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Multiport Dryer Paper Design
Will Improve Paper Drying Process
Cheaper and more energy-efficient paper production could result from an innovation developed at Argonne National Laboratory. The design of a Multiport dryer technology was completed in 2006 and shown to improve the process of paper drying and saving energy in the final step in paper production.
In the current process, paper is dried by passing it over 30 to 100 large-diameter, steam-heated cylinders. This process requires a significant amount of energy. Argonne's Multiport dryer has a series of longitudinally oriented passages, or "ports," near the inner surface of the drying cylinders. Basically it is a metal cylinder with long, thin channels indented in the sides from top to bottom. This cylinder fits closely inside the outer drying cylinder, forming tubes that carry steam against the dryer cylinder's surface. This multiport flow configuration increases the rate of heat transfer, drying the paper faster and more efficiently.
"Argonne's Multiport dryer may become one of these major innovations in drying," said mechanical engineer Stephen Choi. The invention is now in final prototype development and testing. It is being designed so that it may be installed in existing dryer cylinders. Exact details of the cost are still being determined, but the likely price for the retrofit will be under $10,000, which is less than 20 percent of the installed cost of a new dryer. Gains in paper production rate of 20% to 50% were realized in test runs last year.
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| Multiport dryer design technology will improve the process of paper drying and save energy |
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In 2005 and 2006, David France of the University of Illinois at Chicago produced excellent results with Multiport dryer heat transfer test apparatus. Kadant Johnson, one of the leading equipment suppliers in the paper production industry, gave the Multiport dryer team a practical guide to the development of Multiport dryer technology. Choi said the company is "ideally set up to be a partner in the important bridging stage to commercialization."
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