Superheated Steam Drying of Single Wood Particles: Modeling and Comparative Study with Hot Air Drying

• Published in: Chemical engineering & technology 2021-01, Vol.44 (1), p.114-123
• Main Authors: Le, Kieu Hiep, Tran, Thi Thu Hang, Tsotsas, Evangelos, Kharaghani, Abdolreza
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Air drying; Comparative studies; Desiccants; Diffusion models; Heat transfer; Mass transfer; Moisture effective diffusivity; Reaction engineering approach; Superheated steam drying
• ISSN: 0930-7516; 1521-4125
• DOI: 10.1002/ceat.202000133

A deterministic model is developed to describe the superheated steam drying process of single wood particles. A comparison between calculated data and experimental observations infers that the moisture‐dependent effective diffusivity is suitable to be used for beechwood material drying. To reduce the computational cost of the deterministic drying model, a semi‐empirical model is proposed within the framework of a reaction engineering approach (REA). The validity of the proposed model is checked by comparing against experimental data from literature. The experimental drying behavior may fairly be reflected by the reduced model. Due to the simplicity and predictive ability of the REA model, this semi‐empirical model can be implemented to describe heat and mass transfer between a population of single particles and a drying agent in dryer models. Superheated steam drying is an economical and environmentally friendly drying technique. The effective moisture diffusivity of beechwood material is determined by an inverse method. The developed diffusion model is reduced to a simplified model, i.e., reaction engineering approach. The superheated steam and hot air drying processes of single wood particles are compared in the frame of this approach.