Performance evaluation of a flighted rotary dryer for lateritic ore in concurrent configuration

The lateritic ore drying in the Cuban nickel producing industry is realized within flighted rotary dryers. In this investigation, performance indicators in regards to transfer of momentum, heat and mass were evaluated. The dryers operate in a concurrent configuration with combustion gas, at a productivity between 40 t h−1 and 50 t h−1. The distribution function of the residence time (RTD) was best fitted to a model of a multi-branch tanks-in-series system, theoretical residence time was 51 ± 2 min and experimental mean residence time 61 min, at a rate of 45 t h−1 and hydraulic efficiency 1.23, due to the presence of dead-zoon. Mass and energy balance was made following a “black box” model, as results, the specific fuel consumption was 27.25 ± 0.25 kg fuel t−1 of wet ore, specific energy consumption 79.66 ± 0.95 kg fuel t−1 of H2O evaporated, energy efficiency 97.28 ± 0.01 %, thermal efficiency 66.88 ± 0.71 % and drying efficiency 98.77 ± 0.12 %. Mathematical modelling was made using a system of differential equations, the rate of drying in falling rate period was estimated by Arrhenius equation, then, temperature profile and ore moisture content along the dryer was simulated. The model provided a successful predictive performance; for an inlet gas temperature between 850 °C and 900 °C, the ore moisture was reduced form 33.0 % (wet basis) to a range depending on the dryer productivity, from 3.0 % to 7.1 %. Designing a computerized system that implements these algorithms can benefit on efficiency and productivity of the production plant.