Experimental investigation of brick drying kinetics

For engineering applications, the transfer of fluids, heat, and mass has an important place. The driving force for mass transfer is the concentration difference. Especially in applications based on artificial drying technique, moisture control is important in terms of effective process and dryer design. Today, especially the process of drying foods is a very contemporary issue and continues with an increased interest. The drying process is important for increasing the quality and shelf life of the products. However, drying processes can be costly in terms of energy consumption. Apart from that, drying process and dryer selection for industrial products requires special knowledge and ability. Soil industry is as old as human history. From the early ages to the day-to-day, soil and soil products constitute the main source of mankind. Nowadays, bricks and tiles from soil products still have a wide and effective usage area. An important part of the Çorum industry is the brick-tile producers. In terms of soil structure and soil resources, Çorum is in the first place in our country in terms of the potential of brick-tile production. Most of the brick manufacturers in Çorum prefer natural drying methods. This situation negatively affects product consumption and quality. In this respect, the drying process in brick production has an important effect on the production cost, production time and product quality. In this study, a cabin type dryer was designed to investigate the behavior of brick drying in Çorum region and the effect of different independent parameters such as dryer air speed, air temperature, cabin pressure and brick direction on drying kinetics was investigated. Experiments were carried out at the values of 62, 76 and 90°C of the drying air temperature, about 21000-34000 of the Reynolds number in the test section, and 0, 45 and 90 degrees of the brick angle. The same tests were repeated under both blowing and sucking conditions. Thus, the influence of the vacuum pressure on the dryness has been determined. Measurements of mass change were recorded at 15-minute intervals. A mathematical relationship has been developed that provides the moisture content for both the blowing and sucking conditions. As a result of the experiments, it was observed that the rate of drying increased and the period of drying decreased with the increase of air temperature and speed. It was determined that the drying time is shorter than the blowing time in case of sucking and mass transfer is faster when the brick is placed parallel (0 deg.) to the flow.