Heat and mass transfer of drops of concentrated solutions during spray dehydration under conditions of convective-radiation energy supply

The results of modeling the dehydration of drops of a concentrated liquid, on the example of ceramics, with convective-radiation energy supply under conditions of direct-flow and counter-current phase motion, as well as pulsed counter-flows of gas, are presented. A model for the dehydration of a single drop is formulated based on the equations of heat conduction with a source term and diffusion of moisture, taking into account the change in its size due to evaporation. This takes into account the influence of the convective vapor flow from the evaporating droplet surface (Stefan flow), as well as the blowing of evaporating vapor into the hot gas flow on the heat transfer coefficient (Spalding correction). The impact of infrared radiation is described by the Bouguer equation. The equation of motion of a drop in a gas flow takes into account the forces due to gravity, the difference in velocities and phase densities. As a result of numerical simulation, it was found that with countercurrent phase movement, the intensity of dehydration is higher than with cocurrent flow. This is due to both an increase in the relative velocity of the phases and an increase in the residence time of the drop in the intense region of infrared radiation. It is shown that further intensification of evaporation is possible due to the creation of pulsed counter gas flows. The calculated results are compared with the experimental data, which confirms the adequacy of the model. The results of the study can be useful in the development of new heat technologies and devices for dehydration of concentrated solutions and suspensions.