Rotary Vacuum Dryer

Rotary Drum Drying with Solvent Recovery

Applied Chemical Technology (ACT) builds rotary vacuum dryers designed for ruggedness, quality, and safety. Our rotary vacuum dryers are ideal for products that are heat sensitive or involve hazardous materials found in industries such as chemical, pharmaceutical, food, plastics, and metal powders. In addition to rotary vacuum dryers, we design and build rotary vacuum drying systems for those looking for a total vacuum drying solution.

Our shop is an ASME Division 1 pressure vessel shop capable of building ASME U stamped vacuum dryers for handling hazardous materials. We design and build dryers which include inert gas purging for control in potentially explosive conditions. Our drums can include a tilting base for easy change of materials between batches.

Rotary Vacuum Dryer

Rotary Vacuum Dryer

Materials of Construction: Stainless Steel and Specialty Alloys
Diameters: Up to 48 inches
Lengths: Up to 60 inches
ASME: U Stamped
Common Materials Dried
  • Vitamins
  • Pharmaceutical – antibiotics
  • Fine Chemicals
  • Pesticides
  • Insecticides
  • Organic Chemicals

 

Rotary Vacuum Dryer with Inert Gas Purge

           Rotary Vacuum Dryer with Inert Gas Purge

Rotary Vacuum Dryer System Add-ons

  • Solvent Recovery System
  • Air Handling/ Emissions Control Systems Available:
    • Scrubbers
    • Baghouses
    • Cyclones
    • Combination of the Above
  • Inert Gas Purging System
  • Skid Mounting
  • Process Automation and Controls

How Does a Rotary Vacuum Dryer Work?

In a rotary vacuum dryer, a wet solid or cake is placed in a cylindrical drum. The drum is sealed and as the drum rotates, a vacuum is created inside the drum. If needed, heat is also applied to the shell of the drum (known as indirect heating). Inside the drum, the material is agitated or lifted by flights to promote heat transfer. As a result of the vacuum inside the drum, the solvent evaporates. The vapor is drawn from the dryer and run through condensers to recover the solvent. A gas purge may also be used to prevent explosive conditions.

Rotary vacuum dryers may be used when the material that is being dried is heat sensitive. Because of the vacuum created inside the drum, the solvent evaporates more efficiently at lower temperatures and therefore the drying times can be shortened. Vacuum dryers are also used when the solvent is valuable or necessary to recover. This may be due to the cost of the solvent itself or because of emission controls. Finally, a vacuum dryer allows for safer handling of hazardous solvent due to the lower temperature during drying as well the ability to include purging with inert gases.