CFW offers custom belt-type drying and calcining equipment. Belt equipment remains widely used in the catalyst industry as it offers flexibility and versatility for drying different substrate sizes and types.

Belt conveyor dryers carry the feed material through one or more drying zones on a perforated belt. As heated air moves through or across the belt, it comes into close contact with the material, thus providing good thermal transfer. However, the need to convey product through the dryer or calciner continuously means that heat is lost, and therefore energy use is high. Dryers and calciners making use of tooling, such as our linear indexing range, offer better energy efficiency.

Conventional belt dryers have the disadvantage that they occupy a lot of floor space compared to alternative arrangements. In addition, maintaining part traceability during production runs is relatively difficult.

Belt designs most often use direct heating, although various flow techniques can be used, including co-current, cross-current or counter-current flow. For certain products, indirect heating can be used.

Dryers usually have multiple zones for greater flexibility and control, so that the product can be exposed to different airflows or states of temperature and humidity during the drying process. Material flows can also be varied between zones. The zones are usually controlled by PLC programming, although solid state controllers are also used.

A diverse array of options exist for different applications. Dryer feeding and discharge techniques differ widely. CFW’s autocatalyst dryers are normally continuous, but a range of production conditions can be accommodated. A wide variety of heat sources can be used for belt dryers, including gas, coal, electricity or steam (see Drying Equipment Types for more information on CFW’s heat source options). The residence time can be readily controlled by changing the feed and discharge rates (which will change the bed depth) or the belt drive speed.