Spray drying of colloidal suspensions: Coupling of particle drying and transport models with experimental validations

Jean-Marc Schweitzer (1) , Marion Servel (1) , Fabien Salvatori (1) , Aurélie Dandeu (1) , Marine Minière (1) , Jean-François Joly (1) , Quentin Gaubert (2, 1) , Séverine Barbosa (2) , F. R.A. Onofri (2)

1 IFPEN - IFP Energies nouvelles
2 IUSTI - Institut universitaire des systèmes thermiques industriels

A numerically effective approach was developed for the modeling of spray-drying of colloidal suspensions. This approach was based on the integration of two models. The first is a phenomenological and radially symmetric model accounting for the drying of single-droplets, while the second employs computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations to account for the gas flow conditions and atomization in a spray dryer. Experiments were also conducted on single suspension droplets trapped in an acoustic field as well as on droplets in a mini-spray dryer. The predictions of the models were found to be in reasonable agreement with the experimental data, in terms of droplet shrinking and buckling, particle yield, and spatial distribution in the spray dryer mockup.

Mots clés: Spray drying; Drying kinetics; Colloidal suspensions; Crust formation; Particle yield; Computational fluid dynamics; Acoustic levitation

Domaines: Matière Molle [cond-mat.soft]; Milieux fluides et réactifs; Génie des procédés; Optique [physics.optics]

Jean-Marc Schweitzer, Marion Servel, Fabien Salvatori, Aurélie Dandeu, Marine Minière, et al.. Spray drying of colloidal suspensions: Coupling of particle drying and transport models with experimental validations. Chemical Engineering Research and Design, 2021, 170, pp.224-238. ⟨10.1016/j.cherd.2021.04.004⟩. ⟨hal-03215365⟩