Innovative drying techniques

A significant recent advance has been the development of microfiltration and ultrafiltration membranes composed of inorganic oxide materials. These are presently produced by two main techniques (a) deposition of colloidal metal oxide on to a supporting material such as carbon, and (b) as purely ceramic materials by high temperature sintering of spray-dried oxide microspheres. Other innovative production techniques lead to the... 

Wu, Z., 2007. Mathematical modeling of pulse combustion and its applications to innovative thermal drying techniques. Diss., National University of Singapore, Singapore. 

In the past 15 years the field of micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) has progressed tremendously thanks to the innovative utilization of the techniques of microelectronic fabrication. In particular, techniques of lithography using optical and electron beams and the development of anisotropic etching (both dry and wet) led to the rapid progress in the field. In recent years there have been new efforts to... 

These developments will have a wide impact. Reaction enhancement will be a major beneficiary, but a look at the simpler field of solvent dehydration shows that the innovation process is very application dependant. Pervaporation (with vapor permeation) is progressively displacing other techniques in solvent dehydration. Replacing entrainer distillation for drying ethanol and isopropanol, pervaporation at initial stages is always now preferred to techniques, where a third component must be added to shift equlibria. The handling of entrainers and/or calcium chloride or caustic with the attendant environmental risks and costs is no longer a viable option. 

This part includes some of the new dryer types and drying concepts that have appeared in the literature in recent years. Most are in their infancy, and so no definite evaluation is feasible at this time. Also, the techniques presented here are not categorized according to any rigid classification scheme or criteria. Nevertheless, the reader will find the ideas interesting and innovative at least for some special applications. They will be of special interest to readers who wish to identify new ideas for basic R D. 

Alves-Filho, O., 2002. Combined innovative heat pump drying technologies and new cold extrusion techniques for production of instant foods. Diying Technol. 20(8) 1541-1557. 

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