modelling drying and

particle formation in
spray towers
Christopher Handscomb
Wednesday 9th May 2007

outline
Introduction to spray drying
Modelling approach
Continuous phase gas flow
Single particle drying
Conclusions and further work
Christopher Handscomb
(csh33@cam.ac.uk)

what is spray drying?

An important technology in industry
Used to produce, for example:
Pharmaceuticals
Food stuffs (e.g. milk powder and coffee)
Detergents

Unique drying technology combining

moisture removal and particle formation
Christopher Handscomb
(csh33@cam.ac.uk)

what is spray drying?

Christopher Handscomb
(csh33@cam.ac.uk)

motivation
A computational model would
predict the effect of process conditions on
final product properties
guide the operator towards safe and
efficient operating conditions
facilitate the design of new plant based on
physics, rather than correlations
Christopher Handscomb
(csh33@cam.ac.uk)

modelling approach
Continuous Phase
(CFD)

Adopt an Eulerian-Lagrangian framework

Sub Models
Particle Drying

Particle-Particle
Interaction

Particle-Wall
Interaction

Christopher Handscomb
(csh33@cam.ac.uk)

continuous phase
Commercial CFD package STAR CD
used tocurrent
modeldryer
the continuous phase
Counter

Wellspray
Single
nozzle
known
in industry
Height:
Easy22m
to test different geometries
Diameter:
4m simple to incorporate sophisticated
Relatively
118,807
cells in CFD
mesh
user defined
sub models

Test geometry developed representing a

generic spray dryer
Christopher Handscomb
(csh33@cam.ac.uk)

continuous phase
Can fairly easily produce plots of the flow
field
z= 4m
z=0.5m

Consider a single droplet

Christopher Handscomb
(csh33@cam.ac.uk)

single particle drying

Consider the drying sub-model
Modelling assumptions:
Three component system:
A solvent;
B solute;
D solid

Assumed ideal
binary solution

Spherical particles, 1D model

Small Biot number uniform particle temperature
Allow for a single centrally located bubble

Christopher Handscomb
(csh33@cam.ac.uk)

single particle drying

Cheyne, A., Wilson, I., and

Bridgewater, J. (2002).

boiling temperature
wet bulb temperature

Christopher Handscomb
(csh33@cam.ac.uk)

single particle drying

Population balance for solids
internal coordinates

advection terms

external coordinates

Cheyne, A., Wilson, I., and

Bridgewater, J. (2002).

diffusion terms

source term

Spherical symmetry reduce to 1-D

Solve for the moments of this equation

Christopher Handscomb
(csh33@cam.ac.uk)

single particle drying

Variable of interest is solids volume
fraction
Related to the moments of the population
balance equation by:

Obtained by solving the moment system:

assumed independent of internal coordinate (particle size)

Christopher Handscomb
(csh33@cam.ac.uk)

single particle drying

Volume averaged transport
Volume Averages
equations for the continuous
phase
Superficial
evolution

advection Intrinsic

diffusion

crystallization

Advection velocity calculated from volume

conservation considerations
Total
Diffusion coefficient from measurements
Christopher Handscomb
(csh33@cam.ac.uk)

single particle drying

Population balance boundary conditions

Solute boundary conditions

Christopher Handscomb
(csh33@cam.ac.uk)

moving boundary
Moving boundary handled through a
standard coordinate transformation r z:
This adds a virtual flux to all equations

virtual flux
Christopher Handscomb
(csh33@cam.ac.uk)

solution method
Problem is a system of PDEs
and coupled ODEs
Solved using Numerical Algorithms Group
(NAG) library routines for convectiondiffusion type equations
Finite Volume approach with user-defined
flux function
Christopher Handscomb
(csh33@cam.ac.uk)

new drying model example

Model described so far can simulate
up to the point of shell formation
e.g. Consider a system:
Initial 14wt% sodium sulphate solution no solids
Crystallisation model from Rosenblatt et al. (1984):
Kinetics of Phase Transitions in the System Sodium Sulphate-Water

Droplet diameter = 1.78mm

Drying air T = 373K
Droplets initially well mixed
Christopher Handscomb
(csh33@cam.ac.uk)

new drying model example

Simulated vs. Experimental Mass of the Drying Droplet

3.5

Experiment
Model

Droplet Mass/mg

2.5

Compare 2with experimental data from Nesic and

1.5
Vodnik (1990)
Kinetics of Droplet Evaporation Chem.
Eng. Sci. 1
0.5
0

20

40

60
Time/s

80

100

120

Experimental data from Nesic and Vodnik (1990) Kinetics of

Droplet Evaporation Chem. Eng. Sci.
Christopher Handscomb
(csh33@cam.ac.uk)

new drying model example

Simulated vs. Experimental Temperature of the Drying Droplet

110
100

Droplet Temperature/C

90
80

But the new model can give us

much more
70

Experiment
Model

60
50
40
30
20

20

40

60
Time/s

80

100

120

Experimental data from Nesic and Vodnik (1990) Kinetics of

Droplet Evaporation Chem. Eng. Sci.
Christopher Handscomb
(csh33@cam.ac.uk)

new drying model example

Simulated Evolution of the Solvent, Solute and Solids Masses

Solvent Mass
Solute Mass
Solids Mass

2.5

Mass/mg

1.5

0.5

20

40

60
Time/s

80

100

120

Christopher Handscomb
(csh33@cam.ac.uk)

new drying model example

Simulated Continuous Phase Solvent Mass Fraction in a Drying Droplet
1
0.9

Solute Mass Fraction [-]

0.8
0.7
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0

4
5
Radial Position/mm

8
-4

x 10

Christopher Handscomb
(csh33@cam.ac.uk)

new drying model example

Simulated Solids Volume Fraction in a Drying Droplet

0.7

Solids Volume Fraction [-]

0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0

4
5
Radial Position/mm

8
-4

x 10

Christopher Handscomb
(csh33@cam.ac.uk)

new drying model example

2

-5
Evolution of moments integrated over the drying droplet
xSimulated
10

1.8
Zeroth Moment
First Moment
Second Moment

Integrated Normalised Moments

1.6
1.4
1.2
1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0

20

40

60
Time/s

80

100

120

Christopher Handscomb
(csh33@cam.ac.uk)

conclusions
Introduction to spray drying and the
associated modelling challenges
Results of continuous phase simulation
Overview of a new drying model
Comparison with experiments for a simple
case

Christopher Handscomb
(csh33@cam.ac.uk)

work not shown

Drying after shell formation
Simulation of detergent droplets drying
with experimental comparison
Simplified drying models implemented in
CFD code

Christopher Handscomb
(csh33@cam.ac.uk)

and further work

Obtain data and validate model for high
temperature drying
Couple (simplified) model to CFD
simulation
Compare with existing drying models when
used in CFD

Christopher Handscomb
(csh33@cam.ac.uk)

acknowledgements

Christopher Handscomb
(csh33@cam.ac.uk)