Modeling aggregation kinetics of fluidized bed spray agglomeration for porous particles

•Agglomeration of porous particles is simulated using Monte-Carlo algorithm.•Variables influenced by process parameters are identified.•The identified variables are modeled in population balance equation.•The resulting population balance model is validated against Monte-Carlo results.•The effect of process parameters is successfully incorporated in the proposed model.

The present work develops a comprehensive one-dimensional pure agglomeration population balance model for simulating spray fluidized bed agglomeration of porous particles. The effect of micro-processes on aggregation kinetics is analyzed using a sophisticated constant number Monte-Carlo (CNMC) approach. The CNMC is used as a virtual spray fluidized bed granulator and takes into account several micro-processes such as wetting, convective drying, imbibition, agglomeration etc. so that it is a model for the real granulator. The main components influencing the agglomeration kinetics, namely the total number of particles, the number of wet particles, the collision frequency per particle and the average wet surface coverage fraction per wet particle are modeled and incorporated in the conventional one-dimensional population balance model. Finally, the proposed population balance model is validated against the results of CNMC.

Graphical abstractAggregation kinetics of spray fluidized bed agglomeration is modeled using Monte-Carlo simulations. The variables directly affected by the process parameters are identified and modeled in the form of an aggregation kernel. In this way, effect of process parameters is incorporated in the proposed population balance model on a macroscopic scale.Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide