TY - JOUR
T1 - Numerical Study toward Optimization of Spray Drying in a Novel Radial Multizone Dryer
AU - Jamil Ur Rahman, Umair
AU - Pozarlik, Artur Krzysztof
AU - Tourneur, Thomas
AU - de Broqueville, Axel
AU - De Wilde, Juray
AU - Brem, Gerrit
N1 - Funding Information:
Funding: This project is co-funded by TKI-Energy with the supplementary grant ‘TKI-Toeslag’ for Topconsortia for Knowledge and Innovation (TKI’s) of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy.
Funding Information:
This project is co-funded by TKI-Energy with the supplementary grant ?TKI-Toeslag? for Topconsortia for Knowledge and Innovation (TKI?s) of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy. This research is conducted within the project RMD-Radial Multizone Dryer (DR-20-10), in collaboration with Institute for Sustainable Process Technology (within the Drying and Dewatering cluster), Friesland Campina and Energy Research Center of the Netherlands (ECN) part of TNO. Authors would like to express their gratitude to all the project members for the fruitful discussions during the meetings.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
PY - 2021/2/24
Y1 - 2021/2/24
N2 - In this paper, an intensified spray-drying process in a novel Radial Multizone Dryer (RMD) is analyzed by means of CFD. A three-dimensional Eulerian–Lagrangian multiphase model is applied to investigate the effect of solids outlet location, relative hot/cold airflow ratio, and droplet size on heat and mass transfer characteristics, G-acceleration, residence time, and separation efficiency of the product. The results indicate that the temperature pattern in the dryer is dependent on the solids outlet location. A stable, symmetric spray behavior with maximum evaporation in the hot zone is observed when the solids outlet is placed at the periphery of the vortex chamber. The maximum product separation efficiency (85 wt %) is obtained by applying high G-acceleration (at relative hot/cold ratio of 0.75) and narrow droplet size distribution (45–70 µm). The separation of different sized particles with distinct drying times is also observed. Smaller particles (<32 µm) leave the reactor via the gas outlet, while the majority of big particles leave it via the solids outlet, thus depicting in situ particle separation. The results revealed the feasibility and benefits of a multizone drying operation and that the RMD can be an attractive solution for spray drying technology.
AB - In this paper, an intensified spray-drying process in a novel Radial Multizone Dryer (RMD) is analyzed by means of CFD. A three-dimensional Eulerian–Lagrangian multiphase model is applied to investigate the effect of solids outlet location, relative hot/cold airflow ratio, and droplet size on heat and mass transfer characteristics, G-acceleration, residence time, and separation efficiency of the product. The results indicate that the temperature pattern in the dryer is dependent on the solids outlet location. A stable, symmetric spray behavior with maximum evaporation in the hot zone is observed when the solids outlet is placed at the periphery of the vortex chamber. The maximum product separation efficiency (85 wt %) is obtained by applying high G-acceleration (at relative hot/cold ratio of 0.75) and narrow droplet size distribution (45–70 µm). The separation of different sized particles with distinct drying times is also observed. Smaller particles (<32 µm) leave the reactor via the gas outlet, while the majority of big particles leave it via the solids outlet, thus depicting in situ particle separation. The results revealed the feasibility and benefits of a multizone drying operation and that the RMD can be an attractive solution for spray drying technology.
KW - Spray dryer
KW - Computational fluid dynamics
KW - Vortex chamber
KW - Process intensification
KW - Radial multizone dryer
KW - High-G
KW - Euler-Lagrange models
U2 - 10.3390/en14051233
DO - 10.3390/en14051233
M3 - Article
SN - 1996-1073
VL - 14
JO - Energies
JF - Energies
IS - 5
M1 - 1233
ER -