Drying

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Definition
 The removal of moisture or liquid from a
substance is known as drying.

Or

 The process in which the liquid is removed

from a material by the application of heat and
is accomplished by the transfer of a liquid
from surface into an unsaturated phase is
known as drying.
Purposes of drying

In pharmaceutical technology, drying is carried out

for one or more of the following reasons:

1- To avoid or eliminate moisture which may lead

to corrosion and decrease the product or drug
stability.
2- To improve or keep the good properties of a
material, e.g. flow ability, compressibility.
4- To make the material easy or more suitable for
handling.
5- Preservative.
6- The final step in: Evaporation- Filtration-
Crystallization.
Difference between drying and
evaporation
 In drying processes, the main operation usually
carried out on solid materials, e.g. powders, or
products.

 Drying in most of the cases means the removal of

relatively small amounts of water from
solids .Evaporation include the removal of large
amounts of water from solutions.

 In most cases, drying involves the removal of

water at temperatures below its boiling point,
whereas evaporation means the removal of water
by boiling a solution.
Methods of Drying
 Thermal Drying:
The process of drying with aid of heat.
 Non Thermal drying:

Drying is carried out without heat aid. Such

processes include;
 Expression: expression of solid to remove
liquid like squeezing of wet sponge.
 Adsorption: adsorption of moisture from a
material with the help of adsorbents like
anhydrous CaCl2.
Theories of Drying
Drying can be described by three processes
operating simultaneously:

 Energy transfer from an external source to the

water or organic solvent, Direct or Indirect
Heat Transfer
 Phase transformation of water/solvent from a
liquid-like state to a vapour state, Mass
Transfer.
 Transfer of vapour generated away from the
API and out of the drying equipment.
Drying of Solids
The quantity of moisture in a substance is calculated on two
basis,
a. Wet-weight basis (LOD)
b. Dry-weight basis (MC)
 Loss on drying (LOD):
Loss on drying is a widely used test method to determine the
moisture content of a sample, although occasionally it may
refer to the loss of any volatile matter from the sample.

Loss in drying does not usually refer to molecularly bound

water or water of crystallisation. Loss on drying is an
expression of moisture content on wet-weight basis.
In wet-weight basis the water content of a solid material is
calculated as %age of weight of wet solid.
%LOD =
Drying of Solids
 Moisture Content (MC):

Water content or moisture content is the

quantity of water contained in a material.
Moisture content of a material is calculated on
the basis of dry-weight basis.
on dry-weight basis, the water content of a solid
material is calculated as %age of weight of dry
solid.

%MC = x 100
Classification of dryers

 Different criteria's are used for the classification of

dryers, most important of these are heat transfer and
solid handling.
 Classification according to the type of heat transfer is
important in demonstrating gross difference in dryer
design, operation and energy requirments.
 Classification on the basis of solid handling is based on
the presence of material agitation to be dried.
Classification of dryers
 Classification of dryers
 Materials Agitated:
Moving Bed Dryer Pneumatic Dryer
Fluidized Bed Dryer

Turbo Tray Dryer Spray Dryer

vertical FBD

Pan Dryer Flash Dryer

Horizontal FBD

Rotary Dryer
Classification of dryers
Materials not Agitated:
Static bed Dryers

Tray Dryer

Truck Dryer

Tunnel Dryer

Conveyer Dryer

Freeze Dryers
Static Bed Dryers
 In these dryers there is no relative movement
of material with respect to each other, hot air
flows over it but the material remains static
although there is movement of entire bulk
mass of the material.
A. Batch Type:
 Tray Dryer
 Truck Dryer
B. Continuous Type
 Tunnel Dryer
 Conveyer Belt Dryer
Tray Dryer
 Also called shelf, cabinet or compartment
dryers.
 May be classified as direct or indirect dryers.
 In direct dryer the air is heated up to
required temperature and then this hot air is
passed over the material.
 In the indirect types of dryers the shelf's
that hold the trays are heated or in some
cases electric heating rods are used.
 The moisture is first evaporated and then
removed by using vacuum pumps or
circulating air.
Tray Dryer
Tray Dryer
Construction:
 Rectangular chambers with heat insulated
walls.
 Number and size of trays depend on size of
dryer.
 Laboratory size dryer may have up to 3 trays
on the other hand large size dryers may have
40 trays.

Working:
The material to be dried is placed as thin layer
uniformly in the trays and loaded into the
chamber and material is dried either by direct
Truck Dryers
 It is the modification of tray
dryer in which trays are
loaded on trucks (racks
equipped with wheels), that
can be rolled into or out of
the drying chamber.

 In plant operations, the

truck dryers are preferred
over tray dryers cause it
provide greater
convenience in handling
like loading and unloading.
Tunnel Dryer
 These are adaptation of truck dryers for
continuous drying.
 Trucks are moved progressively through the
drying tunnel by a moving chain.
 In the tunnel hot air is circulated.
 Material to be dried is placed in the trays and
these trays are then loaded in trucks which
then travel through the tunnel at such a speed
that when the material reaches the other end
its dried.
Tunnel Dryer
Conveyer Belt
 It’s modification of tunnel dryers in which the
material to be dried is spread on a moving
belt which slowly travels through a heated
tunnel.
 Material is dried before reaching the other
end.
Moving Bed Dryers
 In such dryers there is a relative movement of
the material to be dried with respect to each
other and are constantly moving and exposing
new surfaces to the heat source.
 These dryers are sub divided into three
categories:

 Turbo Tray Dryers

 Pan Dryers
 Rotary Dryers
Turbo Tray Dryer
Principle:
 Relative movement of material w.r.t to each
other and hot air passing through the bed.
Working and Construction:
 It continuous type dryer.
 Contain a central stack having circular trays
attached.
 The stack rotates at a speed of about 0.1-1
rpm.
 Heated air circulates over the trays by turbo
type fans mounted in the center of the stack.
 Wet mass is fed through the roof.
Turbo Tray Dryer
 Material dried is pushed through radial slots
onto the tray below where it is again spread
and leveled.
 The transfer of mass from one shelf to next is
complete after one revolution.
 Whole process is continued throughout whole
of the height of the dryer until the dried
material is discharged at the bottom.
Turbo Tray Dryer
Pan Dryers
 Indirect type of dryer where relative
movement of material bed occur with the help
of paddles.
 Consists of shallow circular steam jacketed
container of different sizes.
 There is a set of paddles in the pan and its
movement continuously scrapes the material
of the bottom of the container to avoid over
heating.
 Pan dryers may be atmospheric where vapors
are escaped directly into atmosphere and
vacuum type where the vapors formed are
recoverable using a condenser.
Pan Dryer
 The dried material is discharged through an
orifice in the bottom of container.
Fluidized Bed Dryers
 In fluidized bed dryers the solid particles to be
dried are partially suspended in hot air.
 The mixture of material and air is streamed in
such a way that it gives a look of boiling fluid
that’s why the name fluidized bed dryer is
given.
 Time for drying operation is about 20-40
minutes.
 Fluidized bed dryers are of two types:

 Vertical FBD
 Horizontal FBD
Working of F.B.D
 Used for batch operations and have capacity
ranging from 5-200 kg and average drying
time is about 20 to 40 min.
 Consist of long cylindrical or conical vessel
with perforated bottom.
 The drying material is placed in this vessel
made up of stainless steel, plastic or even
glass fitted on bottom unit with heaters.
 Mouth of vessel is covered with filter-bags to
prevent the material escape.
Vertical F.B.D
Vertical F.B.D
 The material to be dried is loaded in the
vessel.
 Fresh air enters through an inlet, circulated
using fans, heated to desired temperature and
is then passed through the powder from the
bottom in upward direction.
 Air flow speed is gradually increased till whole
of the powder material is suspended forming a
fluidized bed of the material.
Horizontal F.B.D
 Used for the drying of layer volumes of material and
more suitable for pharmaceutical use.
 Heated air introduced into chamber below the
vibrating conveying deck and passes up through
perforated conveying surface, through fluidized beds
of solids and into an exhaust hood.
 Uniformity of content is maintained by vibrations of
conveyer belt.
 Residence time for drying is controlled by length of the
zone , the frequency and amplitude of vibration and
the use of dams.
 Dryers capacity is limited only by retention time
produced by conveying speeds, which range from 5 to
25 feet per minute.
Horizontal F.B.D
Pneumatic Dryer
 The particles to be dried are suspended in hot,
high velocity air and are transferred from one
point to another through hot air in the
machine.
 Two types:

A. Spray Dryer
B. Flash dryer
Spray Dryer
 Used for drying of liquid materials in the form
of solutions, slurries and thin pastes etc. with
the help of air stream.
 Parts:

I. Feed delivery system

II. Atomizer
III. Hot air supply
IV. Drying chamber
V. Solid gas separator
VI. Product collection system
Spray Dryer
Spray Dryer
Working:
 The feed is pumped from the product feed tank to the
atomizing device, located in the air disperser at the
top of the drying chamber.
 The drying air is drawn from the atmosphere via a filter
by a supply fan and is passed through the air heater to
the air disperser.
 The atomized droplets meet the hot air and the
evaporation takes place, while cooling of the air
happen simultaneously.
 After the spray is dried in the drying chamber, the
majority of the dried product falls to the bottom of the
chamber and enters a pneumatic conveying and
cooling system.
Spray Dryer
 The fines, which are the particles with a small
diameter, will remain in the air, and it is
therefore necessary to pass the air through
cyclones to separate the fines.
 The fines leave the cyclone at the bottom via
a locking device and enter the pneumatic
system, too. The air passes from the cyclone
to the atmosphere via the exhaust fan.
 The two fractions of powder are collected in
the pneumatic system for conveying and
cooling and are passed through a cyclone for
separation, after which they are bagged off.
Spray Dryer
 The instrumentation comprises
 indication of the temperature of the inlet and
outlet air,
 automatic control of the inlet temperature by
altering the steam pressure,
 amount of oil or gas to the air heater,
 automatic control of the outlet temperature by
altering the amount of feed pumped to the
atomizing device
Freeze Dryer

 It is also known as sublimation drying

 It is also known as lyophillization as the

dried product has great affinity for water
( lyophillic = water loving)
 Principle
 First the material to be dried is frozen in
suitable container
 By connecting to a vacuum system, the
vapor pressure is greatly reduced
 The temperature and pressure reduced to
the values below the triple point
 Mild heat is supplied and the frozen ice
sublimes directly to vapor state
Components of Freeze dryer
 Chamber for chilling the sample
 A vacuum source

 A heat source

 A vapor removal system

 Process
 It is carried out for batch process

 The product is frozen first by putting on a shelf

circulating refrigerants

 After freezing, vacuum is applied to the chamber

 Mild heat is supplied to the product by electric coils
or by circulating hot water

 Process is continued till a dry, spongy solid is

obtained
 Products to be freeze dried are sterilized
and aseptically distributed into final
containers

 Container kept open during the process

and sealed immediately after drying
process
 Advantages

 The product is light, porous with good solubility

 No chances of hydrolysis because, drying is at low

temperature

 No chances of oxidation because of no contact

with air

 Freeze dried products are more stable than

vacuum dried product
 Disadvantages

 Very expensive

 Time taking process

 Dried product is very hygroscopic and requires

special packing precautions
 Uses

 Mostly suitable for highly thermolabile products

 Used for drying biological products such as blood

plasma, vaccines, enzymes, microbiological
cultures, hormones and antibiotics