Fluid-bed dryers offer an inherently efficient method of moisture removal that has not changed since the systems were developed in the 1950s. The introduction of ever-improving control technologies — personal computer-based and PLC control systems, smart sensors and other technological advances — in the last 40 years, however, has changed how process engineers operate their fluid-bed drying systems.

It’s a point of pride that I have every issue of Process Heating ever published cataloged in a small library in my home office. Admittedly, it’s not as tidy as you might find at your local library. I tend to stack issues that I “check out” on the floor in front of the library until it’s time to clean my office. And, while my lazy filing means a career as a bibliophilic cataloger is doubtful, it also provides opportunities for rediscovery.

Designed to recycle nitrogen to increase the amount of nitrogen in the process air to 85 percent to render combustion impossible, the fluid-bed drying system has an integral baghouse dust collector set directly above the fluid-bed drying zone to create a sealed system. 

Drying system includes an integral baghouse dust collector positioned directly above the fluid bed drying zone. The configuration is designed to contain all of the fine particles entrained in the airstream and allow them to remain in the dryer for processing as product rather than collecting them remotely or accepting their loss as waste. 

A manufacturer of vibratory fluid bed dryers, coolers, classifiers, screeners and other machinery, Witte Co., Washington, N.J., is celebrating its 80th anniversary.

A pneumatic cover lift that automatically raises the dryer cover at the push of a button allows a single operator to open the fluid-bed dryer or cooler to clean or inspect the system.

It is no coincidence that the energy-cost-reducing technology used to recover and reuse heated process air in fluid-bed drying systems was developed during the energy crisis of the 1970s.

Sanitary, custom, candy processing system combines a vibrating fluid bed dryer, cooler, screener and integral baghouse collector to dry agglomerated sugar, cool it with ambient air and screen out oversized chunks.

Mars Mineral designs and builds turnkey systems to convert bulk powder materials into spherical pellets. To develop the pelletizing process for a customer, the company offers research and testing services, including the pilot pelletizing line at the company’s 45,000 ft2 (4,180 m2) production facility in Mars, Pa., near Pittsburgh.

Being the fourth generation to lead a company that designs and manufactures fluid-bed dryers and heat transfer equipment, I have spent most of my life developing a high level of understanding of fluid-bed drying technology and how it can be applied to many different types of materials.