Application of Computational Fluid Dynamics in Simulation and Optimization of a Fluidized Sugar Bed Dryer

Abstract

The application of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) in the design of industrial thermal process equipment is of great importance. Food drying is an important process in the sugar processing industry as it helps in the easy of transportation and storage, and also increases the life span of food. In this study a two-dimensional (2D) fluidized bed dryer is designed in the Blockmesh Dict file an application in the OpenFOAM with dimensions height 0.8m and diameter 0.5m. The Navier-Stokes equations were solved to provide the flow variation that occurs inside the fluidized bed dryer in terms of temperature and velocity. For optimization of results, Taguchi analysis was considered and the results show that at a very low temperature below 50°C, the sugar drying process is slow leading to much time being spent for effective sugar drying. Also an increase in flow velocity results in a faster drying rate of sugar granules. During the optimization of the performance of the fluidized sugar bed dryer, the percentage contribution of sugar granules diameter is more significant than other factors and it was also noted that pressure has less significance on the drying process within the fluidized bed.