The objective of this work is to analyze and compare the natural and forced convective drying of handmade recycled paper. Drying of recycled cellulose pulp was carried out under laboratory environment conditions and in a convective dryer with forced air circulation and controlled conditions of air temperature and velocity. The tests were conducted following a two-factor central composed factorial design of experiments, with six runs at the central point. The drying results were analyzed and fitted to mathematical models of Fick, Henderson and Pabis (Fick’s modified equation), Page and He (considering the nonlinear Fick effect). The model of Page represented best the experimental data and the one of Henderson and Pabis resulted in an adequate fit for the paper drying kinetics. Sorption isotherms were determined for the dried paper and the models of GAB (Guggenheim-Anderson-de Boer) and GDW (Generalised D’Arcy and Watt) resulted in excellent fits of the experimental data. The water sorption mechanism was suggested by the analysis of the calculated parameters of the GDW model.

Carioca beans are a highly nutritious grain, in terms of the amount of protein, iron and potassium as well as carbohydrates and fiber and as a source of vitamins. The moisture content of recently picked beans is too high for good preservation and storage, resulting in the need for drying before packaging. In this work, the drying of Carioca beans in a laboratory scale spouted bed under intermittent conditions of the drying air was experimentally analyzed. Experiments carried out consisted of two types of intermittent regime: intermittence in the spout regime, referred to as spouted/fixed bed and intermittence of the air supply to the bed, called spouted bed/rest. The results were compared to those for bean drying in a spouted bed dryer without intermittence.

The purpose of the present work was to study the differentiation of states of typical fluidization (single bubble, multiple bubble and slugging) in a gas-solid fluidized bed, using spectral analysis of pressure fluctuation time series. The effects of the method of measuring (differential and absolute) pressure fluctuations and the axial position of the probes in the fluidization column on the identification of each of the regimes studied were evaluated. Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) was the mathematic tool used to analysing the data of pressure fluctuations, which expresses the behavior of a time series in the frequency domain. Results indicated that the plenum chamber was a place for reliable measurement and that care should be taken in measurement in the dense phase. The method allowed fluid dynamic regimes to be differentiated by their dominant frequency characteristics.

The objective of this work was to study the coating of microcrystalline cellulose with a polymeric suspension in a fluidized bed. The coating operation was carried out using a fluidized bed with top spraying by a double-fluid nozzle. The fluidized bed consists of a cylindrical column made of plexiglass with a height of 0.6 m and an inner diameter of 0.14 m. The polymeric coating suspension was formulated using Eudragit® as the basic component. As the quality of the coating product is greatly affected by the spraying characteristics, the influence of the flow rate of the coating suspension and the moisture content of the particles on the agglomeration index and efficiency of the process of coating microcrystalline cellulose was analyzed.

In this work a model was developed to describe the dynamic behavior of fluid and particles in pneumatic conveying. The object-oriented simulation (OOS) technique was applied, which allowed a discrete, deterministic and transient treatment for the particulate phase. The fluid phase was modeled assuming a pseudo two-dimensional flow, separated from the particulate phase. The dynamic effects coupling both phases were taken into account in the interaction terms as the drag force acting on the particles and the momentum generation in the fluid phase. The model presented in this work considers bidirectional coupling of the particulate and fluid phases and tridimensional movement of the particles. The properties of the object-oriented technique allow the simulation of polydispersed mixtures, permitting segregation studies in pneumatic conveying.