Inlet Air Flow Rate Research Articles

Encapsulization of Channa striatus Extract by Spray Drying Process

Channa Striatus is known as snakehead fish or local name as haruan, has been always associated with its medical value especially in wound healing. This fish is rich in protein as well as others biochemical compounds such as polyunsaturated fatty acids and antioxidants. Usually, the haruan is extracted and marketed in the form of liquid concentrated as health food supplement. In this study, encapsulated haiuan extract were produced using spray drying process. The main purpose is for easy handling and the preservation of the biochemical compounds. The biochemical compound in the powder produced is expected to have properties such as more stable and longer shelf life. K-carrageenan was used as coating material for the encapsulzation during the spray drying process. The properties of encapsulated powder produced were observed in term of particle size distribution, Fish Protein Hydrolysates (FPH) and moisture content. The process parameters of spray drying process studied were hot air inlet flow rate, temperature and the liquid feed flow rate. The experimental run and optimization were designed using Box-Been method as suggested by Response Surface Methodology (RSM). The optimum operation conditions for highest protein extracted with lowest moisture content and smallest particle size distribution were obtained at hot air inlet temperature and flow rate of 144.51°C and 400 mL h-1, respectively; whereas, the liquid feed flow rate is at 47 m-3 h-1. The optimal properties of encapsulated powder obtained were 5.2850 pm, 91% of protein and 8.7% in moisture content. © 2010 Asian Network for Scientific Information.

PVC dust removal from the air by a new dynamical scrubber

Removal of the poly vinyl chloride (PVC) dust particles by a new dynamical scrubber in a PVC manufacturing plant is presented in this work. The effects of inlet air flow rate (containing PVC particles) and water flow rate (the physical absorber of particles) on the PVC dust removal efficiency were investigated. The size of the PVC particles which have been treated in this study was ranging from 0.5 up to 20 μm. The experimental results showed approximately 100% removal efficiency for particles larger than 1 μm and 73% for 0.5 μm particles while employing low water flow rates. The results of these experimental tests indicate a good performance of the scrubber in a short residence time (about 2 s) which is also completely economic for removing fine particles.

Evolution of particle properties during spray drying in relation with stickiness and agglomeration control

Spray drying consists in atomizing a solution into liquid drops in a hot air flow to get dry solid particles after solvent evaporation. The convective drying at the drop surface leads to a very fast evolution of temperature and water content due to initial high differences of temperature and water vapour pressure between the drop surface and the drying air. During drying, the drop surface viscosity is increasing due to potentially amorphous polymers reaching a rubbery state. The drop surface is becoming sticky with consequences on wall deposit. This sticky behaviour which appears in the range of 10 to 30 °C above the glass transition temperature Tg, may be utilized in a positive way for agglomeration of drying particles with dry powders, either recycled fines or new dry powder, to improve instant properties. The evolution of water content of drops along drying, is deduced from measurements of air temperature and relative humidity, at different places in the dryer and used to predict the drying and sticky behaviour of two maltodextrin solutions (DE12 and DE21) with different Tg. The studied parameters in a co-current spray dryer were the inlet air temperature (144, 174, 200 °C) and flow rate (80 and 110 kg h − 1 ), the liquid flow rate (1.8, 3.6 and 5.4 kg h − 1 ) and the rotation speed of the wheel atomizer. The results on particle water content combined with the evolution of Tg showed that particles are sticky close to the atomiser for the two maltodextrins, and also along the chamber for maltodextrin DE21 due to its lower Tg. The introduction of dry particles at different places in the chamber allowed validating the method to control agglomeration.

Experimental and numerical investigation of dynamic heat transfer parameters in packed bed

Dynamic experiments in a nonadiabatic packed bed were carried out to evaluate the response to disturbances in wall temperature and inlet airflow rate and temperature. A two-dimensional, pseudo-homogeneous, axially dispersed plug-flow model was numerically solved and used to interpret the results. The model parameters were fitted in distinct stages: effective radial thermal conductivity (K r) and wall heat transfer coefficient (h w) were estimated from steady-state data and the characteristic packed bed time constant (τ) from transient data. A new correlation for the K r in packed beds of cylindrical particles was proposed. It was experimentally proved that temperature measurements using radially inserted thermocouples and a ring-shaped sensor were not distorted by heat conduction across the thermocouple or by the thermal inertia effect of the temperature sensors.

Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy-Based Control of Drying of Baker's Yeast in Batch Fluidized Bed

A control system was designed using adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) for industrial-scale batch drying of baker's yeast. The temperature and flow rate of inlet air were considered as the manipulated variables to control the temperature and dry matter of the product, respectively, resulting in two adaptive fuzzy controllers. The membership functions for all inputs were adjusted by a hybrid learning algorithm. The database used in this work comprises large quantities of industrial-scale data (about 570 batches) obtained under different working conditions over one year. This database was used for learning and testing phases of the ANFIS controller. The performance of the proposed controller demonstrates the effectiveness and potential of the proposed ANFIS-based controller.

Optimal conditions to prepare fine globular granules with a multi-functional rotor processor

The optimal manufacturing conditions to obtain fine globular granules with a narrow size of particle distribution were investigated for a multi-functional rotor processor. A fractional factorial design analysis was undertaken to find out the significant operational conditions influencing the following physical characteristics of the obtained granules: size distribution, roundness and water content. Operational conditions tested were binder flow rate, atomization pressure, slit air flow rate, rotating speed and temperature of inlet air. It was observed that: the proportion of fine particles (106–212 μm) was positively affected by the atomization pressure, while negatively affected by the slit air flow rate; and roundness and water content were positively affected by the binder flow rate. Furthermore, the multiple regression analysis enabled the identification of an optimal operating window for production of fine globular granules. Therefore, the present study demonstrated that the combination of experimental design and multiple regression analysis allows a better understanding of complicated granulating process of multi-functional rotor processor to obtain fine globular granules.

Optimal operating conditions for a batch fluidised bed dryer

In this study, operating conditions for a batch fluidised bed dryer are found that achieve the specifications on the final moisture level, while minimising the energy consumption. The operating conditions are obtained by solving an optimisation problem, where the specification for the final moisture content of the bed is included as a constraint. The optimisation is based on a lumped mechanistic model that describes the heat and mass transfer between solid, gas and bubble phases in the bed. Experimental validation of this model shows that it can be used to predict the particle moisture content and temperature profiles during the drying process and it is shown that the wall temperature has a major effect on the predictions. Compared to the standard approach of maintaining the inlet air temperature and flow rate at constant values, the optimal operating conditions for a lab-scale bed dryer reduce the energy consumption by 26% and shorten the duration of a batch by 20 min.

Predictive control of a direct internal reforming SOFC using a self recurrent wavelet network model

In this paper, an application of a nonlinear predictive controller based on a self recurrent wavelet network (SRWN) model for a direct internal reforming solid oxide fuel cell (DIR-SOFC) is presented. As operating temperature and fuel utilization are two important parameters, the SOFC is identified using an SRWN with inlet fuel flow rate, inlet air flow rate and current as inputs, and temperature and fuel utilization as outputs. To improve the operating performance of the DIR-SOFC and guarantee proper operating conditions, the nonlinear predictive control is implemented using the off-line trained and on-line modified SRWN model, to manipulate the inlet flow rates to keep the temperature and the fuel utilization at desired levels. Simulation results show satisfactory predictive accuracy of the SRWN model, and demonstrate the excellence of the SRWN-based predictive controller for the DIR-SOFC.

Biofiltration for removal of methyl isobutyl ketone (MIBK): Experimental studies and kinetic modelling

The present study deals with the biofiltration of methyl isobutyl ketone (MIBK), which is considered to be a highly toxic volatile organic compound. It is released from the paint and petrochemical industries and is one of the major contributors to air pollution. The biofiltration study was carried out on a lab scale for two months in the presence of acclimated mixed culture. The performance of the biofilter column was evaluated for different inlet loads of MIBK at air flow rates ranging from 0.18 to 0.3 m3 h−1. The maximum removal efficiency of 93% was obtained after 60 days of biofilter operation for an inlet MIBK concentration of 0.45 g m−3, and a microbial concentration of 2.36 × 108 CFU g−1 of packing material was obtained. This led to a study of shock loadings for 20 days, by varying the inlet MIBK load and air flow rate after every five days, to observe the behaviour of the biofilter column in removing sudden loads of MIBK. The biokinetic constants r max and K s were obtained using the Michaelis–Menten kinetics and were found to be 1.046 g m−3 and 0.115 g m−3 h−1, respectively, with a coefficient of determination (R 2) of 0.993. The obtained experimental results were validated with the Ottengraf and Van den Oever kinetic model. The critical inlet concentration, critical inlet load and biofilm thickness were also estimated using the results obtained from the model predictions.

Effects of operations and structural parameters on the one-cell stack performance of planar solid oxide fuel cell

A three-dimensional mathematical model coupling the electrochemical kinetics with fluid dynamics is developed to simulate the heat and mass transfer in the one-cell stack of planar solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs). Based on flow uniformity analysis, the distributions of temperature, current density, overpotential loss and other performance parameters in various operating parameters are obtained using a commercial CFD code (Fluent) coupled with the external subroutines programmed by VC++. Numerical flow data are observed in good agreement with experimental results reported in the literature. Results show that the one-cell stack in counter flow case has the advantages in better uniform current density and temperature distributions of PEN (Positive/Electrolyte/Negative) structure in the width direction, higher power output, fuel utilization factor and fuel efficiency than that in co-flow case. For counter flow case, better thermoelectric characteristics are observed in the temperature gradient, power output, fuel utilization factor and fuel efficiency with the decrease in the fuel inlet flow rate or the anode porosity. Increasing the air inlet flow rate and decreasing the fuel inlet temperature will reduce the temperature gradient; power output, fuel utilization factor and fuel efficiency are enhanced with the increase of the air inlet temperature and the decrease of the anode pore size and thickness.

Experimental investigations on liquid water removal from the gas diffusion layer by reactant flow in a PEM fuel cell

The cross flow from channel to channel through gas diffusion layer (GDL) under the land could play an important role for water removal in proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells. In this study, characteristics of liquid water removal from GDL have been investigated experimentally, through measuring unsteady pressure drop in a cell which has the GDL initially wet with liquid water. The thickness of GDL is carefully controlled by inserting various thicknesses of metal shims between the plates. It has been found that severe compression of GDL could result in excessive pressure drop from channel inlet to channel outlet. Removing liquid water from GDL by cross flow is difficult for GDL with high compression levels and for low inlet air flow rates. However, effective water removal can still be achieved at high compression levels of GDL if the inlet air flow rate is high. Based on different compressed GDL thicknesses, different GDL porosities and permeabilities were calculated and their effects on the characteristics of liquid water removal from GDL were evaluated. Visualization of liquid water transport has been conducted by using transparent flow channel, and liquid water removal from GDL under the land was observed for all the tested inlet air flow rates, which confirms that cross flow is practically effective to remove the liquid water accumulated in GDL under the land area.

One-dimensional Dynamic Modeling and Simulation of a Planar Direct Internal Reforming Solid Oxide Fuel Cell

This article aims to investigate the transient behavior of a planar direct internal reforming solid oxide fuel cell (DIR-SOFC) comprehensively. A one-dimensional dynamic model of a planar DIR-SOFC is first developed based on mass and energy balances, and electrochemical principles. Further, a solution strategy is presented to solve the model, and the International Energy Agency (IEA) benchmark test is used to validate the model. Then, through model-based simulations, the steady-state performance of a co-flow planar DIR-SOFC under specified initial operating conditions and its dynamic response to introduced operating parameter disturbances are studied. The dynamic responses of important SOFC variables, such as cell temperature, current density, and cell voltage are all investigated when the SOFC is subjected to the step-changes in various operating parameters including both the load current and the inlet fuel and air flow rates. The results indicate that the rapid dynamics of the current density and the cell voltage are mainly influenced by the gas composition, particularly the H 2 molar fraction in anode gas channels, while their slow dynamics are both dominated by the SOLID (including the PEN and interconnects) temperature. As the load current increases, the SOLID temperature and the maximum SOLID temperature gradient both increase, and thereby, the cell breakdown is apt to occur because of excessive thermal stresses. Changing the inlet fuel flow rate might lead to the change in the anode gas composition and the consequent change in the current density distribution and cell voltage. The inlet air flow rate has a great impact on the cell temperature distribution along the cell, and thus, is a suitable manipulated variable to control the cell temperature.

Mathematical modeling of a direct contact humidification–dehumidification desalination process

Using air as a carrier gas is common in humidification–dehumidification desalination processes. A computer program was written using mass and energy balances for modeling the process behavior. The parameters considered in this work were inlet air and fresh water recycle temperatures, inlet air flow rate, saline water and fresh water recycle flow rates, and saline water to air flow ratio. Results of simulation showed that increasing inlet air and fresh water recycle flow rate increases fresh water production. It was also found that heating the inlet air to humidification column or cooling the inlet water to dehumidification column increases the production rate but increasing water to air flow ratio in a humidifier leads to a lower production rate. The predicted effects of the parameters on fresh water production agreed well with the existing experimental data.

The Influence of Recovering Wasted Energy and Air Coolers on Gas Turbine Cycle Performance

ABSTRACT This article studies the performance enhancement of a gas turbine power plant by using many proven technologies, such as inlet air cooling, intercooling, regeneration, and steam injection gas turbine. The temperature of exhaust gases from a gas turbine cycle is usually very high, and plenty of useful energy is expelled to the atmosphere. The exhaust gases of the gas turbine can be used to produce steam by a heat recovery steam generator (HRSG). The generated steam injects to a combustion chamber to increase both output power and cycle efficiency. Mass flow of the exhaust gases is more than the required quantity of the HRSG, so the remaining quantity can be used for regeneration processes and to supply required heat for an absorption chiller. In this study, two types of air coolers are used. An absorption inlet air cooler increases the mass flow rate of inlet air of the gas turbine and boosts output power and cycle efficiency independent of relative humidity and the temperature of ambient air. Intercooled compression, achieved through an indirect evaporative intercooler that reduces the temperature of the air between two compressors to reduce the compression work and increasing net output power. The results of using the above methods under consideration are presented and discussed.

Shear-Driven Liquid Film in a Duct

Two-dimensional flow simulations of shear-driven thin liquid film by turbulent air flow in a duct is performed using the Reynolds Averaged Navier Stokes and continuity equations along with the Volume of Fluid (VOF) model that is part of the FLUENT-CFD code. The purpose of this study is to determine the suitability of using this code/model for predicting reported measurements of shear driven liquid film in a duct. Both a laminar and a turbulent flow models were examined for the liquid film flow region to assess their impact on film thickness and velocity. The Low Reynolds number k-ε turbulence model is utilized for simulating the turbulent air and film flow. Simulated results for the distributions of the air velocity, liquid film velocities along with the liquid film thickness as a function of inlet air and liquid film flow rates are presented. Simulated results show that the film thickness decreases but surface film velocity increases with increasing air flow rate; film thickness and surface film velocity increase with increasing film flow rate; the imposed laminar film flow model produces linear velocity distribution inside the film but the turbulence film flow model produces a nonlinear velocity distribution; the developing thin film influences significantly the air velocity distribution; and these results compare favorably with measured behavior.

Particle Size, Moisture, and Fluidization Variations Described by Indirect In-line Physical Measurements of Fluid Bed Granulation

The aim of this study was to evaluate an instrumentation system for a bench scale fluid bed granulator to determine the parameters expressing the changing conditions during the spraying phase of a fluid bed process. The study focused mainly on four in-line measurements (dependent variables): fluidization parameter (calculated by inlet air flow rate and rotor speed), pressure difference over the upper filters, pressure difference over the granules (lower filter), and temperature of the fluidizing mass. In-line particle size measured by the spatial filtering technique was an essential predictor variable. Other physical process measurements of the automated granulation system, 25 direct and 12 derived parameters, were also utilized for multivariate modeling. The correlation and partial least squares analyses revealed significant relationships between various process parameters highlighting the particle size, moisture, and fluidization effect. Fluidization parameter and pressure difference over upper filters were found to correlate with in-line particle size and therefore could be used as estimates of particle size during granulation. The pressure difference over the granules and the temperature of the fluidizing mass expressed the moisture conditions of wet granulation. The instrumentation system evaluated here is an invaluable aid to gaining more control for fluid bed processing to obtain repeatable granules for further processing.

Mathematical Model of Fixed-Bed Drying and Strategies for Crumb Rubber Producing STR20

The objectives of this research were to investigate empirical and diffusion models for thin-layer crumb rubber drying for producing STR20 rubber using hot air temperatures of 110–130°C and to study the effect of drying parameters such as inlet drying temperature, volumetric flow rate, and initial moisture content on the quality of dried rubber. Finally, a mathematical drying model for predicting the drying kinetics of crumb rubber was developed using inlet air flow rates of 300–600 m3/min-m3 of crumb rubber (equivalent to 1.8–5.0 m/s) with the crumb rubber thickness fixed at 0.25 m. The average initial moisture content of samples was in the ranges of 40 and 50% dry basis while the desired final moisture content was below 5% dry basis. The results showed that the drying equation of crumb rubber was highly related to the inlet air temperature, while the drying constant value was not proportional to the initial moisture content. Consequently, the experimental data were formulated using nine empirical models and the analytical solution of moisture ratio equation was developed by Fick's law of diffusion. The result showed that the simulated data best fitted the logarithmic model and was in reasonable agreement to the experimental data. The effective diffusion coefficient of crumb rubber was in the range of 1.0 × 10−9 to 2.15 × 10−5 m2/s corresponding to drying temperatures between 40 and 150°C, respectively. The effects of air recirculation, inlet drying temperature, initial moisture contents, air flow rate, and drying strategies on specific energy consumption and quality of samples were reported. The experiments were conducted using two different drying strategies as follows: one-stage and two-stage drying conditions. The results showed that initial moisture content and air flow rates significantly affected the specific energy consumption and quality of rubber, while the volumetric air flow rate acted as dominant effect to the specific energy consumption. The simulated results concluded that the percentage of recycled air between 90 and 95% provided the lowest specific energy consumption as compared to the others.

New mass transfer performance data of a cross-flow liquid desiccant dehumidification system

This paper presents new mass transfer performance data of a cross-flow liquid desiccant dehumidification system using a structured packed tower. The structured packing consists of cross-corrugated cellulose paper sheets with a surface area per unit volume ratio of 608 m 2 m −3. The liquid desiccant, viz. calcium chloride, flows through the pad from top to bottom, while the air flows horizontally making it a cross-flow configuration. The experimental dehumidification effectiveness from the present study was compared with the widely used Chung's correlation (although developed for counter flow arrangement, as opposed to cross-flow in the current study) and Liu et al.'s correlation. A new empirical correlation was developed for the dehumidification effectiveness, which fitted the experimental data to within ±10%. The effect of varying air and solution inlet conditions and flow rates on the system performance was also quantified in the paper.

Modeling Drying Kinetics of Mustard in Fluidized Bed

Mustard (Brassica juncea), one of the popular oil seeds, is investigated for drying in Batch fluidized beds. Experiments were conducted to assess the kinetics of drying for the variation in the inlet air temperature, the inlet air flow rate and the solids holdup in the fluidized bed. The drying rate was found to increase significantly with increase in temperature and with flow rate of the heating medium, while decrease with increase in solids holdup. The duration of constant rate period was found to be insignificant, considering the total duration of drying. The drying rate was compared with various exponential time decay models and the model parameters were evaluated. The page model was found to match the experimental data very closely with the maximum root mean square error (RMSE) of less the 2.0%. The experimental data were also modeled using Fick's diffusion equation and the effective diffusivity coefficients was found to be within 1.69*10-11 to 3.26*10-11m2/s for the range of experimental data covered in the present study with RMSE less than 4%.

Evaluation of component characteristics of a reheat cycle gas turbine using measured performance data

In this work, component characteristics of a reheat cycle gas turbine in a commercial combined cycle power plant were evaluated. An inverse performance analysis, in which component characteristic parameters were estimated based on measured performance data, was carried out. The measured parameters were the power, the fuel flow rates of two combustors, and the temperatures and pressures at various locations such as the compressor discharge, exits of both the high-and low-pressure turbines. The estimated parameters from the analysis include the compressor and turbine efficiencies and the inlet air flow rate. The analysis was performed for a wide operation range in terms of the ambient temperature and load, providing a database for the variations of the characteristic parameters with changes in the operating condition. In addition, a sensitivity analysis was performed to examine the influence of the uncertainties of the measured parameters on the estimated parameters. The analysis program can be further developed into a performance diagnosis tool and the obtained component characteristic data can be used as reference database.