ROMERO, J. E. R.; ROMERO, Joaquim Ernesto Rosa.
Resumen:
This work concerns the design, construction and study of the performance of a pilot scale equipment for drying sugarcane bagasse (by-product of sugar mills, distilleries and sugar mills). Sugarcane bagasse is found at the mill's output with 50 to 55% humidity on a humid basis: for this reason it is necessary to use a viable drying system for its later use as fuel and / or raw material in the sugar industry. paper and cellulose, animal feed, furfural, agglomerates, etc. Based on the results of other authors (VALENÇA and
MASSARANI, 1982) a reduced-scale conveyor dryer for sugarcane bagasse was designed. The hypotheses used in the design of the dryer are presented. Compared with other types of bagasse dryers, the main advantages of the proposed equipment are: it operates at low pressure, simplicity of operational control, lower cost. These characteristics make it especially suitable for machines and
small units. The experimental behavior of the pilot dryer was
analyzed through a simplified model obtaining the parameters that characterize its operational performance. Mathematical modeling was used to scale
and optimize a prototype on an industrial scale. The experiences presented here allow to anticipate a reasonable drying efficiency with low power consumption.
