Get a degree in Chemical Engineering - through the course of learning Unit Operations, I'm sure you will come across a method for doing that.
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"Blessed is the man who, having nothing to say, abstains from giving us wordy evidence of the fact." George Eliot [Mary Ann Evans] (1819-1880)
If you ARE a Chemical Engineer, you should already have had some ideas and maybe have ruled some things out.
Some basic questions:
Will you be wanting to dry this in a continuous or batchwise process?
How "wet" is the stearate material that you need to dry?
How much moisture do you want to remove?
What is the desired production rate?
Answer these questions and give some idea of where you are in your thought process on this and maybe someone here can help.
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"Blessed is the man who, having nothing to say, abstains from giving us wordy evidence of the fact." George Eliot [Mary Ann Evans] (1819-1880)
well i never claimed to be a chemical engineer. i assumed the person who was the very 1st to respond to be a chemical engineer
now lets switch back to business
answers to your basic questions:
1. the Process is batchwise uptil now which is very costly, the main aim is to reduce the cost by increasing the rate of production, irrespective of what process is opted for, be it a batch or a continuous or semi continuous.
2 & 3. the product contains 60 % moisture, which is to be brought down up2 4%
4. so far the rate of production targeted is 100 kg / day, keeping in mind the resources available. on availability of better resources rate of production can be raised either by expansion (i.e. installation of a new equipment) or by modifications in the present equipment.
i hope my answers satisfy ur queries made uptil now, if u hav any more i would appreciate to receive and respond. moreover, thanks for your interest in solution of my problem, i really appreciate. your further response is eagerly awaited.
as for product, it is zinc stearate, hydrophobic in nature, yet its difficult to get rid of the water adsorbed on the surface, because the mesh size is very high i.e. 1200 mesh approx. this makes the life really tough. the water adsorbed, seems to have great adhesion to the product, but it fails to penetrate through.
I would recommend using a Rotary Vacuum Dryer (RVD). This is a vessel in which the material to be dried is (usually) top-loaded. Once loaded, the vessel lid is closed and a partial vacuum is pulled on the vessel. The RVD is fitted with a blade assembly that rotates inside the vessel to gently, but continuously, stir the contents. Also there is a steam jacket on the vessel to apply heat. The combination of heat and vacuum along with the agitation will dry most materials.
A word of caution - the RVD can make some materials generate a lot of dust.
If you have any more questions, please let me know.
Mike
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"Blessed is the man who, having nothing to say, abstains from giving us wordy evidence of the fact." George Eliot [Mary Ann Evans] (1819-1880)
Well that's exactly one of our major problems, the dust formation
the final product is very light, even one can inhale it while breathing. The particle size is 1200 mesh approx. i have come to conclusion, which might not be necessarily correct, but the bottom line is the product has to be dried by current of dry, hot air. now the application is the problem. We are already using tray dryer working with hot air, which has high running cost.
we need an alternate method or some suggested modification to cut down the drying cost to be minimal, since we are not earning a penny out of the production, and the running cost is itself a liability to date, and its running on daily basis investement
How are you making the zinc stearate? Is there any way of controlling the size of the particle in the (I'm guessing) precipitation/crystallization step. I have successfully been able to greatly increase particle size (a different compound - NOT zinc stearate) by slowing the cooling in the crystallization stage. We were able to filter, and rinse, and dry (with the RVD) this product much more easily. Maybe it could work in your process.
Mike
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"Blessed is the man who, having nothing to say, abstains from giving us wordy evidence of the fact." George Eliot [Mary Ann Evans] (1819-1880)
"the product after the reaction is in the form of slurry, which is transferred in the centrifuge, where it is centrifuged first, then washed 3rice, being centrifuged after every wash. After the completion of the centrifuging process, the product is obtain in the form of lumps, due to agglomeration taking place in the process. These lumps are very soft in nature, and have no resistance what so ever and break on the slightest of application of force by a human hand. This shows the quality of agglomeration taking place.
2ndly there is no process of crystallization involved in the whole process"
I again appreciate your words of wisdom. Thanx a million for your contribution.
Which STEARATE you
are interested to dry as the some are PASTY in NATURE & VERY HARD to
release water during drying hence you
can use the HOT AIR DRYER WITH 1400 C
INDIRECT HEATING (GAS/DIESEL BURNED) or for good & more
MOISTURE FREE DRYING USE AIR (HOT)
PASSED THRO' DESSICANT to remove MOISTURE in the AIR(HUMIDITY) to increase the
drying force if interested you my tel
no91-20-24532278 mail:anantr@goowy.com
I am intersted in drying zinc, calcium and magnesium stearates, but primarily zinc.
i believe you got it spot on. it indeed is of very pasty nature, when stuck on hand it does not get easily washed off with out application of soap, does not allow water to penetrate through. the water i have observed in on the surface. we are already using a tray dryer with hot air @ 140oC, by indirect heating through gas flame, though we are not using any dessicant as yet, and yes i agree which is a blunder, and does reduces the rate of production and consequently increasing cost of drying.
How to dry stearates?
Re: How to dry stearates?
