Abstract
Differential drying curves at constant temperature provide a means of assessing the relative diffusivity of water in porous solids such as mineral and lignocellulosic biomass materials. Determination of the critical extent of drying ( xc) at which there is a kinetic transition from constant drying rate to decreasing drying rate allows the comparison of water diffusivity between materials. The mean xc value of two porous mineral materials and two ion-exchange resins was 0.68±0.08, and for six residual lignocellulosic biomasses xc was 0.27 ±0.07, a significant higher than two-fold difference ( p < 0.01). The findings are discussed from a microscopic structural viewpoint.
Highlights
Drying is an essential process in many technological areas such as agricultural, chemical, food and wood-processing industries
Differential drying curves at constant temperature provide a means of assessing the relative diffusivity of water in porous solids such as mineral and lignocellulosic biomass materials
Determination of the critical extent of drying at which there is a kinetic transition from constant drying rate to decreasing drying rate allows the comparison of water diffusivity between materials
Summary
Drying is an essential process in many technological areas such as agricultural, chemical, food and wood-processing industries. The drying of residual biomasses is an important issue in regions where agricultural or agro-industrial activity may provide adequate amounts of this kind of potential renewable solid fuel. It is useful to give the observed results as drying rates, dx/dt, where x is the extent of the process that has occurred at time t, plotted as a function of the fraction of residual moisture (1 – x) associated to the solid material, at specific environmental conditions [1, 2]. Curves given as mass (or x) vs time show an initial linear relationship (see Figure 1). This implies that -dm/dt (or dx/dt) is constant.
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