Reaction Engineering Approach (REA) To Modeling Drying Problems: Ideology Versus Reality

19th International Drying Symposium IDS, 2014, 13 p.Among the drying models available in literature, REA model is semi-empirical, which was first proposed in 1996. It was described based upon a basic physical chemistry principle. The ‘extraction of water from moist material’ is signified by applying the activation energy concept. The single expression of the extraction rate represents the competition between evaporation and condensation. It also encompasses the internal specific surface area and mass transfer coefficient thus is linked to material characteristics. What have emerged is that the REA can be classified in two categories: Lumped (L) -REA and Spatial (S) -REA which can be used to deal with drying of a material as a whole or to deal with the process by considering the local phenomena within the material, respectively. Both models have been proven to serve the intended purposes very well. The REA is very effective to generate the parameters since only one accurate drying run is required to establish the relative activation energy function. The paper covers fundamentals of the REA, which has not been fully explained as well as the most recent development and applications. The future of the REA including the role to assist in process design and product quality of several heat and mass transfer processes is addressed thoroughly.