Canadian Journal of Chemical Engineering, Vol.78, No.6, 1145-1150, 2000
A theoretical investigation of enhancement of mass transfer from a packed fed using acoustic oscillations
This paper describes a theoretical investigation of the possibility of improving the performance of packed bed dryers using acoustic oscillations. It was motivated by the increasing interest in the use of acoustic oscillations to improve the performance of energy-intensive, industrial processes. Sound propagation in a packed bed was modelled as propagation through a porous medium. The effect of acoustic oscillations on the drying rate was then investigated by numerically integrating the heat and mass transfer equations. The model used quasi-steady correlations for heat and mass transfer. The results show that threshold values for void fractions and sound pressure levels exist, above which significant increase in drying rate can be obtained. The increase in mass transfer decreases with effective particle diameter.