Tutorial 8

Downstream Processing 3
Example 8.1
Moisture content after drying
A filter cake produced by vacuum filtration of bakers’ yeast contains 38 g of water per 100 g
of dry cells. The cells are dried before packaging. Atmospheric air at 10oC and 90% relative
humidity is heated to 30oC at constant pressure for use in a tray drier. Assuming that
equilibrium is reached during the drying process and that the equilibrium moisture content
isotherm for yeast shown in Figure below applies (black circles curve corresponds to 30oC).
What is the moisture content of the cells after drying?

Solution:
What is given?
Water content 38g/100g of dry cells
Relative humidity at 10oC, 𝑅𝑚 = 90%
Air is heated to 30oC

What is asked?
The moisture content of the cells after drying

We can determine value of the moisture content of the cells after drying from the graph
but need to know the value of relative humidity at 30C.
𝑝𝑤
𝑅𝑚 = × 100 (13.19)
𝑝𝑠𝑤

We can find 𝑝𝑠𝑤 value from Steam table but 𝑝𝑤 value should be calculated.
After re-arranging eq. (13.19) for relative humidity we can calculate the partial pressure
of water vapour in air at 10oC:

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 90%
𝑝𝑤 = 𝑅𝑚 × 𝑝𝑠𝑤 = (1.227 𝑘𝑃𝑎) = 1.104 𝑘𝑃𝑎
100%
Partial pressure is also proportional to the mole fraction of water vapour in the air (to
the molar concentration of water in the gas phase):
𝑝𝑤 = 𝑦𝑤 𝑝𝑇 (T8.1)
where 𝑦𝑤 is the mole fraction of water vapour in the air and 𝑝𝑇 is the total pressure.

When the air is heated to 30oC, the composition of the air-vapour mixture and the total
pressure remain constant because the process is in its steady-state stage, and therefore,
from eq. (T8.1) partial pressure 𝑝𝑤 in the air at 30oC is also 1.104 kPa.
From Steam table the saturation vapour pressure of water at 30 oC:
𝑝𝑠𝑤 = 4.24 𝑘𝑃𝑎
Therefore, using eq. (13.19) for heated air we can calculate relative humidity at 30oC:
𝑝𝑤 1.104 𝑘𝑃𝑎
𝑅𝑚 = × 100 = × 100% = 26%
𝑝𝑠𝑤 4.24 𝑘𝑃𝑎

From the figure above we need to determine the equilibrium moisture content of yeast
exposed to air at 30oC relative humidity.
It is around 7 kg of water per 100 g dry weight.
Note that the initial water content of the wet yeast does not figure in this calculation.
The moisture content of the cells after drying is 7 kg of water per 100 g dry cells.

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Example 8.2
Drying time during constant rate drying
Precipitated enzyme is filtered and the filter solids washed and dried before packaging.
Washed filter cake contains 10 kg of dry solids and 15% water measured on a wet basis. The
filter cake is dried in a tray drier under constant drying conditions. The critical moisture
content is 6%, dry basis. The area available for drying is 1.2 m2. The air temperature in the
drier is 35oC. At the air humidity used, the surface temperature of the wet solids is 28oC. The
heat transfer coefficient is 25 J m-2 s-1 oC-1.
What drying time is required to reduce the moisture content to 8%, wet basis?

Solution:
What data are we given?
Initial and final moisture content: 15% and 8% wet basis, respectively
Critical moisture content: 6%, dry basis
The mass of dry solid (cake) 𝑀𝑆 = 10 𝑘𝑔
Area available for drying: 𝐴ℎ = 1.2 𝑚2
The air temperature: 𝑇𝑎 = 35℃
The temperature of the wet solids 𝑇 = 28℃
The heat transfer coefficient ℎ𝑠 = 25 𝐽𝑚−2 𝑠 −1 ℃−1

What is asked?
Drying time required to reduce the moisture content to 8%, wet basis.

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Estimate Δt, the time required to dry
solids from an initial moisture content of
X0 to a final moisture content of X1
when the drying rate is constant.
𝑀𝑆
∆𝑡 = (𝑋0 − 𝑋1 ) (13.22)
𝑁

The process is at steady state, so N here

is the constant drying rate Nc and can be
calculated from eq. (13.21).
ℎ𝑠 𝐴ℎ (𝑇𝑎 −𝑇)
𝑁𝑐 = (13.21)
∆ℎ𝑣

First, we need to establish 𝑋0 & 𝑋1 because these values should be calculated in relation to a
dry cell mass. Therefore, the initial and final moisture contents expressed on a wet basis must
be converted to a dry basis:
15 𝑔 𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟 15 𝑔 𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟
15% 𝑤𝑒𝑡 𝑏𝑎𝑠𝑖𝑠 = =
100 𝑔 𝑤𝑒𝑡 𝑠𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑑 15 𝑔 𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟 + 85 𝑔 𝑑𝑟𝑦 𝑠𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑑

15 𝑔 𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟
𝑋0 = = 0.176
85 𝑔 𝑑𝑟𝑦 𝑠𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑑
The same applies for 8% moisture content:
8 𝑔 𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟 8 𝑔 𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟
8% 𝑤𝑒𝑡 𝑏𝑎𝑠𝑖𝑠 = =
100 𝑔 𝑤𝑒𝑡 𝑠𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑑 8 𝑔 𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟 + 92 𝑔 𝑑𝑟𝑦 𝑠𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑑

8 𝑔 𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟
𝑋1 = = 0.087
92 𝑔 𝑑𝑟𝑦 𝑠𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑑

𝑋1 = 0.087 > 𝑋𝑐 = 0.06

This is a confirmation that the entire drying operation occurs at the constant drying rate.

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Now we can calculate Nc, where c stands for “constant” (steady-state).
We can find the latent heat of vaporisation Δhv for water at 28oC (the temperature of the
surface of the solids where evaporation takes place) from Steam table:
∆ℎ𝑣 = 2435.4 𝑘𝐽 𝑘𝑔−1

ℎ𝑠 𝐴ℎ (𝑇𝑎 − 𝑇) (25 𝐽𝑚−2 𝑠 −1 ℃−1 )(1.2 𝑚2 )(35 − 28)℃

𝑁𝑐 = = 3 −1
= 8.62 × 10−5 𝑘𝑔 𝑠 −1
∆ℎ𝑣 2435.4 × 10 𝐽 𝑘𝑔

𝑀𝑆 10 𝑘𝑔 1ℎ
∆𝑡 = (𝑋0 − 𝑋1 ) = ∙ ( ) ∙ (0.176 − 0.087) = 2.87 ℎ
𝑁 (8.62 × 10−5 𝑘𝑔 𝑠 −1 ) 3600 𝑠

The time required for drying 2.9 h

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Example 8.3
Crystal population density
Salicylic acid crystals are harvested from magma with a slurry density of 120 g l-1. The
crystals are washed, dried, and size-fractionated by sieving. The mass fraction of crystals
with sizes between 210 and 250 μm is 0.14. The density of the crystals is 1.44 g cm -3 and
the volume shape factor is 0.55.
What is the population density of crystals of size 230 μm ?

Solution

The crystal population density can be evaluated using eq. (13.8):

(𝑀𝑇 ∆𝓌)/∆𝐿
𝑛= (13.8)
𝜌𝑘𝑣 𝐿3av

First, we need to calculate the average size of crystals in the 210 to 250 μm sample:
(210 + 250)𝜇𝑚
𝐿av = = 230 𝜇𝑚
2
Then:
(𝑀𝑇 ∆𝓌) (120 𝑔𝐿−1 )(0.14)
𝑛= =
𝜌𝑘𝑣 𝐿3av ∆𝐿 1 𝑐𝑚 3
(1.44 𝑔𝑐𝑚−3 ) ( ) (0.55)(230 𝜇𝑚)3 (250 − 210)𝜇𝑚
104 𝜇𝑚

𝑛 = 4.4 × 104 𝜇𝑚−1 𝐿−1

Or the crystal population density’s units can be simplified to:

4 −1 −1
1000 𝐿 106 𝜇𝑚
𝑛 = 4.4 × 10 𝜇𝑚 𝐿 ∙( 3
)∙( ) = 4.4 × 1013 𝑚−4
1𝑚 1𝑚

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Example 8.4
Calculation of Supersaturation
At 293 K, a supersaturated solution of sucrose contains 2.45 kg sucrose/kg water. The
equilibrium saturation value is 2.04 kg sucrose/kg water.
What is the supersaturation ratio in terms of kg/kg water and kg/kg solution?

Solution:
Slide 13.14
For concentrations in kg sucrose/kg water:
Solute concentration 𝑐 = 2.45 𝑘𝑔 𝑠𝑢𝑐𝑟𝑜𝑠𝑒/𝑘𝑔 𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟
Solubility (the equilibrium saturation value) 𝑐 ∗ = 2.04 𝑘𝑔 𝑠𝑢𝑐𝑟𝑜𝑠𝑒/𝑘𝑔 𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟
Supersaturation ratio:
𝑐 2.45 𝑘𝑔/𝑘𝑔
𝑆= = = 1.20 (13.10)
𝑐∗ 2.04 𝑘𝑔/𝑘𝑔

For concentrations in kg sucrose/kg solution:

Weight of solution comprises of weight of solids and weight of solvent.
Since the solvent is water, its concentration can be considered equal to 1 kg.
Therefore, we need to recalculate concentrations as weight of solids per weight of solution:
2.45 𝑘𝑔 𝑠𝑢𝑐𝑟𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑘𝑔
𝑐= = 0.71
(2.45 + 1) 𝑘𝑔 𝑠𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑘𝑔 𝑠𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛
2.04 𝑘𝑔 𝑠𝑢𝑐𝑟𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑘𝑔
𝑐∗ = = 0.67
(2.04 + 1) 𝑘𝑔 𝑠𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑘𝑔 𝑠𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛
𝑐 0.71 𝑘𝑔/𝑘𝑔 𝑠𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛
𝑆= = = 1.06
𝑐 ∗ 0.67 𝑘𝑔/𝑘𝑔 𝑠𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛

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Example 8.5
Scaleup of Crystallisation Based on Constant Power per Volume
Scale up of a batch crystallization of an antibiotic is based on experiments with a 1L crystalliser.
The use of a 3 cm diameter impeller at a speed of 200 rpm led to good crystallisation results.
For maintaining power per volume constant upon scaleup to 300 L, what should be the diameter
and speed of the large-scale impeller?
The solvent has the same density and viscosity as water.

Solution:
For the scaleup, we assume geometric similarity.
Remember that geometrical similarity means that the small and large reactors/crystallisers
should have the same shape, and all the linear dimensions of the small reactor/crystalliser
should be related to the corresponding dimensions of the large reactor/crystalliser by a
constant scale factor.
For the example of two reactors/crystallisers it would be:

𝐷2 𝑇2 𝑉2 𝐵2 𝑍2
= = = =
𝐷1 𝑇1 𝑉1 𝐵1 𝑍1

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Batch reactor (CSTR) used as a crystalliser is generally a cylinder. You can also just state that
you are assuming that it is a cylinder. Therefore, its volume can be calculated using standard
formula for volume of a cylinder:
1
𝑉 = 𝜋𝑟 2 × 𝐻 = 𝜋𝐷2 × 𝐻
4
Since the ratio of height to diameter is another parameter fixed during scale up then assuming
𝐻
that =X → 𝐻 = 3𝑑𝑐 , where 𝑑𝑐 is a crystalliser diameter.
𝑑𝑐

Consequently,
1 𝑋
𝑉 = 𝜋𝑑𝑐2 × 𝑋𝑑𝑐 = 𝜋𝑑𝑐3
4 4
Also we know that generally ratio between diameter of a crystalliser (CSTR) and impeller is
fixed during scaling up, then:
𝑑𝑐 = Y𝑑𝑖
1 2 𝑋𝑌 3
𝑉 = 𝜋𝑑𝑐 × 𝑋𝑑𝑐 = 𝜋𝑑𝑖3
4 4
Thus, the volume 𝑉 scales with the impeller diameter 𝑑𝑖 as:
𝑉 ∝ 𝑑𝑖3
Letting subscripts 1 and 2 denote the small and large scales, respectively:
𝑉2 𝑑𝑖2 3
=( )
𝑉1 𝑑𝑖1
Solving it for 𝑑𝑖2
1
1/3
𝑉2 300 𝐿 3
𝑑𝑖2 = 𝑑𝑖1 ( ) = (3 𝑐𝑚) ( ) = 20.08 𝑐𝑚 = 20.1 𝑐𝑚
𝑉1 1𝐿
Geometric similarity and constant power per volume is used in scaleup of crystallizers. For
turbulent flow, constant power per volume means:
𝑃
∝ 𝑁𝑖3 𝑑𝑖2
𝑉
3 2 3 2
𝑁𝑖1 𝑑𝑖1 = 𝑁𝑖2 𝑑𝑖2
This equation is only valid for turbulent flow in the crystallizer.

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Therefore, to verify that the flow is turbulent, we need to calculate the Reynolds number for
the lab crystalliser (agitated tank):
𝑟𝑒𝑣 𝑔 1 𝑚𝑖𝑛
𝑑𝑖2 𝑁𝑖 𝜌 (3 𝑐𝑚)2 × 200 × 1.00 3 ×
𝑚𝑖𝑛 𝑐𝑚 60 𝑠
𝑅𝑒 = ( )= 𝑔 = 3000
𝜇 0.01
𝑐𝑚 𝑠
where Ni is in revolutions per unit time, ρ is the fluid density, and μ is the fluid viscosity.
This Reynolds number indicates that the flow is likely to be turbulent as it is in the transition
range (2000-4000).
Solving equation above for 𝑁𝑖2 :
𝑑𝑖1 2/3 𝑟𝑒𝑣 3 𝑐𝑚 2/3 𝑟𝑒𝑣
𝑁𝑖2 = 𝑁𝑖1 ( ) = 200 × ( ) = 56.3 = 56 𝑟𝑝𝑚
𝑑𝑖2 𝑚𝑖𝑛 20.1 𝑐𝑚 𝑚𝑖𝑛
Thus, the rotation rate during scale up is reduced considerably compared with the laboratory
,

scale.

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