PhD Thesis Summary: Energy Efficient Multistage Zeolite Drying for Heat-Sensitive Products

Abstract

Although drying takes a significant part of the total energy usage in industry, currently available drying technology is often not efficient in terms of energy consumption. Generally, the energy efficiency for drying processes ranges between 20 and 60% depending on the dryer type and product to be dried. The high energy consumption and low energy efficiency have a high environmental impact due to combustion of fossil fuel or wood used as energy sources. Moreover, the sources of fossil fuel are limited, the prices for energy increase, and the worldwide industrial energy usage rises. In this context the development of efficient drying methods with low energy consumption is an important issue for research in drying technology.

Keywords:

• Adsorption
• Computational fluid dynamics
• Drying model
• Energy efficiency
• Multistage drying
• Zeolite

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This research was conducted in the Systems and Control Group and the group for Valorization of Plant Production Chains, Department of Agrotechnology and Food Science and A&F of Wageningen University and Research Centre. The research was funded by TPSDP Project Diponegoro University Semarang Indonesia, and the Energy Research Program EOS of the Dutch Ministry of Economics conducted by SenterNovem (project NEOT01005). An adsorption dryer was constructed by Ebbens Engineering; zeolite from CECA was provided by Brenttag.

Notes

Promotors: G. van Straten, J. P. M. Sanders, A. J. B. van Boxtel and P. V. Bartels.