Determination of PVC powder drying kinetics at particle scale: Experimental study and modeling

An original experimental method is used to determine drying kinetic at particle scale. The particle scale kinetics was obtained by immersion of a small mass of wet polyvinyl chloride (PVC) particles (cake) in a batch dense fluidized bed containing inert hot particles (glass bead). The results are summarized here and prove clearly that the PVC drying is controlled by a competition between internal and external transfers. The drying kinetic was described by a particle scale model taking into account the convective-diffusive (mass transfer) and the convective-evaporative (heat transfer) phenomena. To validate this model with the experimental data, the experimental fluidized bed dryer is modeled following two different approaches: a perfect stirred reactor model and a 3D numerical simulation using the multiphase flow code NEPTUNE_CFD. The aim of this 3D simulation is to simulate the phenomena occurring, at local scale, in a dense fluidized bed dryer and to show the limitations of the perfect stirred reactor model.