See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/265478571

8 Infrared Drying

Article · November 2006

DOI: 10.1201/9781420017618.ch18

CITATIONS READS
65 3,217

2 authors:

Cristina Ratti A. S. Mujumdar

Laval University McGill University
79 PUBLICATIONS   2,826 CITATIONS    805 PUBLICATIONS   15,188 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:

Food Resources and Utilization View project

Drying and glass transition View project

All content following this page was uploaded by Cristina Ratti on 19 May 2015.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

 Infrared Drying
18 Cristina Ratti and Arun S. Mujumdar

CONTENTS

18.1 Introduction ......................................................................................................................................... 423

18.2 Basic Principles .................................................................................................................................... 424
18.2.1 Theory ..................................................................................................................................... 424
18.2.2 Radiation Properties of Materials ........................................................................................... 425
18.3 Steady Infrared Drying ........................................................................................................................ 427
18.3.1 Modeling the Process .............................................................................................................. 427
18.3.2 Advantages and Limitations ................................................................................................... 430
18.4 Industrial Infrared Drying Applications .............................................................................................. 431
18.4.1 Applications of Infrared Radiation in Industry ...................................................................... 431
18.4.2 Industrial Infrared Dryers ....................................................................................................... 431
18.4.2.1 Infrared Sections ..................................................................................................... 431
18.4.2.2 Recent Developments in Design of Infrared Dryers ............................................... 434
18.4.3 Costs........................................................................................................................................ 434
18.5 Conclusions .......................................................................................................................................... 436
Acknowledgment............................................................................................................................................ 436
Nomenclature ................................................................................................................................................. 436
References ...................................................................................................................................................... 437

18.1 INTRODUCTION reports on IR drying applied to other products like

foodstuffs, wood or sand are not very common as yet.
Drying is the most common and most energy-consum- Most published data on IR drying of foods comes from
ing industrial operation. With literally hundreds of (the former) USSR, the United States, and the East
variants actually used in drying of particulate solids, European countries (Hallström et al., 1988). Ginzburg
pastes, continuous sheets, slurries or solutions, it pro- (1969) described IR drying of grains, flour, vegetables,
vides the most diversity among chemical engineering pasta, meat, fish, etc. and showed that IR drying can be
unit operations. successfully applied to foodstuffs. There are many cur-
One of the increasingly popular, but not yet com- rent industrial applications of drying agricultural pro-
mon, methods of supplying heat to the product for duce by IR. Sandu (1986) pointed out as advantages of
drying is infrared (IR) radiation. Although this type of IR drying in foods, the versatility of IR heating, simpli-
heat transmission was used incidentally in the past ac- city of the required equipment, easy accommodation of
companying other types of heat transfer during dehy- the IR heating with convective, conductive, and micro-
dration, IR dryers are now designed to utilize radiant wave heating, fast transient response, and also signifi-
heat as the primary source (Williams-Gardner, 1971). cant energy savings. Experimental and theoretical
The most common current applications of IR dry- works on IR drying, of opaque and semitransparent
ing are in dehydration of coated films and webs and to materials (silica sand, brick, brown coal, graphite sus-
correct moisture profiles in drying of paper and board. pensions and slurry of surplus activated sludge) have
Theoretical work and laboratory-scale experimental re- been performed by Hasatani et al. (1983, 1988).
sults on IR drying of paints, coatings, adhesives, ink, The purpose of this chapter is to give a general
paper, board, textiles, etc. can be found in the literature review of IR drying with special reference to industrial
(e.g., Navarri et al., 1992; Kuang et al., 1992; Therien applications. A detailed description of this process
et al., 1991; Cote et al., 1990). On the other hand, as applied to paper drying, can be found elsewhere

ß 2006 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

in this handbook (chapter by K.T. Ojala and M.J. transforms a term within the energy balance into a
Lampinen). Note that many direct as well as indirect boundary condition. An ideal body that absorbs all of
dryers can be modified to accommodate IR heaters. the incident energy without reflecting or transmitting
Indeed, combined convective and IR dryers have been is called a ‘‘black body,’’ for which a ¼ 1.
shown to be very attractive. Also, IR heating can be The total amount of radiation emitted by a body
coupled effectively with vacuum operation to permit per unit area and time is called ‘‘total emissive power
removal of evaporated moisture. IR heating may be E’’ (Kreith, 1965) and depends on the temperature
applied continuously or intermittently (in space or time) and the surface characteristics of the body. This en-
to save energy and often to improve product quality. ergy is emitted from a surface in all directions and at
all wavelengths. A black body is also defined as the
one that emits the maximum radiation per unit area.
18.2 BASIC PRINCIPLES
The emissive power of a black body, Eb, depends only
18.2.1 THEORY on its temperature. The emissivity of a body, «, is then
defined as the ratio of its total emissive power to that
Transmission of electromagnetic radiation does not of a black body at the same temperature, « ¼ E/Eb.
need a medium for its propagation. The wavelength As was pointed out earlier the total emissive power
spectrum of the radiation depends on the nature and has energy from all the wavelengths in the spectrum
temperature of the heat source. Every body emits ra- of the radiation. On the other hand, the monochro-
diation due to its temperature level, which is called matic emissive power, El, is the radiant energy con-
‘‘thermal radiation’’ because it generates heat. The tained between wavelengths l and l þ dl (Welty
wavelength range of thermal radiation is 0.1–100 mm et al., 1984). For a black body, this power is expressed
within the spectrum. IR radiation falls in this category by (Planck’s law of radiation)
and is conventionally classified as (Sandu, 1986): near
IR (0.75–3.00 mm), medium IR (3.00–25 mm), and far 2pc2 hl5
Eb,l ¼  ch  (18:2)
IR (25–100 mm). exp klT 1
Thermal radiation incident upon a body may be
absorbed and its energy converted into heat, reflected so the monochromatic emissivity of a body is defined
from the surface or transmitted through the material as «l ¼ El/Ebl. Kirchhoff’s law states that under
following the balance: thermodynamic equilibrium (which requires all sur-
faces be at the same temperature), the monochro-
rþaþt ¼1 (18:1) matic absorptivity and emissivity of a body are equal.
Equation 18.2 has a maximum that is related to
where r is the reflectivity, a the absorptivity, and t the the temperature by the following expression (Wien’s
transmissivity. For monochromatic incident radiation, displacement law):
these properties are called ‘‘spectral’’ and when that radi-
ation is polychromatic they are defined as ‘‘total’’ (Sandu, lmax T ¼ 2897:6 mK (18:3)
1986). Materials may be classified based on their trans-
missivity, depending on the physical state of the body Equation 18.2 may be integrated over all wave-
where the radiation impinges. A body that does not lengths to obtain the total emissive power for a black
allow the radiation to be transmitted through it is called body (Stefan–Boltzmann law):
‘‘opaque’’ and is characterized by t ¼ 0. Examples of ð
1
these are most solids. On the other hand, liquids and some
Eb ¼ Eb, l dl ¼ sT 4 (18:4)
solids like rock salt or glass have a defined transmissivity
so they are ‘‘transparent’’ to radiation. 0

The reflection may be ‘‘regular’’ (also termed specu-

where s is the Stefan–Boltzmann constant.
lar) or ‘‘diffuse,’’ which depends on the surface finish of
A gray body is defined as one which has the same
the material. In the former case, the angle of incidence
emissivity over the entire wavelength spectrum. Thus,
of the radiation is equal to the angle of reflection due to
Kirchhoff’s law may be applied to gray bodies inde-
highly polished surface or a smooth surface. When the
pendently of their temperature.
surface has roughnesses larger than the wavelength,
Heat exchange by radiation between two black
radiation is reflected diffusely in all directions.
bodies at different temperatures may be obtained
Generally solid bodies absorb all of the radiation
using the Stefan–Boltzmann law and is expressed by
in a very narrow layer near the surface. This is a
very important consideration in modeling the heat
transfer process, since mathematically this concept Qr ¼ Ai Fij s(Ti4  Tj4 ) (18:5)

ß 2006 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

where Fij is the shape or view factor between surfaces i 18.2.2 RADIATION PROPERTIES OF MATERIALS
and j. By definition, this geometrical factor takes into
account the part of the total radiation emitted by the The design and modeling of any process always re-
surface i that is intercepted by surface j. To calculate quires a profound knowledge of the materials. Specif-
theoretically this factor is rather complicated but ically for IR drying, this fact may be the clue to
for most common geometries there are charts and accomplish a safe and efficient process, because radi-
formulas available in the literature (Welty et al., 1984; ation properties of both the radiator and the material
Kreith, 1965). A useful equation known, as the ‘‘reci- to be dried must be matched in order to obtain most
procity theorem,’’ relates the shape factors and the efficient results.
areas of both surfaces through the following equation: Emissivity, absorptivity, reflectivity, and transmis-
sivity are the key radiation properties. The relative
Ai Fij ¼ Aj Fji (18:6) magnitudes of a, r, and t depend not only on the
material, its thickness, and its surface finish, but also
If the exchange of energy by radiation is between N on the wavelength of the radiation (Kreith, 1965).
bodies, the shape factors must follow the relation: Nevertheless the emission of electromagnetic waves is
a property of the material only.
X
N Electrical conductors (e.g., metals) generally show
Fij ¼ 1 (18:7) an increase in emissivity « with an increase of wave-
j ¼1
length of the radiation. On the other hand, nonconduc-
tors such as asbestos, cork, wood, concrete, etc. show
In fact, very few bodies behave as black bodies so a the opposite trend. The emissivity of many bodies also
more realistic assumption would be to treat those as show directional properties but as the data available are
gray bodies. The net radiation between two gray bod- scarce, a good approximation is to suppose an average
ies is then given by the following equation: value for «/«n ¼ 1.2 for polished metallic surfaces and
0.96 for nonmetallic surfaces (Kreith, 1965).
s(Ti4  Tj4 ) For practical purposes, only a mean value of the
Qr ¼   (18:8)
ri 1 rj emissivity or absorptivity over the direction is re-
þ þ
«i Ai Ai Fij «j Aj quired. Sieber (1941) obtained experimental data on
total emissivity of opaque materials depending on the
Also, it must be noted that sometimes the electromag- temperature of the source. Many authors (Ginzburg,
netic radiation that impinge on a body may be attenu- 1969; Kreith, 1965) have reproduced these results
ated inside the body by scattering along with graphically (Figure 18.1). The behaviour of electrical
absorption. Scattering takes into account that elec- conductors and nonconductors with temperature of
tromagnetic radiation may undergo a change in dir- the radiator can be approximately interpreted from
ection, which can result in a partial loss or gain of the dependency of the monochromatic emissivity on
energy (Siegel and Howell, 1972, p. 420). Suppose wavelength and the relationship between temperature
that Il represents a spectral radiation impinging nor- of the radiator and the wavelength.
mally a layer of material where it is absorbed and At radiation temperatures in the range from 227
scattered, so the intensity of monochromatic radi- to 6208C, the total reflectivity of polished pure silver
ation is attenuated following the relationship (called is between 0.98 and 0.968 and for polished pure gold
Bouguer’s law, Siegel and Howell, 1972, p. 413): from 0.982 to 0.965. For polished aluminum, the
2 3 reflectivity varies from 0.961 to 0.943 in a tempera-
ðz ture range from 223 to 5778C (Welty et al., 1984). The
Il (z) ¼ Il (0) exp4 Kl (z ) dz  5
(18:9) high reflectivity of these materials is the reason why
0 reflectors of radiation lamps are made of a thin layer
of silver, and polished aluminum is used as a facing
where Kl is the extinction coefficient, z the distance, and material for internal partitions in equipment for IR
Il(0) is the radiation at the surface of the body. The radiation (Ginzburg, 1969). It may be noted that for
extinction coefficient depends on temperature, pressure, the construction of the equipment for IR drying and
composition, and the wavelength of the incident radi- in selecting the reflectors for radiator lamps, opaque
ation. It may pointed out that Equation 18.9 is also materials with high reflectivity are required.
termed as ‘‘Lambert’s law’’ or ‘‘Bougher–Lambert The material to be dried by IR requires a low
law,’’ and ‘‘Beer’s law’’ when the extinction coefficient reflectivity in order to minimize the power required
is put in mass terms, but it must not be confused with to heat it, and depending on the specific drying
the ‘‘Lambert’s cosine law.’’ process, a high or medium absorptivity. When drying

ß 2006 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

 The variation of absorptivity or transmissivity of
moist materials with wavelength is difficult to estimate
1 without experimental data. For many materials, trans-
20 missivity is higher at lower wavelengths (Ginzburg,
2
1969). Foodstuffs, as an example, are complex mix-
tures of different large biochemical molecules and
3 polymers, inorganic salts, and water (Sandu, 1986)
4
Absorptivity (%)

40 and the absorption bands of each of these constituents

5 are not the same. As an example, Figure 18.2 shows the
IR absorption spectrum of liquid water. Generally,
6 many fully wet materials have their minimum absorp-
60 tivity at those wavelengths where water has its max-
7 imum transmissivity pointing out the important role
that water plays in radiation absorption.
80
8 As drying proceeds, the material that is dried
suffers a change in its radiation properties, increasing
9 its reflectivity, and consequently lowering its absorp-
tivity at low water contents. It is then possible to
100 change adequately the temperature of the emitter in
140 540 1539 3537 9531 order to improve the absorption of radiation during
Temperature (⬚F) drying.
The transmissivity decreases with an increase
FIGURE 18.1 Absorptivity of some materials as a function of in layer thickness, whereas absorptivity increases.
temperature (1: fireproof clay, white; 2: aluminium; 3: wood; An approximate way of representing experimental
4: cork; 5: asbestos; 6: porcelain; 7: concrete; 8: graphite; transmissivity data as a function of thickness is pre-
9: roofing silvers). sented by Ginzburg (1969). Table 18.1 and Table 18.2
show a compilation of experimental data from the
paints or coatings, a high absorptivity of the material is literature (Kreith, 1965; Ginzburg, 1969; Sandu,
usually better, but in drying thick moist materials such 1986) about the variation of transmissivity of food-
as foodstuffs, it is preferable to use a material with high stuffs and other materials commonly dried, with
transmissivity to avoid extremely intensive heating thickness, water content, and wavelength.
and thermal damage of the surface. It is important to In order to show an example of how both proper-
point out that if the absorptivity of a material is low, its ties of the emitter and the product to be dried should
transmissivity is high, and vice versa. be matched during IR drying, Figure 18.3 shows the
Properties like absorptivity and transmissivity of radiant energy peaks for quartz tungsten filament at
moist materials are not frequently encountered in 2500 and 1925 K together with the spectral absorptiv-
the literature. In addition to the dependency with ity of potato with 74.5% of water content (Sandu,
wavelength and thickness, they also depend on the 1986) and 10-mm thickness. To avoid overheating of
water content. One of the most extensive reports on the surface and to allow the radiation to penetrate
experimental data of these properties can be found in into the product it would be better to choose the
Ginzburg (1969). Mohsenin (1984) also presents a heat source at 2500 K because its maximum is located
good compilation of data on radiation properties of in the wavelength where the absorptivity of the food-
agricultural and food products. stuff is not very high. On the other hand, if the lower

1.0
Spectral directional

.5

0
2 4 6 8 10 12 14
Wavelength (µm)

FIGURE 18.2 Absorption spectrum of water.

ß 2006 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

TABLE 18.1
Transmissivity of Selected Foodstuffs

Product Spectral Peak, l (mm) Tr (8C) Thickness (mm) W (%) t or tl (%)

Bread made of wheat flour 2.00 1.04

400 2.50 0.97
— 3.50 — 0.46
5.00 0.00
Dough made of wheat flour Mirror lamp 1.00 5.70
— 2.75 44.0 1.76
5.00 0.39
9.00 0.03
Tomato paste 1.075 0.50 60.0 95.0
1.075 — 0.50 70.0 91.4
1.075 — 0.50 85.0 55.8
1.190 0.50 85.0 46.7
1.350 0.50 85.0 38.5
3.400 0.50 85.0 30.8
Potatoes 1.100 — 2.00 80.5 50.0
1.100 8.00 80.5 16.0
Potato starch 1.100 1.00 11.8 13.0
1.100 — 2.00 11.8 5.00
1.100 8.00 11.8 0.23
Beet 1.100 — 2.00 85.5 40.0
1.100 6.00 85.5 18.0
Fruit gel (marmalade) 1.100 — 2.00 30.0 18.0
1.100 7.00 30.0 2.50

heat source temperature is used, the surface may be 18.3 STEADY INFRARED DRYING
damaged (scorched) due to intense surface heating.
Mohsenin (1984) presents an interesting discussion 18.3.1 MODELING THE PROCESS
on the approach to be followed in order to obtain
a successful IR drying of foods and agricultural Only the energy balance equation must be modified to
products. include IR in the calculation procedure for drying

TABLE 18.2
Transmissivity of Selected Materials

Product Spectral Peak or l (mm) Thickness (mm) t or tl (%)

Cigarette paper (raw) 1.075 73.0

3.220 — 48.0
6.150 20.0
Paper, thick (moist wall paper) 1.190 18.0
3.750 — 10.0
6.150 7.0
Wool cloth, dry 1.190 14.3
3.220 — 12.3
7.750 2.0
Sand 1.190 3.00 4.8
6.150 3.00 2.0
Wood 1.190 1.50 4.3
6.150 1.50 0.7

ß 2006 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

 α

Energy peak and distribution (equal input basis)

0.75
2500 K

0.50

1925 K

0.25

0
1 2 3 4 5 6
Microns

FIGURE 18.3 Energy peak and distribution (equal input basis) of quartz tungsten filaments together with the absorption
bands of a slice (10 mm) of potato with 74.5% water content ( –––).

whereas the mass balance equation remains the same Initial condition: t ¼ 0, 8z T ¼ To (18:13)
as that for conventional drying:

Boundary conditions: t ¼ t, z ¼ 0 (center)

@W Dr @ 2 W
¼ 2 (18:10) @T
@t Z @z2 ¼0 (18:14)
@z
The water flux is given in terms of (Crapiste et al.,
1988)
t ¼ t, z ¼ Z (surface)
rs,o Xo @W @T
nw ¼  Dr (18:11) kA c ¼ hg A(Tg  T cz¼Z )  nw ADHs (18:15)
Z @z @z z¼Z
As the driving force for mass transfer depends on The above model is commonly called ‘‘semitranspar-
temperature, the high temperatures achieved by the ent’’ (Hasatani et al., 1983). The variable q may be
drying surface with IR heating enhance the drying obtained by averaging Equation 18.9 over all the
rate. In order to simplify the modeling of IR drying, it wavelengths. If the average net radiation that im-
is convenient to start with IR drying of a flat partially pinges on a surface is Qr (defined in Equation 18.8),
‘‘transparent’’ particle in which the heat conduction is qa is given by
one-dimensional. In the special case when the internal
to external heat transfer resistance ratio is much greater 2 3
ðz
than 0.1, the energy balance is given by qa ¼ Qr exp4 K dz 5 (18:16)
0
@T @ 2 T @qa
rm Cpsh ¼k 2 þ (18:12)
@t @z @z
If the particle is ‘‘opaque’’ to radiation, the energy
with the following boundary and initial conditions. equation becomes

ß 2006 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

 @T @2T (3) Adiabatic system (well insulated)
rm cpsh ¼k 2 (18:17)
@t @z (4) Conduction heat transfer between particles in
the bed and contact diffusion are negligible
As was pointed out earlier in this chapter, an (5) Shrinking particles
‘‘opaque’’ solid absorbs radiation in a narrow zone near (6) The air is completely transparent to radiation.
the surface rather than attenuating within its volume; so Although in the drying process the air con-
the second term on the right side of Equation 18.12 must tains water vapor that absorbs IR radiation,
appear in the boundary condition. Thus the boundary this may be neglected because the amount of
condition given by Equation 18.15 transforms to water vapor is small relative to the air. As an
example, at a dry bulb temperature of 608C
@T and 40% of relative humidity, the absolute
kA c ¼ hg A(Tg  T cz¼Z )  nw ADHs þ Qr humidity is 0.053 kg water/kg dry air.
@z z¼Z
(18:18) To avoid the problem of shrinkage, a moving
coordinate system that follows the movement of
whereas the other boundary condition and the initial the shrinking particles may be used, taking as basis
condition remain the same. This model is called a differential control volume that contains always the
‘‘opaque’’ (Hasatani et al., 1983). same amount of dry mass as in the initial time. This
In the case that only an average particle tempera- coordinate system is expressed as (Ratti, 1991)
ture is required or that the internal to external heat
transfer resistance ratio is smaller than 0.1 (which rs,o (1  «lo )
d(z=Lo ) ¼ dL (18:21)
means that the temperature profiles inside the particle rs (1  «l )
can be considered to be almost uniform), the follow-
ing simplification of Equation 18.17 is permissible: Then the resulting equations that represent batch
fixed-bed IR drying are
    Mass balance in the gas phase:
@T 1 @T 1 @T
rm Cp ¼k ¼ k c (18:19)
@t Dz @z Dz @z z¼Z  
@Y nw av (1  «l ) 1 Gs rs (1  «l ) @Y
¼ 
Inserting Equation 18.18 into the above equation, the @t L r a «l SLo ra «l rs,o (1  «lo ) @L
energy equation becomes (18:22)

dT Mass balance in the solid:

mCp ¼ hg A(Tg  T )  nw ADHs þ Qr (18:20)
dt  
@X nw av
¼ (18:23)
The model equations to represent the behavior @t L rs
of a dryer are an extension of the above explanation
for IR drying of a single particle. In paper, paint, or Energy balance in the solid:
textile drying, continuous dryers are commonly used.  
The equations describing continuous IR dryers can be @Ts av
¼ [hg (Tg  Ts )
found in the literature (Kuang et al., 1992; Cote et al., @t L rs (1 þ X )Cpsh
1990). Nevertheless, a batch dryer may also be used
 nw DHs þ Q0r ] (18:24)
for deep bed drying of foodstuffs because such ma-
terials have a solid structure from the beginning of the
Energy balance in the gas phase:
process (Heldman and Singh, 1981). The modeling
equations for a batch dryer with circulation of air  
@Tg hg av (1  «l )
through the bed can be developed as follows. ¼ (Tg  Ts )
@t L ra «l Cpah
Food particles experience shrinkage during dry-
ing, but since shrinkage is not appreciatively affected 1 Gs rs (1  «l ) @Tg
 (18:25)
by air or particle temperature (Ratti, 1994) it may be SLo ra «l rs,o (1  «lo ) @L
assumed that IR drying does not affect shrinkage
differently from conventional drying. The key as-
where Qr’ is defined from Equation 18.8 as
sumptions employed in this model are

(1) One-dimensional transport of heat and mass s(Te4  Ts4 )

Q0r ¼ (18:26)
(2) Uniform velocity distribution in the dryer (1  «s ) 1 (1  «e )
þ þ
(plug flow of drying air) «s Fse «e (Ae =As )

ß 2006 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

 The initial profile of the four variables in the acoustic tiles (Dostie et al., 1989). Also, IR drying offers
fixed-bed is stated as solution to problems that seemed to be unsolvable in the
8 8 past such as those associated with the carrying of vola-
>
> X ¼ Xo >
> X ¼ Xo tile organic compounds from solvent-based paints by
< < the exhaust hot air in conventional convective dryers.
Ts ¼ Tso Ts ¼ Tso
l¼0 l 6¼ 0 (18:27)
> Y ¼ Ygo
> > Y ¼ Ysat (Tso )
> A summary of the advantages of IR drying follows:
: :
Tg ¼ Tgo Tg ¼ Tso
1. High efficiency to convert electrical energy
and the values of Tg and Yg at l ¼ 0 are set in Tgo into heat for electrical IR.
and Ygo for constant inlet conditions. 2. Radiation penetrates directly into the product
Some advances in the application of engineering to without heating the surroundings.
the modeling and design of dryers under radiation are 3. Uniform heating of the product.
made in the recent years. As an example, a complete 4. Easy to program and manipulate the heating
model for a multiple-zone process for drying polymer– cycle for different products and to be adapted
solvent coatings has been developed by Cairncross to changing conditions.
et al. (1995). Parrouffe (1992) has demonstrated on the 5. Leveling of the moisture profiles in the prod-
basis of extensive experimental data that one may, uct and low product deterioration.
within engineering accuracy, use analogy between heat 6. Ease of control.
and mass transfer to estimate the convective heat or 7. IR sources are inexpensive compared to di-
mass transfer coefficients even in the presence of intense electric and microwave sources; have a long
radiative heat flux on the evaporating surface. Appro- service life and low maintenance.
priate corrections must be employed, however, for the 8. Directional characteristics that allow to dry
high evaporative mass flux at the surface. selected parts of large objects.
9. Occupies little space and may easily be adapted
18.3.2 ADVANTAGES AND LIMITATIONS to previously installed conventional dryers.
10. Low-cost technology.
Many authors have pointed out the advantages and dis-
advantages of using IR drying (van’t Land, 1991, p. 251; On the other hand, the disadvantages are:
Hallström et al., 1988, p. 218; Nonhebel and Moss,
1971, p. 286; Dostie et al., 1989). In fact IR drying has 1. Scaling up of the heaters is not always straight-
many positive attributes, the main one being the reduc- forward.
tion in drying time. Figure 18.4 shows the effect of IR 2. Essentially surface dryers. Nevertheless, a great
drying compared to conventional convective drying of effort is done to improve this technology in

Curve heating mode

5
Water content (w) (kg/m2)

2
4
2

1 3

Curves 1, 5
0
0 30 60 90 120 150
Time (min)

FIGURE 18.4 Drying times according to the heating process employed. (From Dostie, M., Séguin, J.-N., Maure, D., Ton-
That, Q.-A., and Châtigny, R., in Drying’89, A.S. Mujumdar and M.A. Roques (Eds.), Hemisphere, New York, 1989. With
permission.)

ß 2006 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

 order to adapt it to drying thick materials with products, braising meat and frying. An automatic IR
successful results. system for selective heating of foods, which could have
3. The testing of the equipment must be carried a big impact in the sterilization and pasteurisation pro-
out in the plant to assure a successful design. cesses, has been recently analyzed (Irudayaraj and Jun,
4. Potential fire hazards must be considered in 2000).
design and operation.
18.4.2 INDUSTRIAL INFRARED DRYERS
18.4 INDUSTRIAL INFRARED DRYING Although IR dryers may be batch or continuous
APPLICATIONS type, the latter is the most common arrangement.
IR ovens for dryers are usually designed and con-
18.4.1 APPLICATIONS OF INFRARED RADIATION structed from standard IR sections arranged and
IN INDUSTRY integrated to the conventional dryers in such a way
that IR radiation is directly intercepted by the prod-
IR heating is widely used in industry for surface uct to be dried. These sections are selected on the
drying or dehydration of thin sheets such as textiles, basis of the particular application. It is desirable to
paper, films, paints, stove enamels, etc. Specifically in test the product on a laboratory-scale IR oven under
the automotive industry, the IR baking for paint- simulated conditions and to design the large-scale
on-metal application is the most successful. Another unit on the basis of the experimental data obtained.
sector where IR plays an important role is in pulp and To accomplish a reliable design, it is also necessary
paper industry. As an example, in Sweden this sector to know the efficiency of conversion from electric to
imposes higher demands on energy consumption than IR energy of the radiators used in the plant (unless
any other, and a relative new method that not only gas-fired IR heaters are used). The main data re-
improves paper quality but also achieves energy- quired are the intensity of radiation and the resi-
efficient drying is to use electrically operated IR radi- dence time (Nonhebel and Moss, 1971, p. 289) but
ation heating (Hannervall et al., 1992). although oven style and cross section are easily
The disposal of hazardous waste is a less general determined; on the other hand, the selection of the
IR application but, for instance, the IR drying of heat source, time–temperature cycle, and the power
metal hydroxide sludge minimizes the cost impact of density requires oven design experience (Fostoria,
increasingly stringent disposal restrictions and when Technical Bulletin, 1992).
the metal content of sludge is of interest to recycles, it Air flow is required in IR ovens for two primary
may be one way of changing a costly by-product into purposes:
a profitable one (Davis and Wachter, 1992).
Although IR drying of thick porous materials has (a) Air movement to cool and protect oven walls
not yet been fully developed, some researchers showed, and terminals
mainly by means of experimental results, that one of the (b) Oven exhaust to remove smoke, moisture,
applications where long wave IR heating is most effi- solvents, hazardous vapours, etc.
cient is in dehydration of foods (Ginzburg, 1969;
Kimura et al., 1992). Recently, IR radiation has been The decision of using natural or forced convection
investigated for drying of cashew kernels (Umesh- and the amount of air flow rate to meet the appropri-
Hebbar and Rastogi, 2001), herbs (Paakkonen et al., ate cooling effect must be adjusted to the specific
1999), barley (Afzal et al., 1999), potato (Afzal and Abe, application.
1999; 1998; Masamura, 1998), shrimp (Fu and Lien,
1998), rough rice (Abe and Afzal, 1997), onion (Itoh, 18.4.2.1 INFRARED SECTIONS
1995), persimmons (Kim, 1993), and red pepper (Koh
et al., 1990). In general, the previous articles deal with IR sections basically consist of a heat source (called
the application of IR heating to drying of different radiator or emitter), a reflector, source sockets, elec-
foods and the analysis of the characteristics and per- trical connections, and a shell where the parts of each
formance of these particular IR dryers. Japanese food sections are built together (Figure 18.5). The main
industry uses this type of heating for drying of sea weed, component is the radiator, which depending on the
curry sauce, carrots, and pumpkins among other things mode of heating, may be classified as:
(Kimura et al., 1992). Other important IR applications
in the food area (not specifically in drying), are cooking 1. Electrically heated radiators: In these radiators,
soybeans, cereal grains, cocoa beans and nuts, precook- the IR radiation is obtained by passing an electric
ing rice, bacon, and barley grains for ‘‘ready to eat’’ current through a resistance, which raises its

ß 2006 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

 Section Secondary Reflector End
Socket bracket
shell pan Heat cap Air movement
and socket
source through section

Assembled section

FIGURE 18.5 Parts of an IR section. (Courtesy of Fostoria Industries, Inc., Fostoria, OH. With permission.)

temperature (Hallström, 1988, p. 217). The most peak energy wavelength. The peak wavelength
common are: metal sheath radiant rods, quartz can be controlled by changing the temperature
tube, and quartz lamp. A typical cross section of a of the source so if different types of emitters
tube emitter is sketched in Figure 18.6a. One of operate at the same temperature they will all
the most important characteristics of such emit- have the same peak wavelength as well as other
ters is the radiant efficiency, which may be de- characteristics like penetration and color sensi-
fined as the percentage of radiant output from a tivity. Figure 18.7 presents the relationship be-
heat source referred to the energy input. There is tween voltage and temperature of the radiator
a positive relationship between this efficiency and together with the efficiency curve and Figure
the temperature of the radiator. Also, as was 18.8 shows graphically the heat up and cool
pointed out previously, there exists an inverse down rate of response of the more common emit-
relationship between this temperature and its ters which can be an important criterion in the

Filling
(a)
Filament

Air Sheath

Gas

Ceramic plate

Grid

Reflector
(b)

FIGURE 18.6 (a) Sketch of an electric IR source. (b) Sketch of a gas-fired IR source.

ß 2006 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

 % Radiant efficiency 2. Gas-fired radiators: These radiators consist of a
20 40 60 80 perforated plate (metal or refractory), which is
100
heated by gas flames in one of the surfaces so the
Quartz
4,200
lamp
plate raises its temperature and emits radiant en-
design ergy. The porosity of the plate determines the
voltage temperature of the other surface so as to ensure
3,800
a safe process. Figure 18.6b shows a sketch of this
type of radiator (van’t Land, 1991, p.250). The
Operating temperature of element (⬚F)

3,400 temperature of such a radiator is generally be-

p
la
m tween 1500 to 17008C with wavelengths from 2.7
rtz

to 2.3 mm (van’t Land, 1991, p. 249). The radiant

ua

3,000

y
efficiency of such radiators is typically about 60%.
Q

ienc
effic

2,600 For practical purposes, choosing an emitter involves

iant

consideration of the following factors (Bischof, 1990):

Rad

2,200 Quartz
tube 1. Absorption characteristics of the material that
design is heated
1,800 voltage 2. Power density of the radiating area ‘‘seen’’ by
Metal the product
t ube sheath 3. Ratio of convected heat to radiant heat
1,400 artz
Qu rod 4. Nature of the installation
a th design
she 5. Type of control required
tal voltage
1,000 Me rod
One of the most successful emitters is the quartz
20 40 60 80 100 lamp because it ensures high power densities, max-
% Voltage imum heat efficiency, flexible design parameters, and
ease of controllability. Also, this type of emitter is
FIGURE 18.7 Radiant efficiency and relationship between fitted with a gold reflector to direct the radiation
voltage and temperature of various radiators. (Courtesy of toward the product to be heated. Various reflector
Fostoria. With permission.) systems are also used (Hallström, 1988, p. 217):

selection of the proper source for a particular Individual metallic/gold reflectors

application. The main characteristics of the elec- Individual gilt twin quartz tube
tric emitters are shown in Table 18.3. Flat metallic/ceramic cassette reflectors

Heat up Cool down

100
Quartz
IR lamp
Available radiant energy (%)

80
Quartz Metal
tube sheath
60

40
Ceramic
type heater
20

0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 0 1 2 3 4 5
Time power on (min) Time power off (min)

FIGURE 18.8 Heat up–cool down time cycles for IR sources. (Courtesy of Fostoria Industries, Inc., Fostoria, Ohio. With
permission.)

ß 2006 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

TABLE 18.3
Properties of Electric Radiators

Type of Emitter Metal Sheath Quartz Tube Quartz Lamp

Sheath material Stainless steel Translucent quartz Clear quartz

Filament Nickel-Chrome Nickel-Chrome Tungsten
Sheath diameter 3/8’’ 3/8’’, 5/8’’, 7/8’’ 3/8’’
Filling material Insulating powder Air Inert gas
Maximum filament temperature 18008F 18008F 40008F
Peak wavelength — 2.3 mm 1.15 mm
Voltage 240 V up to 600 V ~ 600 V
Wattage 60 W per linear inch 30, 60 or 90 W p.l.i. 100 W p.l.i.
Radiant efficiency 50% 60% 86%

Figure 18.9 shows a sketch of such reflectors. The 18.4.2.2 RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN DESIGN
materials and the shape of the reflector determines OF INFRARED DRYERS
its efficiency. Reflector materials must have high re-
flectivity, resist corrosion, heat and moisture, and Although an IR dryer can be built using an existing
be easily cleaned. They must also maintain the high convective dryer by putting in the appropriate number
reflectivity over a long period of time. of radiators over the product to be dried so as to direct
the radiation on it, this technology is under improve-
ment and new combinations of dryers have appeared
in the market. As examples of these new trends and
applications, Figure 18.10 and Figure 18.11 show two
industrial IR dryers, one high velocity hot air impinge-
ment oven with IR electric heaters mounted between
adjacent nozzles (Figure 18.10, Glenro, Technical Bul-
letin, 1992) specially for drying adhesives and inks on
papers, foam and composite web substances, etc. and
the other is a gas-heated IR dryer for metal hydroxide
sludge volume reduction (Figure 18.11, JWI, Tech-
nical Bulletin, 1992). Another promising technology
(a) is the combination of intermittent IR radiation with
continuous convection heating (Dostie et al., 1989) for
drying thick porous materials such as panels made of
wood and of acoustic tiles.

18.4.3 COSTS
(b) The capital costs per kilowatt installed depending
on the different heating modes are presented in
Table 18.4 (Dostie, 1992). Specifically for IR drying,
the radiators are generally the main cost of a dryer.
(c)
Table 18.4 also presents an approximate relation-
ship between the costs of different types of emitters.
A lamp radiator has a life of 2,000 to 3,000 h whereas
FIGURE 18.9 Different types of reflectors: (a) individual
reflector; (b) individual gilt twin quartz tube; and (c) flat
a sheathed element from 5,000 to 10,000 h (Nonhebel
metallic–ceramic cassette reflector. (From Hallström, B., and Moss, 1971, p. 290). The replacement of the
Skjöldebrand, C., and Trägårdh, C., Heat Transfer and radiator elements is the main maintenance item.
Food Products, Elsevier Applied Science, London, 1988. The figures in this table should be taken as guidelines
With permission.) rather than precise. With changes in technology,

ß 2006 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

 Recirculation and exhaust

Air supply

From To
coater rewind

Exhaust port
Hot air impingement nozzle
Infrared heater

FIGURE 18.10 Impingement IR dryer. (Courtesy of Glenro, Inc., Paterson, New Jersey. With permission.)

Water vapour
exhaust
Exhaust
blower

Recirculation
blower

Heated air

Proportional
gas burner

Stainless
muffle
chamber
Sludge on
endless
stainless steel
conveyor belt

FIGURE 18.11 IR dryer for treatment of sludge. (Courtesy of JWI, Inc., Holland, Michigan. With permission.)

ß 2006 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

 TABLE 18.4
Capital Costs for Different Modes of Heating and Types of Emitters (figures
for Quebec, Canada, 1992)

Mode of Heating Capital Cost ($/kW) Capital Cost (Equal Basis) $/kW
Referred to the Highest

Convection 300 —
Radio frequency 2000 —
IR 500 —
Electric lamp — 0.49
Electric sheathed filament — 1.00
Gas-fired emitter — 0.93

these figures are likely to change with time. The costs hg heat transfer coefficient
are 1992 figures for Quebec. I intensity of radiation
K extinction coefficient
K average extinction coefficient
18.5 CONCLUSIONS k thermal conductivity
In view of their several advantages, it is likely that IR Lo initial bed height
drying in combination with convection or vacuum m mass
will become increasingly popular. Intermittent (spa- nw water mass flux
tial or time-wise) supply of IR heating has the poten- Qr heat exchange between bodies
tial merit of saving energy, reduce air consumption, qa heat absorbed
and enhance the quality of heat-sensitive products. S dryer transversal section
Dryers for continuous sheets or large surfaces (e.g., T temperature
planks), utilizing a combination of impinging jets and t time
radiant heaters spaced between jets, have already W dimensionless water content, X/Xo
proven to be industrially viable. Also, combination X solid water content (dry basis)
of radiant heating under vacuum operation is a tech- Y air absolute humidity
nically a sound process for drying certain products. z distance
Much fundamental and industrial R & D needs to be Z particle half thickness
carried out to exploit fully the potential of IR drying
technologies. SUBSCRIPTS
b black body
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS e emitter
g gas phase
The authors gratefully acknowledge the information
i surface
provided by Glenro Inc., Fostoria Industries Inc. and
j surface
JWI Inc. and for their permission to reproduce rele-
n in a direction normal to the surface
vant figures in this chapter.
o initial
r radiator
NOMENCLATURE s solid
sat at saturation
A area l monochromatic
av surface area/volume
Cpah humid air specific heat GREEK SYMBOLS
Cpsh humid solids specific heat
c speed of the light a absorptivity
Dr effective moisture diffusion coefficient DHs heat of sorption
E total emissive power « emissivity
F view factor «l bed porosity
Gs dry air flow rate k Boltzmann constant
h Planck constant l wavelength

ß 2006 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

lmax wavelength where E is maximum Ginzburg, A.S., 1969. ‘‘Application of Infrared Radiation in
r reflectivity Food Processing.’’ Chemical and Process Engineer-
ra air density ing Series, Leonard Hill, London.
rm solid density Glenro, 1992. Technical Product Catalog. Glenro Inc., 39
McBride Avenue Extension, Paterson, NJ 07501–1715.
rs solid mass concentration
Hallström, B., C. Skjöldebrand, and C. Trägårdh, 1988.
s Stefan–Boltzmann constant
Heat Transfer and Food Products. Elsevier Applied
t transmissivity Science, London.
Hannervall, L., V. Mets, and I. Gustafson, 1992. Electric
heating in drying of paper and cardboard with in-
REFERENCES frared technique. Electrotech’92 Meeting Proceed-
ings, Montreal, June 14–18.
Abe, T. and T.M. Afzal, 1997. Thin layer infrared radiation Hasatani, M., Y. Itaya, and K. Miura, 1988. Drying Tech-
drying of rough rice. Journal of Agricultural Engin- nology 6(1), 43–68.
eering Research 67(4), 289–297. Hasatani, M., N. Harai, Y. Itaya, and N. Onoda, 1983.
Abe, T. and T.M. Afzal, 1998. Thin–layer infrared radi- Drying Technology 1(2), 193–214.
ation of rough rice. Journal of Agricultural Engin- Heldman, D.R. and R.P. Singh, 1981. Food Process
eering Research 67(4), 289–297. Engineering. Avi Publishing Co., Westport, Con-
Afzal, T.M. and T. Abe, 1998. Diffusion in potato during necticut.
far infrared radiation drying. Journal of Food En- Irudayaraj, J. and S.J. Jun, 2000. Automatic infrared sys-
gineering 37(4), 353–365. tem for selective heating of food. 2000 IFT Annual
Afzal, T.M. and T. Abe, 1999. Some fundamental attributes Meeting, Dallas.
of far infrared radiation drying of potato. Drying Itoh, K. 1995. Drying of agricultural products using long
Technology 17(1/2), 137–155. wave infrared radiation: drying of welsh onion.
Afzal, T.M., T. Abe, and Y. Hikida, 1999. Energy and Journal of the Society of Agricultural Structures
quality aspects during combined FIR–convection (Japan) 66, 13–20.
drying of barley. Journal of Food Engineering JWI, 1992. Technical Product Catalog. JWI Inc., 2155
42(4), 177–182. 112th Avenue, Holland, MI 49424.
Bischof, H., 1990. The answer is electrical infrared. Journal of Kim, J.G., 1993. Improvement of drying method for dried
Microwave and Electromagnetic Energy 25(1), 47–52. persimmons by infrared ray. RDA. Journal of Agri-
Cairncross, R.A., S. Jeyadev, R.F. Dunham, K. Evans, cultural Science (Korea) 35(2), 766–770.
L.F. Francis, and L.E. Scriven, 1995. Modeling Kimura, Y., T. Nagayasu, and S. Kutsuzawa, 1992. Maxi-
and design of an industrial dryer with convective mizing the effect of long wave infrared heating and
and radiant heating. Journal of Applied Polymer applying it to the food industry. Electrotech ’92
Science 58(8), 1279–1290. Meeting Proceedings, Montreal, June 14–18.
Cote, B., A.D. Broadbent, and N. Therien, 1990. Modélisa- Koh, H.K., Y.J. Cho, and S.W. Kang, 1990. Application
tion et simulation du séchage en continu des of infrared drying to drying process for red pepper.
couches minces par rayonnement infrarouge. Can- Journal of Korean Society of Agricultutal Machinery
adian Journal of Chemical Engineering 68, 786–794. (Korea) 15(3), 230–243.
Crapiste, G.H., S. Whitaker, and E. Rotstein, 1988. Drying Kreith, F., 1965. Principles of Heat Transfer. International
of cellular material. Chemical Engineering and Sci- Textbook Company, Scranton, Pennsylvania.
ence 43, 11. Kuang, H., Chen R., Thibault J. and B.P.A. Grandjean, 1992.
Davis, M. and D. Wachter, 1992. ‘Tuning’ dryers for peak Theoretical and experimental investigation of paper
efficiency. Process Industry Journal (January). drying using gas-fired IR dryer. In ‘‘Drying ’92,’’ A.S.
Dostie, M. 1992. Optimization of a drying process using Mujumdar (Ed.) Elsevier, Amsterdam, 941 pp.
infrared radio frequency and convection heating. In Masamura, A., 1998. Drying of potato by far infrared
‘‘Drying’92,’’ A.S. Mujumdar (Ed.), Elsevier, Am- radiation. Journal of the Japanese Society for Food
sterdam, 679 pp. Science and Technology 35(5), 309–314.
Dostie, M., J.-N. Séguin, D. Maure, Q.-A. Ton-That, and Mohsenin, N.N., 1984. Electromagnetic Radiation Proper-
R. Châtigny, 1989. Preliminary measurements on ties of Foods and Agricultural Products. Gordon and
the drying of thick porous materials by combination Breach Science Publishers, New York.
of intermittent infrared and continuous convection Navarri, P., A. Gevaudan, and J. Andrieu,. 1992. Prelimin-
heating. In ‘‘Drying’89,’’ A.S. Mujumdar and M.A. ary study of drying of coated film heated by infrared
Roques (Eds.), Hemisphere, New York. radiation. In Drying’92, A.S. Mujumdar (Ed.), Else-
Fostoria, 1992. Technical Product Catalog. Fostoria Indus- vier, Amsterdam, 722 pp.
tries Inc., 1200 Main St., Box E, Fostoria, OH Nonhebel, M.A. and A.A.H. Moss, 1971. Drying of Solids in the
44830. Chemistry Industry. Butterworths, London.
Fu, W.R. and W.R. Lien, 1998. Optimization of far infrared Paakkonen, K., J. Havento, B. Galambosi, and M. Pyyk-
heat dehydration of shrimp using RSM. Journal of konen, 1999. Infrared drying of herbs. Agricultural
Food Science 63(1), 80–83. and Food Science in Finland 8(1), 19–27.

ß 2006 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

 Parrouffe, J.M., 1992. ‘‘Combined radiative and convective Therien N., B. Cote, and A.D. Broadbent, 1991. Statistical
drying of a capillary porous solid.’’ Ph.D. Thesis, analysis of a continuous infrared dryer. Textile Re-
McGill University, Montreal, Canada. search Journal 61, 193–202.
Ratti, C., 1991. ‘‘Design of dryers for vegetable and fruit Umesh-Hebbar, H. and N.K. Rastogi, 2001. Mass transfer
products.’’ Ph.D. Thesis (in Spanish), Universidad during infrared drying of cashew kernel. Journal of
Nacional del Sur, Bahı́a Blanca, Argentina. Food Engineering 47(1), 1–5.
Ratti, C., 1994. Shrinkage during drying of foodstuffs. van’t Land, C.M., 1991. Industrial Drying Equipment. Se-
Journal of Food and Engineering 23(1), 91–105. lection and Application. Marcel Dekker, New York.
Sandu, C., 1986. Infrared radiative drying in food engineer- Welty, J.R., C.E. Wicks, and R.E. Wilson, 1984. Fundamen-
ing: a process analysis. Biotechnology Progress, 2(3), tals of Momentum, Heat, and Mass Transfer, Third
109–119. Ed., John Wiley & Sons, New York.
Sieber, W., 1941. Zusammensetzung der von Werk-und Williams-Gardner, A. 1971. ‘‘Industrial Drying.’’ Chemical
Baustoffen Zurückgeworfenen Wärmestrahlung. and Process Engineering Series, I.L. Hepner (series
Zeitschrift fr Technische Physiek, 22, 130–135. ed.), Leonard Hill, London.
Siegel R. and J.R. Howell, 1972. Thermal Radiation Heat
Transfer. McGraw-Hill Book Company, New
York, 420 pp.

ß 2006 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

View publication stats