Feasibility study on pliant media drying using fluidized bed dryer

Abstract

The usage of pliant media for blasting in surface preparation has gained substantial interest in various industries, particularly oil and gas. Being a clean technology, this relatively new method of surface preparation has become an alternative to conventional abrasive blasting technique which lowers fugitive emissions from blasting process and hence lowering risk to workers in the industry. Despite proven to be effective and cost efficient, the usage of pliant media in tropical climate poses a new challenge due to the torrential rain in the monsoon season. During rainy and wet conditions, the pliant media was literally soaked and the recovery rate of the pliant media for a continuous blasting becomes retarded. A viable technique for drying of this pliant media has then become imperative. The present study proposes to dry water laden pliant media in a Swirling Fluidized Bed Dryer (SFBD). In this preliminary study, three bed loadings of 1.7, 2.0 and 2.3 kg of pliant media was dried in the SfBd at 80°C, 90°C and 100°C. The experimental works revealed that the SFBD has shown excellent potential to dry the pliant media with a relatively short drying time. The behaviour of moisture ratio and drying rate against time are discussed. The findings conclude that the SFBD is a feasible technique for wet pliant media drying and can be extended for continuous processing system.