Analysis of heat and mass transfer during drying of paper/board

A mathematical model has been successfully developed to study the heat and mass transfer process during paper drying. This model takes into account the consective transfer of vapor and liquid apart from the known transport mechanisms of capillary flow of liquid, diffusion, vaporization-condensation, and heat conduction. The partial differential equations describing temperature, saturation and pressure change within the web during drying with associated boundary conditions and initial conditions were solved using finite difference method. The model predictions show that during the drying process the web can be conveniently divided into three different zones, namely dry zone, wet zone and an intermediate zone. The movement of liquid and vapor in opposite directions in the intermediate zone is similar to the action of a heat pipe. Also, as drying proceeds the location of the intermediate zone and hence the heat pipe advances progressively through the thickness of the web.