
flowsheet is solved and related warnings must consequently be activated by the
diagnostics part of the simulation program. Appropriate selection of model design
variables values lead l o new computations for the flowsheet in regions feasible for the
constraints. which must be guaranteed by the interactive nature o f the simulator.
Despite the fact that drying is generally considered to bc a rather popular
conventional chemical process. there are limited cases where specialized drying
processes are included in the environment of commercial process simulators. I n this
way. the process engineering
. - can benefit from the already exirtinr.- comnutational
facilities involving constmction and modification of the flowsheet, convergence of the
- .
corresoondina equations and flexibilitv analvsis concernine various ooerational modes
of the 8ctunl process, in order to fully describe and study a desired dehydration plant.
However, none of the existing conventional chemical simulators has become popular
regarding computations of dehydration processes. The reasons for this. are summarized
below:
- The mathematical models used to describe the operation o f most popular dryers
are oversimplified. I n most caqes
SI .( in ASPEN) a drying unit is regarded as a
contacting agent between the hcating medium and the solid phase. The
mathematical model used is basically stoichiornetric moisture balances between
the two phaes where drying kinetics are essentially neglected. As a consequence
of this, no combined simulation of any known dryer type can be carried out. let
alone of required depth of detail and accuracy of description, for operational
modes observed in the actual equipment performance during operation.
- Description of process streams in all conventional process simulators involves
specification of participating components and their corresponding thermodynamic
MARINOS-KOURIS. MAROULIS. AND KlRANOUDlS
state. In all dehydration operations. streams typically involve two components;

material and surrounding medium, i.e. air, participating in the flowshccls as
entities described by their corresponding moisturc conlent and temperature.
Although this description is quite simple. i t is incompatible for thorough
implementation using more elaborate representations such as the ones o f
conventional commercial simulators.
- The database of thermophysical . . oropenies
. . and transpon
. ~
phenomena concerning
drying is limited, i f non existent, and refers to some popular commercial solids. I n
- multide
this case, detailed analysis of a dehvdration ~ l a n involving
t . ~roducts
. and
describing units with models that require specific ~hermophysicalproperties (even
simplified phychrometric chart models) becomes a difficult and laborious task.
- The peculiarities o f each process unit and stream which make up the dehydration
plant are not taken into consideration. I n this way. the process engineer can not
take advantage of the acquired experience from the operation and modeling in
order to obtain more reliable results from the simulation runs. . -
On the basis of the above, simulation of dryers is implemented with difficulty, if
at all, using commercial conventional process simulation software. I n such cases,
special-purpose simulators often become handy for carrying out computations o f a
specialized flowsheet. The development o f a special-purpose drying simulator should
generally aim to meet the following specifications:
- Reliable representation of process units and streams involving optionally
graphical description for connectivity and interaction restricted to process
variables with specific physical meaning for the drying operations.
- Involvemenl of a large number of drying units o f various types, described by
mathematical models of various levels of complexity and abstraccon. The
mathematical models of each process should k automatically generated to
describe the type of problem to be solved and the level o f computational
complexity desired.
- Development and unified management of a large database o f propenies and
propeny
. . . models involved in the mathematical models o f the drying units. All
necessary themnophysical properties mentioned in the previous pa&raphs should
be included and evaluated within the comoutational environment of the
specialized simulator.
- Construction and update o f a database involving economic figures necessary for
the economic evaluation of the equipment and the operational costing o f each
dehydration plant examined.
- The peculiarities o f drying . -. processes with respect to simulation and design should
be [&en into consideration, i.e. the process'design variables should bc chosen
with resoect to common oractice from the oceration o f dehvdration olanu. I n this
way, a process engineer should benefit from the experience gained by modeling
and operation o f the examined equipment in practice, conveying much o f i t within
the environment o f the simulator.
Unfonunately. simulation experience regarding specialized effons for drying is
still very limited in practice.
Pakowski (1988) developed a program for psychrometric and drying
computations on n PC (dryPak) mainly for teaching purposes. I t uses separate libraries
o f liquids, gases and solids to a level o f up to 45 components I t carries out balance
COMPUTER SIMULATION OF INDUSTRIAL DRYFRS 985
equations over dryers using inert gas as heat or moisture carrier. Several dryer layouts
are allowed; partial gas recycle, external heater, internal heat and their combinations. It
performs calculations of a continuous co- or counter-current contact of gas and solid
equipment and of cross-flow cases as well. Process trajectories and profiles of
tem&rature and moisture content along the dryer are constkcted. Number of transfer
units for heat and mass transfer within the examined dwer are also computed.
On the same grounds, a compilation of several reliable model equations Was
presented to approximate most popular thermodynamic and transpon propenics of
water involved in dryer design calculations (Pakowski et al.. 1991). The models
adopted, were grouped to form unified databases of self-standing routines that could
also be used in commercial simulation programs. In this way, the user could select an
appropriate major equation that would ensure economies in computing time and provide
the required accuracy. These propenies included saturated pressure, temperature of
saturation, latent heat of vaporization, density, heat capacity. specific enthalpy, specific
entropy, viscosity and heat conductivity of moist air streams involved in computational
procedures of dryer design.
Jumah and Mujumdar (1993) developed a PC program for simulation and
preliminary design of a continuous well-mixed fluid bed dryer. The mathematical
models adopted and the database of the lhermophysical properties included, are based
on correlations and data presented in the literature. It is used to obtain quick and
appropriate evaluation of the effects of various operational paramears on dryer design
and performance. It has an interactive structure and prompts the user to enter the most
appropriate specification for the drying problem to be solved. It evaluates gas
distributor. cyclone and fan variables and roughly estimates cost for the examined
equipment. The phychrometric propenies of moist air and the mathematical modcls of
various complexity for the process units are appropriately evaluated through
specifically developed routines. Several design problems are evaluated and solved
within the environment of the simulator.
Kiranoudis et al. (1994 a, b) developed a modular steady-state simulator in order
lo model and simulate processes involved in a dehydration plant. A review of the
simulator structure. along with an outline of its operation is presented. User input to the
simulator consists of the flowsheet description, specification of unit design variables
and feed streams, as well as appropriate figures for economic evaluation of the plant.
The information introduced is passed to the simulator by means of an appropriate user
interface developed in object-oriented Pascal code on an Apple Macintosh computer.
This pan of the program is then introduced into the execution part of the simulator,
performing all the necessary flowsheet computations. Case studies are presented for the
design of a dehydration plant for vegetable drying.
Maroulis el al. (1995) developed a fluidized bed dryer simulator under Excel 5
with Visual Basic for applications environment. The simulator is based on a
mathematical model describing heat and mass transfer in the dryer. The total model
incorporates empirical models for the drying constant and the residence time. These
empirical models are crucial in the total model efficiency. Thus, a procedure for
updating the parameters of the empirical models is provided. Two databases are
supplied. The first contains laboratory drying data and it is used for tuning the drying
constant empirical model. The second contains industrial drying data and it is used for
tuning the residence time empirical model. The experience from the industrial
986 MARINOS-KOURIS, MAROULIS. AND KlRANOUDlS
application of the simulator proved that i t is a powerful tool for flexible operation of an
industrial dryer.
Kemp and Bahu (1995) propose a procedure to asist the choice between the many
types of dryers (dryer selection). Dryers are classified by various criteria and this
information is used to construct the equipment tree. A five-step algorithm is used l o
analyse the problem; at each step rules based on material and flowsheet considerations
are used to test the different dryers i n the equipment tree. Rough sizing and costing
calculations are also taken into consideration.
OBJECT-ORIENTED SIMULATION OF INDUSTRIAL DRYERS

Object-oriented programming is a modern technique for designing and

implementing programs by modeling the structures and capabilities o f real-world
objects. I n an important sense. the notion of objects is really only an extension of the
structured programming concepts that have become dominant during the last decades.
The concept of object-oriented programming is mainly based on a modular fashion for
designing and constructing programs and this style of programming makes i t practical
to organize large programs, since i t significantly eases decomposition of complex
problems into functional and easy-to-handle modules (Keene, 1989. Sphar. 1991). The
object-oriented programming notion is greatly aided by the evolution o f computer
operating systems that tend to stabilize over self-standing graphics-oriented
environments making i n this way interface-driven applications independent o f particular
workframes. Clearly, one need not use sophisticated object-oriented environments to
operate and organize simulation structures: all that is needed is granted by all popular
programming languages within the operating system graphical environment. i n this
section, we w i l l describe how an object-oriented simulat~onenvironment for dryer
simulation ap~licalions
.. is actually develo~ed under the fashion o f computer
flowsheeting principles explained i n the previous paragraphs. Its structure and internal
.. . - .
architecture is exolained and emphasized for a~olicationsin various drvine owrations.
and an outline of ils normal operation is given.
The Object and Class notion
Obiects a3 already mentioned are software models, usually of real-world obiects.

An object i s declared in the form of a class, which is the data ;tructure that gen;rates
obiects with common characteristics. I t soecifies the obiect inheritance (ancestrv).,.. its
instance variables (slot fields), and its method headings (procedural and functional). An
actual object instantiated from its class can send and receive messages. that is, call the
methods o f other objects and have its own methods called. When an object receives a
message corresponding to one o f its methods i t responds by invoking the method
(Sphar, 1991).
Each individual object may share the same structure. behavior. properties and
type with other objects. As a result. a class may be also considered as a collection (or a
I'amily) of objects that share similar structure and behavior, that is having the same slot
variables (properties) and being able to call the same methods and to respond in the
same way by invoking the lauer. What does each object, instantiated through a specific
class, actually contain, is a way to locate the code of its methods. Rather than having
each object in a class containing its own copy of every method code, an object oriented-
program stores that code in one place when the program is compiled s o that the same
code can be called by any number of individual objects in that class. During the creation
of a new object the slots are inherited by the parent (class). The data structure
describing the propenies of any object is in the form of slots. A slot has a name and a
value. The former describes the characteristics of the object it models, while the latter
describes the state of the slot at a given time.
Slot-values of an obiect may be of any type: numben, strings, lists, m y s .
keywords. symbols or even other-objects, which bffers extended modularity to ;he
..
structures defined via an obiect-oriented amroach. - of obiect-
In order to take advantaae
oriented modularity we had to define cenain classes of objects to create a successful

representation of the real problem we are dealing with. The next step was to interrelate
these objects, in order to achieve proper communication between them. that is they
behave (send and receive messages) correctly.
Inheritance
One of the interesting and powerful features of object classes is that we can derive
an object "subclass" from a pre-existing class by means of "inheritance". Much as a
child inherits many of its parent's features and abilities. a subclass can inherit its
instance variables and methods from an ancestor class. A class whose definition refers
to other classes for the purpose of inheriting from them is said to be a "subclass" of each
of those classes. The classes that are designated for purposes of inheritance are said to
be "superclasses" of the inheriting class.
As a result, an object hierarchy consists of a chain of ancestor classes resulting to
a final descendant object class. Descendants can always be added to the hierarchy. A
new descendant class can extend its inheritance by adding new instance variables and
methods. It can customize its inheritances so that it becomes a more specialized
subclass by overriding methods it inherits. These subclassing techniques make objects
highly extensible and reusable.
Methods. Generic Functions, and Polymorphism
A correct representation of each real world object (process unit, stream, etc.) has
been achieved by the definition of all n e c e s s q superclasses and their descendants. The
functionality of the corresponding instances (objects) created is obtained through
generic functions, procedures, and methods. These are initially described for each
superclass and adequately specialized andlor extended for all of its subclasses, so that
graphical operations (adding, deleting, moving unit-icons on the flowsheet),
mathematical calculations (mass and energy balancing, equipment sizing, costing, etc.)
and accessing the slot values of each object (process unit, stream, unit icon, flowsheet)
are carried out through minimal function calling.
The set of generic functions defined for a specific class is automatically inherited
by all its descendants, the instances of which obtain similar behavior from their
ancestors. This behavior may be modified or changed simply through redefining
(overriding) andlor specializing specific methods.
988 MAIUNOS-KOCIRIS. MAROULIS. AND KlRANOUDlS
Objects may become "polymorphic" (greek for "many shapes") when they are pan
of a class hierarchy. I t is possible for various unrelated objects (not in the same
hierarchy) to respond to the same message. This special homogeneous behavior is
dictated by general functions and methods that accompany their classes and the
precedence order o f methods defined for all their suwrclasses ( i f any). An example o f
polymorphism in the simulator is the fact that all "unit-icon" instances o f the superclass
"unit-icon" mav , be ueraohicallv
. -
connected to each other bv invokine the same method
called "create-stream-connection".Moreover all mathematical models of all proccss
units are solved instantly invoking the method "solve-material-and-energy-balances". In
. , .
other words.. oolvmomhism . .
is the orincide under which the same messaee can be sent
to different objects, and as long as all of those objects have corresponding methods, we
can count on the objects' behaving correctly, meaningfully and individually.
STRUCTURE OF THE SIMULATOR
I n order to simulate the flowsheet of a plant involving industrial dryers. i t is

necessary to model each unit operation in the process by a set of mathematical
equations. These equations must be coded into computer software. The users of the
simulation program are required to specify certain information about each operation in
the process. Based on the specifications, the model will evaluate the performance o f
every unit. Any number o f units can be connected to represent a partial or complete
flowsheel. The internal architecture o f a dryer simulation program is presented in
Figure 4. The aaning point for developing a process model is the process flowsheet
From this point. the engineer prepares a block diagram of all unit and feed streams. By
applying several graphical techniques through appropriate interactive interraccs. the
interconnection o f process units are introduced so that the complete flowsheet StNclure
is determined. The next step is to specify flowrates, specific design requirements, and
operating conditions for each unit operation block .
These steps define the problem to the simulator. The simulator then produces
repons predicting the process performance, including the characteristics and propenies
of all streams. and the size and performance of the individual process units. Normally.
two types of process streams should be taken into consideration: product and air
streams. The characteristic variables o f each stream are material moisture content and
temperature for solid streams and absolute humidity and temperature for air streams.
The simulator will also estimate all necessary details concerning the capital and
operating cost of the plant (Figure 4).
Computer-Aided Design programs have essentially the same components:
- An executive routine pan
- A physical properties data bank
- A thermodynamic propenies package
- A collection of design (and costing detail) subroutines for a variety o f process
units.
The subsystems o f such a simulator are presented on Table I.From this Table we
can infer that many of the requirements for simulating a dehydration process are the
COMPUTER SlMULATlON OF INDUSTRIAL DRYERS
I Flowsheet
I I
Block Diagram Process Data

Feed aream flows,
+%+ temperature and humidity.

Equipment specifications.
Economic constraints
I I
I Simulator
I
Execution
Thermophysical properties
Economic cvalualion
Operating conditions.
construction characteristics.
Stream variables.
Utilities.
Capital and operational
Figure 4. Flow information on a simulation run

Table I.Major subsystems of the proposed simulator
I. Unit Operation Models: to compute the performance and capital and operating
cost for each equipment unit
2. Physical Property Models and Data: to compute the properties o f air and
product i n the flowsheet
3. Economic Evaluation System: To calculate the total plant annual cost and its
components
4. Flowsheeling System: to converge the integrated flowsheet with design
constants and recvcles
User-Friendly Computing Environment: to allow engineers l o access the

system through a convenient, menu-driven, interactive interface
same as for simulating other chemical manufacturing processes. The differences

observed x e mainly due to the nature o f the process streams, units, and producrs.
compared to those o f a conventional chemical plant. Unit operation models are the
core of n process simulator. A complete collection of well-tested, accurate models must
be available l o the engineer in order to model the process of interest. The more rigorous
and detailed these models are, the better job the engineer can do i n modeling the
processes i n question. The toral group o f unit operation models that could be available
i n the simulator environment is listed on Table 2. I n the particular case that h e
sequential modular approach is adopted. the computational effon and enhancement of
the robustness o f performance is achieved by developing sequential algorithms for all
unit operations models involved. I f the equation-oriented approach is adopted, then a
suitable robust solver of non-linear algebraic equations must undertake the overall
computational labor. The physical propeny models and data system must include
models for thermophysical properlies for the streams, and transport coefficients for lhe
drying phenomena involved. I t should include calculation o f specific enthalpies.
modeling of the phychrometric chan, models for thermodynamic equilibrium between
gas and solid phases. and heat and mass lranspon coefficients for the drying processes.
I n many cases more than one model can be used, and i n this case the user must either
choose the one that best represents the nature o f the material studied or add more
efficient parameters to the models chosen. Evaluation o f the total annual cost is
normally carried out by estimating its components which represent the capital and
operating cost, respectively. The operating cost concerns thermal and electrical energy
consumed at heat exchangers and fans. The capital cost components are related to
corresponding equipment (dryersheat exchangers) and normally obey the economy o f
scale laws.
The execution system is an essential part o f the simulator. Its tasks are the input
and output control, the generation of the structured problem description, the automatic
generation of the plant overall model for a specified simulation problem. and the
control o f thc simulation convergence itself. There is some important information
992 MARINOS-KOURIS, MAROUUS. AND IURANOUDIS
where feed characteristics vary and the process changes between diversified operational
aoints. it is imwnant that the mathematical models incorwrated involve reliable
parameters so that a large range of operating conditions are included. In this way, it is
always important to update the parameters of the mathematical models based on
'
information introduced by continuously evaluated exwrimental data lilted to obtain
realistic approximations 0; the paramet&. The procedire of updating these parameters
-. .
constitutes a "leamine" oroocnv, of the simulator. In such a situation the main task of
the process operator is to decide the operatinp, - conditions to match the product
specifications and eventually to optimize the energy consumption. A simulator for this
. . must be based on mathematical models validated aeainst real time arocess
oumose
behaviorand, if possible, it must be able to learn from such experience. So the main
operational problem, in the absence of an effective control system, is to decide the

drying conditions to match the panicular specifications. Since historical data are
difficult to compile in order to answer this question. a simulator is designed to assist the
solution of this problem, which appears on a daily basis. The basic procedure for
combining simulation techniques with operational data and experience through
regression analysis, evaluating in this way appropriate values for process model
parameters, is given in Figure 5.
In this case, the simulator must:
- include effective mathematical models:
- tikc into account the historical data of operation and eventually the individual
process data
- incorporate a user-friendly interface for human-machine communication and new
data collection.
In this way. computer simulation techniques can be greatly extended to be really
useful in real-world applications where more flexible systems dedicated to production
are required. In practice. reliable process data are the key to efficient operation of
chemical plants. With the increasing use of on-line digital computers. numerous data
are acquired and used for on-line optimization and control. A process simulator that
accounts for industrial use must be able to deal with operational data and adjust its
prediction according to what it is expected to perform in practice, for all process units
participating in the plant flowsheet. The computation of a general optimization problem
gives the expected most probable information, from measurement relationships,
including both data reconciliation and parameter identification. The mathematical
models required to extract more information from the experimental data, must
adequately represent the physico-chemical operations involved in the plant. As such, the
process simulator can be considered as a valuable tool to provide the model, and it is
the ideal environment to implement the estimation. It gives the necessary redundancy
needed by the reconciliation method to correct raw data. Selectively chosen unit
operation parameters can simultaneously be computed in order to increase the degree of
confidence for the estimation. It has been commonly argued that the equation-oriented
simulation approach is more appropriate to solve this problem because the selection of
the vector of unknown variables is more flexible. However, the simultaneous modular
approach can also be adopted in optimization problems.
COMPUTER SlMULAnON OF INDUSTRIAL DRYERS
Measured i n ~ u t
variables
Experimental
Apparatus
Measured output
variables
Process Model Regression analysis
variables
Figure 5 . Regression analysis information flow diagram
CASE STUDIES
I n this section specific simulation examples are presented to illustrate topics of the
previous discussion. More specifically. an object-oriented simulator regarding industrial
conveyor-bell dryers is presented. An outline o f i t s operation and major key
components are also niven- -
toeether with characteristx problems that can be solved
(Kiranoudis et al.. 1994 a, b). T o demonstrate how a data reconciliation lechnique can
-.
be imolemented in the simulation environment. a learnine process fluidized bed
simulator is presented. I n this case, operational data are stored to appropriate data bases.
.. .
and a regression technique is used to update model parameters so that the overall
process simulation i s close l o the real-world performance (Maroulis et al.. 1995).
Object-oriented simulation of conveyor-belt dryers
A computer tool for the simulation o f conveyor-belt dryers is presented. I t is of

modular type
.. and involves various units and streams, that together
. make up the
flowsheet of a dehydration plant. The simulation program was developed i n object-
. . .
oriented Pascal on a PC. The basic data structures involved were wlvmomhic obiect
classes which performed all necessary actions for user interfacing and flowsheet
simulation. The abstract entities which served as the control center for managing the
storage, maintenance, and display o f the program data, were the documents of the
program. Its operation is shown in Figure 6. Storage was managed by reading and
saving data from the application file. while maintenance was achieved by updating the
objects and keeping track o f the events. The object classes used i n the program
MARINOS-KOURIS. MAROULIS. AND KIRANOUDIS
piq~[F]-b
View objects
1 %i\ Creates and manages

data dispay
Creates and maintains

data structures
Readslwrites
file
Figure 6. Document interactions for storage, maintenance and display
involve both application dependent classes, such as unit and stream objects, as well as
classes of the Microsoft Windows interface, such as document windows, pull-down
menus, buuons and dialogs.
Unit and stream class instances were kept in pointer-based linked lisu o f objects,
such as the one shown in Figure 7. I n their used form, pointer-based linked lists consist
of a number o f nodes linked together singly (forward links only). Each unit or stream
object contains information concerning its position in the list (pointer to next object) as
well as structures o f data, such as graphical details and model variable values, and
methods for display and model calculation. These basic operation methods o f the
objects were inherited from thcir elementary ancestor, so in this way total flowsheet
drawing and calculation was guaranteed due to thcir polymorphic properties.
The document window of each application is shown i n Figure 8. I t contains a
palette of various graphical tasks as well as pull-down menus o f various operational
tasks. The palette is activated by the mouse in the form o f graphical cursors. Each
cursor performs a different graphical task, such as creation o f a new object,
specification of its type, connection o f unit objece by means o f stream objecu, erasing
and displaying its parameter values by means of meaningful dialogs. Each pull-down
menu performed a different operational task, such as keeping up with files, displaying,
and converging the total flowsheet.
I n a Microsoft Windows application, there is always a way to get user-generated
events and dispatch them to the code that can handle them. When the user clicks the
mouse on the menu bar, on a push button, in a document window, or presses a keyboard
Unit or Stream
list of obiects
Handle to Next Node

Instance variables
containing informalion
on graphical details
and model parameter values
Drawing tasks and

model calculations
Figure 7. Linked list of unit and stream objects
key. there is always an event-handler chain which assumes control of the information
flow in the application. The entirr operation is based on an event-handler chain such as
Ihe one shown in Figure 9.
The simulator is based on the sequential modular approach. The calculation for each
-
unit is or~anized into modules which are solved sequentially. ~.Specification o f variable
values at certain points of the flowsheet, as well as convergence o f recycle streams is
carried out bv means of secondam units called stream convereers and controllers. The
non-linear equations imposed by stream convergence controller units were solved
simultaneously with the ones constructed by means o f the controller units. I n [his way.
the problem of potential interactions between variables o f the recycle streams, as well
as the controller variables was handled. I n order to reduce the computational effort and
enhance the robustness of performance, sequential algorithms were developed for
almost all models. In the remaining cases, an iterative quasi-Newton algorithm was
used in order to achieve convergence of the systems o f equations. An imponant pan of
the unit operation models is the group of steady-state conveyor-belt drying chamkrs
996 MARINOS-KOURIS. MAROULIS. AND KlRANOUDlS
Figure 8. Display of main document window of user interface
for the dehydration of various agricultural products and solids. These modcls are given
by Kiranoudis el a1. (1992).
The proposed simulator basically focuses on the examination o f different design
structures o f process flowsheets for a dehydration-oriented plant. A typical flowsheet of
such plants involves conveyor belt drying chamber units placed i n series and grouped
logether into drying sections which are provided with a common conveyor bell. Each
drying chamber is equipped with an individual heating utiliiy and fans. Temperature
and humidity o f the drying air stream are con~rolledby an individual control system
within each drying chamber.
Initialize feed streams and units.

perform flowsheeting.
perform file and edit actions
I n Menu Bar
elsewhere
Define unit connections

draw units-streams.
erase units-streams.
move units-streams
Activate event
- Window growing.
zooming or moving event
I
-~~
Figure 9. Event handler chain of simulator events
The objective of the design strategy can now be clearly stated. Given a specified
product with known flowrate, to be dried from an initial to a desired final moisture
content level. the following must be determined:
- the flowsheet structure (evaluation of the number of drying sections and the
number of chambers per section).
- the appropriate flowsheet construction characteristics (sizing of units)
- [he operating conditions within each chamber (determination o f the set points o f
controllers)
The determination of the appropriate flowsheet structure is clearly a complex
optimization problem with obvious combinatorial nature. The use o f a computer-based
tool by means of which flowsheet structures are easily declared and solved, is o f utmost
impo&ce when tackling specific design strategies. The simulator was used for the
.. . -
determination of an aoorooriate flowsheet structure toeether with a simolified desien
procedure, by means o f which various rival flowsheets were examined.
-
The objective o f this test case was the determination of an appropriate nowsheet
for the dehydration o f 2400 tnsly of raw potato. The raw material which is cut in 10
nim cubes, enters the processing units at a rate of 200 k g h db. Its initial moisture
content i s 5 kglkg db and its desired level at the exit is 0.05 kg/kg db. The product
should not be heated l o temperature levels exceeding 7SC,in order to prevent thermal
degradation due to high temperatures. The operating time of the plant is 2000 hly and
its capital cost shall be paid off within a period of 5 years.
T o begin with, a single-section dryer is examined involving equal sired drying

chambers of 5 m' each. Temperamre and humidity are kept uniform in all chambers.
Tenlperature level is adjusted l o ia maximum level allowed. The desired material
moisture content level at the exit of the dryers is achieved by regulating the drying air
stream humidity which was kept uniform in all chambers. The total annual cost o f the
plant as a function of the number of drying chambers used in this single section dryer. is
shown in Figure IO(a). Clearly, an optimum was found for a total number o f 16
chambers. The optimum annual cost was found to be $ 170000 per year. which results
to 10ta1 processing expense o f approximately 16 0.07 per kg wb. This value is less than
15% o f the raw material price in the market and. therefore. the drying process cost i s
only a small portion of the final price o f the dehydrated product. The way in which
~nalerialmoisture content at the exit o f each drying chamber varied. is shown in Figure
IO(b). Clearly, the smooth exponential form of the curve is due to the uniform
distribution o f air characteristic properties in all drying chambers involved.
The effect of dividing into sections the above mentioned scheme is shown in
Figure IO(c). Apart from the single-section scheme (optimum number o f 16 chambers).
a double-section (two sections o f 8 chambers each). a trinlc-scction (two sections of 5
chambers each followed by a section o f 6 chambers) and a quadruple-section (four
sections o f 4 chambers each) schemes were examined. Clearly an optimum wa. found
for the triple-section scheme. The total annual cost was found to be S 155000 per year.
which results to a total processing expense of approximately $0.065 per kg wb.
By means of the simulator. parametric investigation o f the flowsheet can also be
performed. At the single-section scheme of the 16 chambers, the way that drying air
humidity, which regulates the lnalerirl moisture content at the exit of the section, varied
when changing the flowrate o f the input product. is shown in Figure IO(d). When the
flowrate of the input product rises. the air stream humidity becomes smaller. that is to
say, the drying conditions become more intense. I n this way. the amount o f water
evaporated is larger and the handling o f bigger product input rate is achieved.
Apart from the design aspects discussed so Tar. thc simulator can solve various
problems regarding the operation of an existing dehydration plant, such as the
following:
- Treatment of n different product to be dried. The user can take advantage of the
alrcady existing database, which can be easily enriched. provided that all
corresponding properties and transport coefficients are aveilable.
- Change of plant laad la increase productivity.
- Fluctuations of the initial moisture content ofthe product.
- Changes of operating conditions within each chamber.
L? 14 16 I8 7.0 0 4 8 t 2 1 6
Chamber Chamber
C~
400 800 m 1600
CI Product flowrate (kglh wb)
(4
Figure 10. Object-oriented simulation case studies
(a) Dependence of total annual cost on the number o f drying chambers in a

single-section dryer
(b) Variation of material moisture content at the exit of each drying
chamber in the caw of the optimum 16-chamber single-section dryer
(c) Effect of the number of sections examined on the total annual cost plant
(d) Drying air uniform humidity as a function of input product flowrate
loo0 MAIUNOSKOURIS. MAROUUS, AND KIRANOUDIS
Learning process simulation for fluidized bed dryers
Apan from flowsheeting, equipment sizing and process evaluation a simulator can
-.
be used for exolorine ooerational characteristics within a flowsheet structure. I n this
way, i t is important to update the parameters o f the mathematical models based on
information introduced by continuously acquired experimental data fitted to obtain
more efficient a~oroximations
.. o f the model oarameters. The orocedure o f uodatinn -
these parameters constitutes a "learning" propeny of a simulator. A n integrated package
-
for ooeration-lcarnine simulation of bentonite fluidized drver under Excel 5 with Visual
Basic capabilities is introduced. The simulator is based on a mathematical model
describing hen and mass transfer in the dryer. The total model incorporates empirical
models for the drying constant and the residence time. These empirical models arc
crucial in the total model efficiency. Thus, a procedure for updating the parameters of
the empirical models is provided. Two databases are supplied. The first contains
laboratory drying data and i t is used for tuning the drying constant empirical model.
The second contains industrial drying data from the real operation o f the dryer, and i t is
used for tuning the residence time empirical model. The experience from the industrial
application o f the simulator proved that the simulator is a powerful tool for flexible
operation o f an industrial dryer.
Large scale fluidized bed dryers are used in mineral and metallurgical industry.
The on-line measurement o f product moisture is difficult to achieve and, thus, no
effective control schemes exist. As a consequence, the control o f industrial dryers is
questionable, especially when the feed moisture and panicle size distribution vary
significantly. In such a situation the main task o f the process operator is to decide the
operating conditions l o match the product specifications and eventually to optimize the
energy consumption. This task can be assisted by a process simulator. A simulator for
this purpose must be based on mathematical models validaad against real lime process
behavior and, i f possible, i t must be able to learn from such experience. Bentonite is a
significant mineral whose different final uses require different specifications. Its
specifications are related to product moisture content and particle size distribution.
Besides, feed stock concentration, moismre content, and panicle size distribution vary
significantly. So the main operational problem, in the absence of an effective control
system. is to decide the drying conditions to match the pan~cularspecifications. Since
historical data are difficult to compile in order to answer this question, a simulator is
designed to assist the solution o f this problem, which appears on a daily basis.
The simulator must:
- include effective mathematical models;
- take into account the historical data of operation and eventually the laboratory
data
- incorporate a user-friendly interface for human-machine communication and new
data collection.
The simulator i s developed under Microsoft Excel 5 with Visual Basic for
Applications. Excel has been improved into an effective tool for process engineering.
Spreadsheets offer sufficient model adaptation. They are connected easilv and on-line
w.ith cham and graphic objects. Excel ;lso suppon;mathemalical and stkstical tools.
Data bases are effective and easily accessed. Besides. Visual Basic for Applications.
included in the new version 5 . offers a powerful object oriented programming language.
%m Fluidized
- h i e d solids
Flue gares
Figure I I.Flowsheet o f a fluidized bed dryer
The flow sheet of a typical fluidized bed dryer is s h o w in Figure II.The drying
in an existing fluidized bed dryer depends on the material characteristics and drying
conditions as follows:
a. Material characteristics
- feed flow rate
- feed concentration
- material moisture content
- panicle size distribution
b. Drying Conditions
- drying air flow rate
- drying air humidity
- drying air temperature
Thus. given the material characteristics and drying conditions, the process model
should calculate the output material moisture content. Based on a such model, a
simulator is able to solve various problems concerning the design and the operation of
a dryer.
The total model used is rather simple (Maroulis et 81.. 1995). Simple models are
expected to be effective when fitted to real data. The values o f the parameters
(estimates) of equations are responsible for model effectiveness. Thus, the adequate
estimation of these parameters is a crucial point for the simulator. The prh-edure for
updating these estimates (by fitting (he model to experimental data, while they are
collected). constitutes the "learning propeny" of the simulator,
The information flow diagram o f the total process model described above is
presented in Figure 12. The empirical equations for the drying constant and the
residence lime are drawn separately from the process model. since their role in
modeling is crucial. This procedure is well-known in regression analysis literature. and
i t is extended in drying by Maroulis and Marinos-Kouris (1995).
The application o f this procedure to real industrial data proved to be insuflicient
for robust simultaneous estimation of drying constant parameters and residence time
parameters. Hence the following two-stage procedure is proposed.
1002 MARINOS-KOURIS. MAROUUS. AND KIRANOUDIS
moisture content .
Process model
Output material
moisture content
Drying constanl
Drying constant Residence ti&

empirical model
a
Drying conditions
Residence time
empirical model
Figure 12. Model information flow diagram
(a) An independent sel of experimental data in a laboratory dryer was designed in

order to estimate the drying constant parameters. The regression procedure is
applied only to the drying constant empirical model.
(b) A set of real industrial data is used to estimate the residence time parameters. The
regression procedure is applied to the total model, in which the drying constant
parameters are known from the previous stage.
I t must be noted that the results of stage (a) are universal for the drying material.
That is, they characterize the material and can be used for other dryers or drying
calculations. On the other hand, the results of stage (b) charxterize the specific dryer in
specific fluid flow conditions.
The above two-stage procedure has been incorporated in the structure of the
simulator in the form of two databases containing laboratory and process data.
respectively.
The simulator is designed lo solve problems similar to that specified in the
problem definition paragraph. It has been developed under Excel 5 using the
architecture of Figure 13. Using the graphics interface. the uscr specifies the appropriate
problem, and the simulator, based on the updated model. calculates and presents h e
solution. When the simulator is used for the first time, the user insens [he drying
material lhermophysical properties. the drying characteristics, the available data from
laboratory experiments into the database, asks the simulator to update the drying
constant empirical model, insens the available data from industrial experiments into the
database and asks the simulator to update the residence time empirical model.
Graphics Interface
Input Data and
specifications Model
1.
Results reports
Process hlodel Validation
(A Two-Stage
Learning Procedure)
I
T
Databases
Laboratory Historical Model

Designed Data Parameters
Experimental of - Drying Kinetics
Data Operation - Residence time
Figure 13. Architecture of the simulator
I n all the previous and the following steps. data are inscned via appropriate dialog
boxes. while actions are executed via appropriate buttons. The results are presented ;lz
rables or graphs. The most important graphs are presented in Figures 14 and 15. Figure
14 presents the input particle size distribution, while Figure 15 presents the material
moisture content versus particle sire for the input and output material. The average
values are also presented via horizontal lines. Usually. the input material moisture
content is uniform. I n the same figure. the desired outpul material moisture content is
also plotted.
The following are examples of problems which can be solved by the simulator:
- Determine the fuel flow rate so as the air drying temperature ha.. a specific value.
- Determine the input material flow rate so as the average output moisture content
has a specific value.
- Determine the appropriate panicle size reduction so as the average output
moisture contcnt has a specific valuc
- Determine which fraction of the particle size distribution should be rejected so as
the averagc output moisture Content has a specific value
A combination of the above problems could also be specified. These problems
-
can be solved bv trial and error. or bv usina the corresvondine buuon in the simulator.
Most of the above mentioned problems are operating problems which appear on a
daily or weekly basis. Of course, other problems. such as design problems. can also hc
I
W MARINOS-KOURIS. MAROUUS. AND KIRANOUDIS
0 5 10152025 0 5 0152025 0 5 10152025

Particle Size (mm) Particle Size (mm) Particle Size (mm)
Figure 14. Panicle Size Distribution
0 5 0152025 0 5 10 152025 0 5 10152025

Particle Size (mm) Particle Size (mm) Particle Size (mm)
Figure IS. Input and Output Material Moisture Content versus Particle Size.
-
Overatinz conditions:
(a) (b) (c)
Feed flow rate (tnihr wb) 1 26 1 17 1 20
Fuel flow rate (kghr) 1 320 1 260 1 300
Drying air flow rate (m3/hr) 1 1 2W00 / 20000
COMPUTER SLMULATION OF INDUSnuAL DRYERS 1005
solved. Besides these utilities, the simulator can be used to derive design or
performance curves for the dryer. Design or performance curves are a solution of a set
of design or operation problems presented in a graphical form. These curves are useful
if one was to design or operate the dryer without the solver. A lot o f customized C U N C S
can be derived.
The solution of a typical industrial dryer operation problem for bentonite drying is
presented. A complete set of Laboratory Designed Experimental Data and some
Historical Data of Operation have been insened to databases. We will smdy the
drying o f bentonite with initial moisture content 26%wb. The panicle size distribution
analysis has been obtained during routine analysis in the industry (see Figure 14(a)).
Suppose that nominal values are selected for the flow rates, that is:
- Feed flow rate 26 tnhr wb
- Fuel flow rate 320 k g h r

- Drying air flow rate 20.000 m'hr
The model has been updated recently and the above data are inserted. The
simulator results concerning the moisture content of the product are presented in
Fig.lS(a). From this figure i t is concluded that small panicles (less than 5mm in
diameter) are dried close to 12% while large panicles (greater than 1Smm in diameter)
are dried close to 17%. and an average value of about 15% is obtained.
Suppose now that the specifications require an average value less than 12%. So.
the operating problem is to select the feed flow rate to match this value. The simulator
suggests that the feed flowrate must be reduced to 17tnhr. which is 35% less than the
nominal value before. The results are shown in Figure 15(b). Small panicles are dried
now to 9% while large panicles are dried to 15%. The average value is 12%.
But i f the reduction in productivity is not accepted, the only action we could is to
reject the large particles. This action is presented to Figures 14(c) and 15(c). The
average value o f output material moisture content is 13.7%. To match the specifications
the simulator suggests that the feed flow rate must be reduced to 20.4thlhr. that is 22%
(instead of 35%) less than the nominal value.
I n conclusion. the simulator suggests that in order to match the product
specifications, a rejection o f large particles together with a reduction of productivity
should be decided. This is a significant suggestion to the process operators. Besides, in
Figure 16 the curves that can be used to calculate the output material moismre content
versus input material moisture content and feed flow rate are presented. These curves
refer to given dryer characteristics. drying conditions, and panicle size distribution.
From the above illustrations i t can be concluded that the simulator is a powerful tool for
the production engineer, for scheduling and the optimization o f the production. The
simulator i s used by the operators of the industrial dryer with satisfactory results.
CONCLUSIONS
Computer simulation effons have allowed the development of flexible and

transparent environments for computer-aided process engineering. Most systems
support graphic construction o f flowsheets with automatic generation o f data structures.
interactive or automatic modeling of process systems at various levels o f detail, analysis
of design specilkations and various design strategies. Despite the imponance o f drying
MARINOSKOURIS. MAROULIS. AND KlRANOUDlS
Figure 16. Dryer performance curves
operations in process engineering. few efions are found for specialized simulation, due
to the predomination o f empiricism in most engineering aspects of the process. Special-
purpose simulators are designed to offer reliable representation of processes involved.
abundance o f operational dryer types, unified management of specialized databases of
properties. and focus on several aspects of the process itself, bared on the experience
gained by the operation of the industrial units. The major perspectives of computer
simulation o f industrial dryers is to utilize modern simulation tools. such as object-
oriented programming, in order to solve problems o f greatesl imponance related to
practice. such as design and operation. Several potential fields for development are
presented and emphasized. Several instances were presented in this field, their structure
and architecture was outlined, and their operation analyzed. I n each case, suitable
examples presented the efiectiveness of computer simulation in the field of dryers.
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This article was downloaded by: [University of Bristol]

On: 22 February 2015, At: 12:24

Drying Technology: An International Journal

Computer Simulation of Industrial Dryers

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/07373939608917137

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COMPUTER SIMULATION OF INDUSTRIAL DRYERS

Department of Chemical Engineering. National Technical University,

GR 157 80.Athens. Greece

The use o f computers to perform simulation of chemical engineering processes

- - have made considerable progress

CapyrighlO 1996 by Marcel Dckkcr. Inc.

engineers and the quality

economic evaluation o f the plant and technological or environmental constraints

Flowsheeting is regarded as the use of computer aids to accomplish steady-state

Figure 1. Partitioning the process design task into interrelated subtasks

Figure 2. Operation of a Flowsheeting program

methodologies developed to eventually converge a flowsheet will be analyzed and

B e seauential modular aooroach I n this approach !he flowsheeting program is

The eouation-oricntcd aooroach, In this approach. the flowsheet structure is represented

MODELING A N D SIMULATION OF INDUSTRIAL DRYERS

Drying is a complicated process involving simultaneous heat, mass and

Figure 3. Model information flow diagram

humidity and temperature. The drying constant is a function of material moisture

. - data, consisting- o f material moisture content and temperature responses, is

state. In all dehydration operations. streams typically involve two components;

OBJECT-ORIENTED SIMULATION OF INDUSTRIAL DRYERS

Object-oriented programming is a modern technique for designing and

The Object and Class notion

Obiects a3 already mentioned are software models, usually of real-world obiects.

oriented modularity we had to define cenain classes of objects to create a successful

Methods. Generic Functions, and Polymorphism

can count on the objects' behaving correctly, meaningfully and individually.

STRUCTURE OF THE SIMULATOR

I n order to simulate the flowsheet of a plant involving industrial dryers. i t is

Block Diagram Process Data

+%+ temperature and humidity.

Figure 4. Flow information on a simulation run

Table I.Major subsystems of the proposed simulator

User-Friendly Computing Environment: to allow engineers l o access the

same as for simulating other chemical manufacturing processes. The differences

operational problem, in the absence of an effective control system, is to decide the

Process Model Regression analysis

Figure 5 . Regression analysis information flow diagram

Object-oriented simulation of conveyor-belt dryers

A computer tool for the simulation o f conveyor-belt dryers is presented. I t is of

1 %i\ Creates and manages

Creates and maintains

Figure 6. Document interactions for storage, maintenance and display

Handle to Next Node

Drawing tasks and

Figure 7. Linked list of unit and stream objects

Figure 8. Display of main document window of user interface

Initialize feed streams and units.

Define unit connections

T o begin with, a single-section dryer is examined involving equal sired drying

Figure 10. Object-oriented simulation case studies

(a) Dependence of total annual cost on the number o f drying chambers in a

Learning process simulation for fluidized bed dryers

Figure I I.Flowsheet o f a fluidized bed dryer

Drying constant Residence ti&

Figure 12. Model information flow diagram

(a) An independent sel of experimental data in a laboratory dryer was designed in