Hydrodynamic behavior of a jet spouted bed of shrimp

Dried shrimp is one of the most important exported marine products of Thailand. The price of dried shrimp depends largely on its quality viz. dryness, color and size. To improve the quality of dried shrimp as well as to enhance the production capacity of the drying process a jet spouted bed dryer has been proposed to dry shrimp. Prior to being able to design and operate the dryer efficiently information on the dryer hydrodynamic behavior is needed. The present research therefore aimed at investigating the effects of various operating parameters, i.e., size of shrimp, bed height and nozzle diameter, on the bed hydrodynamic characteristics viz. minimum spouting velocity as well as maximum and steady spouting pressure drops. Empirical correlations that can be used to predict the flow behavior of shrimp, which is an irregular-shaped bioproduct, in a jet spouted bed dryer were also developed. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.