THE INFLUENCE OF AIR-TEMPERATURE ON EFFECTIVE DIFFUSION-COEFFICIENT OF MOISTURE IN THE FALLING RATE PERIOD

The convection drying of spheres of AI-NI catalyst and thin clay plate was investigated on a laboratory scale. The aim of the investigation was to determine the mechanism of moisture transfer within the firm sa mple skeleton. By measuring the mass loss and the surface temperature of the samples during the drying process, basic dependencies necessary to describe the process kinetics was obtained. Found functional depen dencies show high level of correlation with experimental data. Exponen tial model parameters are dependent of air temperature and velocity, a nd the type of the examined material. The applicability of the chosen model to describe the drying kinetics is proven regardless of drying m aterial origin and geometry. The comparison of different drying experi ment and determination of the average diffusional coefficient at given experimental conditions is enabled.