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Controlling mechanisms of moisture diffusion in convective drying of leather

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Abstract

Leather manufacturing involves a crucial energy-intensive drying stage in the finishing process to remove its residual moisture. It occurs several times in the tanning course. As it is the target of this paper to depict an experimental way to determine moisture diffusion in the convective drying of leather. The effective diffusion coefficient is estimated by a method derived from Fick’s law and by analytic method. The effective diffusion coefficients are obtained from drying tests and the diffusivity behaviour is studied versus the controlling parameter such as the convective airflow temperature. The experiments were conducted at hot air temperatures of 40, 45, 50, 55 and 60 °C and hot air speed of 1 m/s. The hot air temperature had significant effect on the effective moisture diffusivity of the leather sample. The average effective moisture diffusivity in rosehip ranged between 5.87 × 10−11 and 14.48 × 10−11 m2/s for leather at the temperatures studied. Activation energy for convective drying was found to be 38.46 kJ/mol for leather. The obtained results fully confirm the theoretical study in which an exponentially increasing relationship between effective diffusivity and temperature is predicted. The results of this study provide a better understanding of the drying mechanisms and may lead to a series of recommendations for leather drying optimization. It opens the possibility for further investigations on the description of drying conditions.

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Abbreviations

D0 :

Pre-exponential factor (m2/s)

Deff :

Eff effective moisture diffusivity (m2/s)

Ea :

Activation energy (kJ/mol)

L:

The slab thickness (m)

M:

Moisture content of sample at time t, gH2O/g dry

M0 :

Initial moisture content, gH2O/g dry matter

Me :

Equilibrium moisture content, gH2O/g dry matter

MR:

Dimensionless moisture content

R2 :

Coefficients of determination

R:

Universal gas constant (kJ/mol K)

T:

Air temperature (K)

t:

Time (s)

WR :

Total uncertainty in measurement of result

w1, w2,…wn:

Uncertainties in independent variables

wtm :

Total uncertainty in the measurement of time of mass loss values

wmq :

Total uncertainty in the measurement of the moisture quantity

wMR :

Total uncertainty in the calculated of moisture rate

0:

Initial

E:

Equilibrium

eff:

Effective

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the ANPR (National Agency for the Promotion of Scientific Research), thesis research and innovations are performed within the framework of the MOBIDOC thesis, financed by the EU under the program PASRI.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratoire d’Energétique et des Transferts Thermiques et Massiques, Département de Physique, Faculté des sciences de Tunis, Campus Universitaire, 2092 Manar II, Tunis, Tunisia

    Naima Benmakhlouf, Soufien Azzouz & Afif ELCafsi

  2. Departamento de Tecnologías de la Información y las Comunicaciones, Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena, Campus Muralladel Mar, E-30202, Cartagena, Spain

    Juan Monzó-Cabrera

  3. Tannnerie Megisserie de Maghreb, Cyte Anter, 8030, Grombalia, Tunisia

    Hechmi Khdhira

Authors
  1. Naima Benmakhlouf
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  2. Soufien Azzouz
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  3. Juan Monzó-Cabrera
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  4. Hechmi Khdhira
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Correspondence to Naima Benmakhlouf.

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Benmakhlouf, N., Azzouz, S., Monzó-Cabrera, J. et al. Controlling mechanisms of moisture diffusion in convective drying of leather. Heat Mass Transfer 53, 1237–1245 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00231-016-1900-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00231-016-1900-8

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