Modelling of heat and mass transfer in a granular medium during high-temperature air drying. Effect of the internal gas pressure

A comprehensive internal heat and water transfer model including the gas pressure effect has been proposed in order to improve the industrial high-temperature air drying of inserts made of agglomerated sand. In this model, the internal gas phase pressure effect was made perfectly explicit, by considering the liquid and vapour transfer by filtration and the liquid expulsion at the surface. Wet sand enclosed in a tight cylindrical glass bottle dried convectively at a high temperature was chosen as an application case. The model was validated on the basis of the experimental average water content and core temperature curves for drying trials at different operating conditions. The simulations of the spatio-temporal distribution of internal gas pressure were performed and interpreted in terms of product potential damage. Based on a compromise between the drying time and the pressure increase, a simple drying cycle was implemented in order to optimize the drying process.