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Experimental investigation of the effect of particle cohesion on the flow dynamics in a spheronizer
Author(s) -
Bouffard J.,
Cabana A.,
Chaouki J.,
Bertrand F.
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
aiche journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.958
H-Index - 167
eISSN - 1547-5905
pISSN - 0001-1541
DOI - 10.1002/aic.13955
Subject(s) - cohesion (chemistry) , granulation , coating , particle (ecology) , materials science , polymer , flow (mathematics) , mechanics , nanotechnology , composite material , chemical physics , chemistry , physics , geology , oceanography , organic chemistry
The effect of particle cohesion on the flow dynamics inside a spheronizer is investigated by means of a recent technique developed in our group, which relies on the polymer coating of the particles. It is shown that the interparticle forces can be controlled with the temperature and the coating thickness, as is also confirmed by measurements of the dynamic density of the particle bed. Four different flow states were observed as the level of interparticle forces was increased. The results are reported in a flow map that compares the forces that come into play in the spheronizer with other interparticle forces encountered during wet granulation processes. By isolating the impact of the cohesive forces on granulation, these results show the potential of the polymer coating technique to study the effect of particle cohesion on the flow patterns in such processes. © 2012 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 59: 1491–1501, 2013