Due to their flexibility in processing virtually any bulk solid material, rotary dryers have made their way into an abundance of industries around the globe.
The following is a brief overview of some of the most common industries FEECO’s rotary dryers are employed.
Agriculture
Selected for their durability and high throughput, rotary dryers are used extensively in the agricultural industry, and more specifically, in the following ag applications:
- Fertilizer and soil amendments. Rotary dryers are used to process raw feed stock and to dry final product. Materials dried include: gypsum, limestone, potash, NPK, DAP, and manure.
- Animal feeds. Animal feeds are similar to fertilizer and soil amendments, in that dryers are used on both raw feed stock and the end product. Materials dried include: DDGS, DCP, MCP.
- Bedding. Rotary dryers can process dairy manure digestate from anaerobic digesters, in order to produce a bedding product know as Dried Manure Solids (DMS) bedding.
Mining / Minerals and Aggregates
Due to their high capacity settings, heavy-duty make-up, and able to tolerate sometimes abrasive materials, rotary dryers are an ideal fit for the mining industry.
The agriculture and mining sector overlap in terms of the extensive use of mined minerals as soil amendments and fertilizers. Because of this overlap, materials mentioned in the previous section, such as limestone, gypsum, and potash, are applicable to the mining industry as well.
Additional mined materials that often employ rotary dryers include:
- Bauxite
- Clays
- Sand
- Coke
Sugar
Sugar is inclined to clump and stick together; the tumbling action, in combination with the showering action from the dryer’s internal flights, help break up any clumps, and for this reason, sugar producers have come to rely on rotary dryers as their drying equipment of choice.
Biomass
Biomass includes an assortment of organic materials such as woodchips, forest product residuals, bagasse and coconut husks.
Biomass materials can vary across types and even from within the same source of material. Therefore, rotary dryers are often selected because of their reliability in working with such a variance in feedstock.
Rotary dryers are the equipment of choice for drying biomass materials. They are cost efficient in terms of removing high volumes of water from biomass.
Could a rotary dryer benefit your material and industry? Download FEECO’s rotary dryer handbook for an assortment of drying related topics, or contact a FEECO expert today!