Multi-Functional Drying Educational Unit Operations Pilot Plant

Introduction

The Multi-Functional Drying Educational Unit Operations Pilot Plant is an integrated, pilot-scale laboratory apparatus designed for engineering departments in higher education. This unit combines three industrial drying methods—tunnel drying, fluidized bed drying, and spray drying—into a single, space-saving workstation. Developed to bridge the gap between theoretical heat and mass transfer principles and practical engineering applications, the pilot plant enables students to study drying kinetics, gas-solid separation, and psychrometric behavior under controlled experimental conditions.

Flexible Customization

To accommodate varying laboratory layouts and diverse curricular requirements, this educational pilot plant offers comprehensive customization options. Both the hardware configurations—including specific sensor placements, column dimensions, and material selections—and the software interfaces—such as data acquisition systems, control parameters, and visual readouts—can be customized to align with your institution's teaching objectives.

Key Features and Educational Benefits

• Three-in-One Drying Modalities: Integrates tunnel, fluidized bed, and spray drying systems on a single platform, allowing students to compare different drying mechanisms and kinetics directly.
• Visualized Process Observation: The spray drying tower, fluidized bed column, and downstream cyclone separators are constructed from transparent materials, permitting clear observation of fluidization, atomization, and gas-solid separation processes.
• Kinetics and Curve Plotting: Facilitates the empirical determination of drying curves and drying rate curves, helping students grasp the critical transition between constant-rate and falling-rate drying periods.
• Comprehensive Data Acquisition: Equipped with dry-bulb and wet-bulb temperature sensors, airflow rate controls, and weight tracking systems to support rigorous calculation of moisture content and humid volume.
• Robust and Mobile Framework: Built on a high-grade aluminum alloy frame with integrated casters, providing structural durability alongside mobility within the laboratory space.
• Digital Simulation Integration: Includes software support capable of generating animations to visualize heat and mass transfer phenomena, reinforcing physical laboratory observations with digital process modeling.

Detail & Parts

Technical Specifications and Experimental Modules

Curriculum Integration and Academic Alignment

This pilot plant is designed to serve as a physical counterpart to undergraduate engineering curricula. The experimental modules map directly to fundamental principles covered in major chemical and process engineering programs. Instructors can utilize the equipment to demonstrate core unit operations described in leading academic textbooks, such as:

• Unit Operations of Chemical Engineering: The equipment provides physical demonstrations of solids drying operations, drying kinetics, gas-solid separation systems, and the design principles of fluidized beds and spray dryers.
• Transport Processes and Separation Process Principles: Students can apply textbook equations for simultaneous heat and mass transfer, psychrometry, and wet-bulb/dry-bulb temperature relationships to actual experimental data.
• Chemical Engineering Design: The pilot plant serves as a practical reference for equipment selection, drying process optimization, and the scaling of gas-solid separation equipment like cyclone separators.

Tailored Configurations

Every laboratory has unique pedagogical focuses and space requirements. We provide tailored hardware and software solutions to ensure the equipment meets your curriculum's exact specifications. Our engineering team can adapt sensor ranges, control configurations, material specifications, and software logging capabilities to deliver a system that integrates into your existing laboratory program.

About LABPARK

For more than 20 years, LABPARK has been a trusted supplier of educational laboratory equipment, supporting higher education institutions in preparing the next generation of engineers and researchers. We focus on developing robust teaching systems across six core domains: chemistry, chemical engineering, biotechnology, food engineering, pharmaceutical engineering, and environmental engineering. Our continuous commitment to academic support and technical innovation is reflected in our portfolio of 209 technical patents and our 49,000-square-meter production and R&D facility.

To date, LABPARK has partnered with over 289 universities and colleges worldwide. We are dedicated to providing educational equipment that complies with academic standards, ensuring safety, reliability, and measurable pedagogical value in the laboratory.

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