Drying of Pentaerythritol obtained from Batch Crystallization

This work was aimed at investigating the kinetics of vacuum drying pentaerythritol obtained by batch crystallization from aqueous solution. The quality of the crystals dried after rinsing with ethanol and acetone was analyzed, and then compared with the data obtained from the unrinsed crystals. Drying was carried out in the laboratory vacuum dryer under different pressures and temperatures. The experimentally-obtained drying curves were successfully approximated by the two-parameter Page model. Parameters, k and n, of the mathematical model were correlated with the process conditions. The parameter k grew with increasing drying rate. The parameter n was influenced by the type of solvent that was removed. It decreased with the increase of the boiling point of the solvent.