While both dry-heat sterilization and moist-heat treatment can get similar results with many loads, there are some tasks that are not practical with a steam autoclave. These include loads that are hydrophobic (such as fats and oils) or will be damaged by moisture (such as powders). A dry-heat process is vital for sterilizing instruments that are at risk of corrosion. Dry-heat also works well with glassware.
But dry-heat sterilizers are by no means an all purpose solution. Liquids cannot be dry-heat sterilized (or they’ll simply boil off), nor can laboratory growth media, nor many flammable loads. Dense loads are also often a problem, as the convection/conduction method used to heat the chamber does a poor job of penetrating them.
“Dry heat is a far less efficient sterilization process than moist heat, but is nevertheless a useful procedure for sterilizing certain products such as powders and oils.”