Process and apparatus for efficiently drying wet-milled corn germ and other materials

摘要

A flowable solid material, such as wet-milled corn germ, is continuously fed into the upper portion of a large vessel having a cylindrical shell with a vertical axis and a series of vertically spaced horizontal decks. Each deck has concentrically spaced annular zones of holes or perforations, and heated air from a set of blowers and a gas- fired or steam heat exchanger is forced countercurrently or upwardly through the perforations to produce a recirculating bed of material above each deck with an upward spouting flow of the material above the zones of perforations and a downward flow of material between the zones of perforations. The recirculating material forming the lower beds is also heated by cylindrical steam heat exchangers which extend vertically between the zones of perforations, and the material is fed downwardly through the vessel in a serpentine-like path to form the beds and for discharge from the lowermost bed. Sweep arms rotate above the decks and below the heat exchangers, and after the heated air flowing upwardly through the decks and beds absorbs moisture from the material, the air is exhausted to a dual cyclone separator. The separator collects solid particles within the exhaust air, and the clean exhaust air is directed from the separator back to the blowers to form a closed cycle operation.