PERFORMANCE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE VIBRATED FLUID BED OF INERT PARTICLES FOR DRYING OF LIQUID FEEDS

Abstract

Experimental studies are presented on drying of soybean milk in a vibrated fluidized bed of inert particles. The effects of inlet air temperature, superficial air velocity, static bed height, and the feed rate on the bed pressure drop, product hold-up and the convective heat transfer coefficient are discussed. The thermal efficiency of the dryer as well as some basic characteristics for the vibrated fluid bed of glass beads and Teflon pellets are given and compared to the ones for conventional fluid beds. A regression equation for the volumetric heat transfer coefficient is provided.

Keywords:

• Evaporation rate
• Fluidization
• Heat transfer coefficient
• Hold-up
• Pressure drop
• Soymilk
• Thermal efficiency
• Vibrofluidization

Acknowledgments