Multiscale Modeling of Superheated Steam Drying of Particulate Materials

Abstract

AbstractA multiscale model for predicting the superheated steam drying behavior of a packed bed filled with particulate porous material is presented. By using a reaction engineering approach (REA) a semi‐empirical model is developed that can describe the heat and mass transfer between a single particle and the surrounding drying agent. By analogy between superheated steam drying and hot air drying, the relative activation energy of the REA model is formulated. Next, the single‐particle drying model is fed into a continuum‐scale model of a packed bed. The temperature and moisture content of the solid and the vapor temperature are successfully predicted by the bed‐scale model. To endow the bed‐scale model with predictive capabilities, simulation results are compared with experimental literature data.