Porous Materials Drying Model Based on the Thermodynamics of Irreversible Processes: Background and Application

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the heat and mass transfer (drying) in capillary-porous bodies using both the mechanistic and non-equilibrium thermodynamic approaches. A new coupled mathematical modeling to predict heat and moisture (liquid and vapor) transfer in wet capillary-porous bodies with particular reference to prolate spheroidal solids is presented and discussed. The mathematical model is based on the thermodynamics of irreversible processes by considering variable transport coefficients and equilibrium or convective boundary conditions at the surface of the solid. All the partial differential equations presented in the model have been written in prolate spheroidal coordinates. The finite-volume method has been used to obtain the numerical solution of the governing equations. Application has been done to wheat kernel drying and comparison between predicted and experimental data has showed good agreement.