TABLE OF CONTENT

No. Content Page

1 Abstract 2
2 Introduction 3
3 Theory 4
4 Objective 6
5 Material and apparatus 7
6 Procedure 8
7 Result and calculation 9
8 Discussion 13
9 Conclusion 16
10 Recommendation 17
11 Reference 18
12 Appendix 19

1
ABSTRACT

Drying can be described as the process of vaporization and removal of water or other
liquids from a solution, suspension, or other solid-liquid mixture to form a dry solid.
Among of the other dryers, tray dryer is one of the considerable dryer that have been
widely used in domestic and industry sectors. This is because of its low cost, simplest
and economic design. For this study, we had choose banana fruit as our sample for
drying process with using tray dryer. The aim of this experiment is to define drying
rate, moisture content and the effect of velocity of air on the drying rate of the banana
fruit. Before banana sample is placed into the dryer tray, we had to slice the banana
thinly. Then, the mass of the banana is weighted before and after the experiment.
Every 10 minutes, the mass of banana sample is recorded during this experiment.
Based on the result, the drying rate of banana sample is indirectly proportional with
time as it decrease as the time increase. Thus, the objectives of this experiment are
successfully gained and successfully done.

2
INTRODUCTION

Drying can be defined as the vaporization and removal of water from a solution,
suspension or other form of solid-liquid mixture to form a dry solid free from humidity
or moisture. It is a complex process which simultaneously requires process of mass
and heat transfer. Drying occurs as a result of the vaporization of liquid heat to wet
solids. Based on the mechanism of heat transfer that is implemented, drying can be
categorized into direct (convection), indirect (conduction), radiation and microwave
which uses frequency to dry the material. Heat transfer and mass transfer are crucial
aspects in drying processes. When it comes to drying, heat will be transferred to the
material to evaporate the liquid and mass is transferred as a vapor into the
surroundings. There are two types of dryer such as batch dryers and continuous
dryers.

This experiment focuses on tray dryer which is a form of batch dryer. This type of
dryer operates by passing hot air over the surface of a wet solid that is distributed
over trays and organised in racks. Tray dryer is the most uncomplicated and cheapest
dryer type. This type of dryer is widely used in pharmaceutical and food industries.
The significant benefit of tray dryer, apart from being low cost, is their versatility.
However, the downside of this dryer is that the drying times are typically long.
Throughout the period of experiment, student uses GUNT Hamburg Tray Dryer CE-
130. Last but not least, drying is an essential unit operation which is used in variety
of process industries. The principle of drying is a two-stage process and depends on
the drying medium and the moisture content of the product being dried. If a material
contains high moisture content, it requires a longer duration of drying time.

3
THEORY

A tray dryer is an insulated chamber that places trays in trolleys on top of each other.
Tray Dryer is used where heating and drying are essential parts of the production
process in industries such as chemicals, colouring materials, pharmaceutical, food
products and colours. Tray dyer produced best drying results in conventional process.
Dryers are used by evaporation or sublimation to remove liquids or humidity from bulk
solids, powders, parts, continuous sheets or other liquids. It is possible to split dryers
into two main types: direct and indirect. Direct dryers heat a product convectively
through direct contact with heated air, gas or a combusted gas product. Besides their
low initial cost, the advantage of tray dryers is their versatility.

In tray dryer warm air is always circulated. Forced convection heating takes vicinity
to eliminate moister from the solids placed in trays. Simultaneously, the moist air is
eliminated partially. Wet solid is loaded in to the trays. Trays are positioned in the
chamber. Fresh air is introduced through inlet, which passes through the heaters and
receives heated up. The hot air is circulated by means of ability of followers at 2 to 5
metre per second. Turbulent flow lowers the partial vapour stress in the ecosystem
and additionally reduces the thickness of the air boundary layer. The water is picked
up with the aid of the air. As the water evaporates from the surface, the water diffuses
from the interior of the solids by means of the capillary action. These activities show
up in a single omit of air. The time of contact is quick and amount of water picked up
in a single omit is small.

Therefore, the discharged air to the tune of 80 to 90 % is circulated again via the fans.
Only 10 to 20% of sparkling air is introduced. Moist air is discharged through outlet.
Thus steady temperature and uniform air go with the flow over the materials can be
maintained for achieving uniform drying. In case of the moist granules as in pills and
capsules, drying is persisted until the preferred moister content material is obtained.
At the cease of the drying trays or vans are pulled out of the chamber and taken to a
tray dumping station. As a unit operation, drying solid materials is one of the most
used and vital in the chemical process industries (CPI), since it is used in practically
every plant and facility that manufactures or handles solid materials, in the form of
powders and granules.

4
A wet solid is formed from a bone dry solid and moisture. The wet solid which contain
of moisture is present as free moisture content and equilibrium moisture content. The
maximum possible amount of moisture that can be removed by drying represents the
free moisture content. To have a complete drying of a certain material is impossible
because there must have small amount of liquid left. The liquid that coexist in
equilibrium with the solid will remain so it will never have a complete drying. The rate
where the moisture content is being removed when being heated is call as the drying
rate. It depends on the humidity, air velocity and temperature of drying. Drying rates
is consist of two types which are constant rate and falling rate. The constant rate is
being observed when moisture content is decreases uniformly with time. During this
constant rate period, same amount of liquid is being vaporized per unit time. For the
falling rates, it occurs when moisture content is being observed not decreases linearly
with the time. At this period, the quantity of liquid that vaporized per unit times is
unequal.

Tray dyers is very suitable for small scale production and it can be operated in
vacuum condition. Materials, when uncovered to blowers tend to fly away when dried.
This effects in the loss of raw materials in most of the driers. On the other hand, tray
dryers are designed in a way that such kinds of losses can be prevented. This
increases the productivity of the materials manufacturing technique.

5
OBJECTIVE

There were several objectives in conducting the experiment:

1. To determine the drying rate and moisture content of the sample by removal
of water process.
2. The effect of velocity of air on drying rate of the sample by performing drying
process.
3. To study on operating the tray dryer.
4. To identify the differences between tray dryers with other types of batch
dryers.

6
MATERIAL AND APPARATUS

Material

Banana

Apparatus

1. Knife
2. Chopping Board
3. Tray Dryer Training Unit CE – 130.
4. Anemometer.

7
PROCEDURE

Start-up procedures:

1. The main switch of tray dryer machine was switched on.

2. Then, the fan was switched on via its power button and set at moderate speed
by using the fan controller.
3. Lastly, the heater was switched and the heating controller knob was turned to
scale 7 (highest).

Preparation procedures:

1. The drying trays was rinsed and cleaned to remove any impurities on it.
2. The mass of drying trays was measured by inserting them into the support
frame and recorded respectively.
3. The bananas were sliced thinly and arranged together with 30 slices per tray
to ensure uniform drying.
4. The tray filled with banana slices are then weighed and recorded.
5. The initial temperature and initial humidity were recorded respectively.
6. Then the initial air flow inside the tray dryers was measured by using
anemometer and the reading was recorded.
7. Then, all of the data were recorded with 10 minutes interval for 90 minutes of
the drying process.
8. After 90 minutes, all of the trays were taken out from the tray dryer machine
and cleaned.

Shut-down procedures:

1. The heating controller knob was turned to scale 0.

2. The heater and fan switches were switched off.
3. The main switch of the tray dryer machine was turned off.

8
RESULT AND CALCULATION

Mass of tray (4 Tray) = 1.3937 kg

Mass of tray + banana = 2.18707 kg
Mass of banana = 0.794 kg

Time Temperature Humidity Velocity Mass of

(min) (°C) (%) (m/s) Banana
(kg)
T1 T2 H1 H2

0 34.5 32.5 18.4 0.5 1.29 0.7594

10 45.6 42.6 7.6 0.5 1.32 0.7329
20 46.6 44.6 7.5 0.5 1.37 0.7052
30 46.5 44.9 7.5 0.5 1.42 0.6820
40 46.5 45.0 7.5 0.5 1.36 0.6632
50 46.6 45.2 7.5 0.5 1.40 0.6467
60 46.7 45.4 7.5 0.5 1.27 0.6308
70 46.7 45.4 7.6 0.5 1.38 0.6178
80 47.1 45.7 7.5 0.5 1.33 0.6048
90 46.8 45.8 7.5 0.5 1.38 0.5927
100 46.7 45.6 7.5 0.5 1.33 0.5825
110 46.8 45.5 7.6 0.5 1.32 0.5719
120 46.9 45.6 7.6 0.5 1.26 0.5629

Table 7.1 Temperature, humidity, velocity and mass properties of banana at the
respective time

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 Time (min) Mass of banana Moisture content Drying rate
(kg) (v) (min ¯¹)
0 0.7594 0.3491 0.00471
10 0.7329 0.3020 0.00492
20 0.7052 0.2528 0.00412
30 0.6820 0.2116 0.00334
40 0.6632 0.1782 0.00293
50 0.6467 0.1489 0.00281
60 0.6308 0.1208 0.00233
70 0.6178 0.0975 0.00231
80 0.6048 0.0744 0.00215
90 0.5927 0.0529 0.00181
100 0.5825 0.0348 0.00188
110 0.5719 0.0160 0.00160
120 0.5629 0 0

Table 7.2 Drying Rate and Moisture Content

MOISTURE CONTENT VS TIME

0.4

0.35

0.3
MOISTURE CONTENT

0.25

0.2

0.15

0.1

0.05

0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140
TIME

Figure 1 Graph of Moisture Content versus Time

The graph shows the moisture content of banana decreases when the time
increase.

10
 DRYING RATE VS TIME
0.006
DRYING RATE 0.005

0.004

0.003

0.002

0.001

0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140
TIME (MIN)

Figure 2 Graph of Drying Rate versus Time

The graph shows slight increase and sudden decrease in drying rate from time 0 min
to 20 min then decrease until time 40 min. From time 40 min to 50 min the drying rate
is constant. At time 50 min to 60 min, slightly decrease and became constant from 60
min to 80 min. The graph declines rapidly at time 110 min to 120 min.

DRYING RATE VS MOISTURE CONTENT

0.006

0.005
DRYING RATE

0.004

0.003

0.002

0.001

0
0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3 0.35 0.4
MOISTURE CONTENT

Figure 3 Graph of Drying Rate versus Moisture Content (Drying Curve)

11
The graph shows the drying rate increase when the moisture content increase from
0% to 0.3% moisture. However, at 0.04% until 0.05% of moisture content in the graph
shows slightly decrease in drying rate. From 0.18% of moisture content, the graph
shows rapidly increase until 0.32%. However, the moisture content drops from 0.3%
of moisture content until 0.35% of moisture content.

CALCULATION
The total mass of wet banana and tray are 2.18707 kg and the mass of tray is 1.3937
kg.

Mass balance:
Mass in = mass out

Initial Total Mass (Kg) = Final Total Mass + Mass of Water

Evaporated
Mass of Water Evaporated = 0.7594 kg – 0.5629 kg
= 0.1965 kg

𝐌𝐚𝐬𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐰𝐞𝐭 𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐚 , 𝐌𝐚𝐬𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐝𝐫𝐲 𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐚 (𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥)

Moisture content, v =
𝐌𝐚𝐬𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐝𝐫𝐲 𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐚 (𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥)

4.6789,4.7:;8
=
4.7:;8
= 0.3491 kg/min

4.6<;8,4.7:;8
=
4.7:;8
= 0.3020 kg/min

12
DISCUSSION

Drying is a method of removing relatively small amounts of water from a specific area
or material. The removed water from the material is usually in the form of vapour and
is transported in the air. For this experiment, it is classified as a batch drying process
because the material is inserted the drying equipment and is left to dry for a specified
amount of time. The goal of this experiment was to sketch drying curve based on the
moisture content of the banana slices within the time taken. In theoretical terms, heat
and air is supplied into the dryer system which is absorbed into the banana slices and
causes mass transfer to occur by evaporating the water in the samples and using the
air velocity to transport the molecules in the process, thus reducing the moisture
content in the samples.

Based on the results obtained in Table 7.1, it shows the humidity from the experiment
according to the time taken to dry the samples for every 10 minutes for a total of 120
minutes. In the first 10 minutes of the experiment, the humidity that was recorded was
7.6 for H1 and 0.5 for H2 meanwhile the temperature was 45.6 for T1 and 42.6 for
T2, respectively. Meanwhile, along the experiment, it states that the humidity value
shows only slight to no variation which is from 7.5% to 7.6% for the duration of the
experiment. This means that the water vapour content in the 1kg of dry air does not
change. This occurs due to the equipment lacking efficiency. Therefore, not much is
change in terms of humidity content in the system. It is also noted that the value of
T1 and H1 are the readings before the trays undergoes the drying process while T2
and H2 are the readings after the drying process.

Moving on, Table 7.2 indicates the mass and moisture content of the banana samples
and also the drying rate of the samples throughout the experiment. Based on the
readings, the mass and moisture content of the banana decreases at an average of
0.02 for every 10 minutes’ interval. The drying rate of the banana samples also is
indirectly proportional with time as it decreases as the time increases. At the start of
the experiment, the mass and moisture content of the banana samples is recorded
as 0.7594 kg and 0.3491, respectively. Meanwhile by the end of the experiment, the
mass and moisture content reading is 0.5629 kg and 0, respectively. This happens
because the banana samples undergo drying process while inside the tray dryer. The
moisture content in the banana samples decrease because the water is vaporized
when the hot air flows through the banana. Once the surface of the banana samples

13
has dried, there will be moisture different between the surface and the internal of the
banana samples.

Subsequently, from the experiment, the drying rate of the banana samples and the
time taken shows that the rate of drying decreases as time increases. The graph
below indicates the trend of the decreasing rate of the banana samples over time. In
the graph, it shows that the rate decreases at a normal order.

DRYING RATE VS TIME

0.006

0.005
DRYING RATE

0.004

0.003

0.002

0.001

0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140
TIME (MIN)

Figure 4 Graph of Drying Rate vs Time

The other properties that are affected is the drying rate and the moisture content. The
results are affected by the velocity of the air inside the system. Although the fan speed
was set to low, there are still changes of velocity during the experiment, as seen in
the results. This occurs due to the equipment lacking efficiency and is not well
maintained. Figure () shows the graph of the drying rate vs the moisture content.

14
 DRYING RATE VS MOISTURE CONTENT
0.006

0.005

DRYING RATE
0.004

0.003

0.002

0.001

0
0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3 0.35 0.4
MOISTURE CONTENT

Figure 5 Graph of Drying rate vs Moisture Content (Drying Curve)

The rate of drying for the banana slices at the end of the experiment are inconsistent
due to several factors. First, the size of the banana slices differs for each sample.
There were some samples that are thin and big while a majority of the samples were
small but thick. This inconsistency in sized greatly affected the drying rate of the
samples because of different surface areas and how well the samples absorbed the
heat supplied by the system. The size of the sample also relates to the second criteria
which is the moisture content inside the samples. For the thick and small samples,
the moisture content is very high which requires longer duration of drying. Meanwhile,
the large and thin samples dried up relatively fast compared to the previously
mentioned sample because the surface area affected by the system. By the end of
the experiment and based on the results obtained, it can be concluded that the batch
dryer is acceptable.

15
CONCLUSION

Based on the data and graph plotted, it shows that the objective of the experiment
was achieved. The result of drying process followed according to the theory which is
the moisture content decrease over time. The velocity of the air highly depends on
the fan of the drying unit. Since the speed of the fan were constant, the changes of
the velocity are due to outside air or because of the faulty equipment that was not
well maintained. The experiment was done perfectly and can faced major problem if
the equipment in a bad condition. Therefore, the equipment must be well-maintained
and troubleshoot the experiments as it can be reduced the yield error in the result
obtained. To conclude, as the objectives of the experiment has been achieved, the
experiment is successfully done.

16
RECOMMENDATION

Several recommended steps and improvements can be made prior and during the
experiment in order to obtain much better performance and results. First, perform
annual maintenance on the machine after using the machine for several times so that
it is always in perfect condition when it is needed to perform the next session. This
could also help to identify which part of the machine that will usually deteriorate after
every session. Next, to hasten the rate of drying, the fan speed should be set to
around the medium to high settings. This will greatly improve the drying rate and also
shorten the time.

Furthermore, the velocity of the fan must at least be constant in order to get a uniform
and accurate drying rate. This must be maintained throughout the experiment for the
reading to be accurate. In addition, the machine should be well-insulated in order to
prevent any unwanted heat loss from the system to the surrounding. This is to avoid
any loss of heat and also to avoid reducing the drying rate. Other than that, the
machine could be designed with better air circulation throughout the system so that
better air flow can come in contact with the banana slices, thus increasing the drying
rate. Lastly, the tested material should be chosen wisely and must obey several
criteria. The material must not contain high initial moisture content and the size of the
material should be the same so that even readings are obtained for each sample.

17
REFERENCE

Tray Dryer Working Principle - Tray Dryers Theory Manufacturer - Best

Pharmaceutical Equipment. (2017, November 17).
Retrieved from https://pharmawiki.in/tray-dryer-working-principle-tray-dryers-theory-
manufacturer-best-pharmaceutical-equipment/

Kiranoudis, C., Maroulis, Z., Marinos-Kouris, D., & Tsamparlis, M. (1997). Design of
tray dryers for food dehydration. Journal of Food Engineering,32(3), 269-291.
doi:10.1016/s0260-8774(97)00010-1

Chemical Engineering. (n.d.). Solids Drying: Basics and Applications - Chemical

Engineering | Page 1. Retrieved from https://www.chemengonline.com/solids-
drying-basics-and-applications/

Panchal, P. (1970, January 01). The Principle and Application of Tray Dryer.
Retrieved from https://jksparklerfilterpress.blogspot.com/2013/09/the-principle-and-
application-of-tray.html

Ahmad, M. N. (n.d.). Drying Process via Tray Dryer.

18
APPENDIX

Figure 6 Raw data obtained during experiment

19
Figure 7 GUNT Hamburg CE-130

20