An experimental investigation on the drying of thorium oxalate in a batch spouted bed dryer

Abstract

In the present work, drying of thorium oxalate slurry has been investigated using a batch spouted bed dryer containing inert spherical glass particles. The results show that the fine and discretized dried particles could be produced in this type of dryer. Moreover, the effect of temperature and velocity of inlet air on the drying kinetics of thorium oxalate has been studied. Drying experiments have been conducted at three different temperature (90, 100 and 110 °C), and three different air inlet velocities (1, 1.2 and 1.5 times the minimum spouting velocity). Five widely applied models with velocity and temperature dependent constant were chosen to predict the drying kinetic. Three criteria of statistical analysis including the root mean square error (ERMS), reduced Chi-squared (χ2), and the coefficient of determination (R2) have been used to analyze the quality of fitted models. All examined models were satisfactory but the predication capability of Logarithmic model was the best for describing the drying kinetics of thorium oxalate.