Modeling of kinetics of drying process of polycaproamide granules considering its sorption properties
Authors: Maklusova Marina Sergeevna , Kosheleva Maria Konstantinovna , Dornyak Olga Roaldovna 
Published: January 2019

The object of research is a fiber-forming polymer - polycaproamide. The process of drying of polycaproamide granules, after aqueous extraction of low-molecular compounds from them, is an important stage of producing of polyamide fiber nylon and largely determines the quality of the target product. To obtain a high-quality fiber, the drying of the granules should provide a sufficiently high degree of its dehydration. The average final moisture content of the material should be no more than 0.1%. With a low moisture content, the drying process slows down, so the calculation of the kinetics of dewatering of granules can not be carried out using a constant effective mass-transfer coefficient (moisture diffusion). In this paper we present a calculation technique for determining two local parameters of mass transfer: the water diffusion coefficient in polycaproamide (as a liquid) and the so-called criterion for phase transitions, which depend on the moisture content of the material and are determined by its sorption properties. The report presents the results of numerical calculations illustrating the development of two-dimensional fields of moisture content, temperature, pressure and vapor concentration in the vapor-gas phase for cylindrical granules in convective drying. To describe the processes of heat and mass transfer during the drying of granules, a nonstationary nonlinear 2D model is used that includes transport equations averaged over the microvolume of the material: the liquid phase transfer equation; heat equation; equation for vapor-gas phase pressure; equation for the concentration of the vapor component. The nonstationary nonlinear conjugate mathematical model is studied numerically. A feature of the presented model is the possibility of an analytical calculation of the local mass transfer coefficients of a liquid, taking into account the sorption properties of the material, the permeability coefficient and the local values ​​of humidity and temperature. Determination of the local coefficients of moisture transfer is carried out on the basis of the formulas obtained in the analysis of a more general mathematical model of heat and mass transfer carried out based on the mechanics of multiphase systems developed in the works of R.I. Nigmatulin, and S. Whitaker. The structure of the samples was investigated by three independent methods in order to obtain the most complete idea of ​​it and to compare the obtained characteristics. The isotherms of the sorption of polycaproamide were obtained experimentally on a vacuum sorption plant with Mac-Ben-Bakr weights. Comparison of the results of mathematical modeling of heat and mass transfer in the granule and data of the laboratory experiment on the kinetics of polycaproamide granule drying showed good agreement between the calculated and experimental data. The constructed mathematical model allows to form energy-efficient resource-saving regimes for drying granules of polycaproamide.Keywords: convective drying, mathematical modeling, polycaproamide.