Thin-layer drying of sawdust mixture

Abstract

Drying behaviour of sawdust mixture was investigated in a convective dryer at 0.01 m/s and 25, 60, and 150°C air temperature. Sawdust mixture (60% of spruce and 40% of the second ingredient: beech, willow, ash, alder) and sawdust of spruce, beech, willow, alder and ash was used in the drying experiments. The sawdust mixture drying was affected by the drying of its ingredients. The experimental drying data were fitted to the theoretical, semi-theoretical, and empirical thin-layer models. The accuracies of the models were measured using the correlation coefficient, root mean square error, and reduced chi-square. All semi-theoretical and empirical models described the drying characteristics of sawdust mixture satisfactorily. The theoretical model of a sphere predicts the drying of sawdust mixture better than the theoretical model of an infinite plane. The effect of the composition of the sawdust mixture on the drying models parameters were also taken into account.