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DYNAMICS SIMULATION
OF SPRAY DRYERS
A N E N G I N E E R’S G U I D E
Advances in Drying Science & Technology
Series Editor: Arun S. Mujumdar
PUBLISHED TITLES
Computational Fluid Dynamics Simulation of Spray Dryers:
An Engineer’s Guide
Vasile Minea
Advances in Heat Pump-Assisted Drying Technology
Vasile Minea
COMPUTATIONAL FLUID
DYNAMICS SIMULATION
OF SPRAY DRYERS
A N E N G I N E E R’S G U I D E
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Contents
1 Introduction .............................................................1
1.1 Why Do We Need CFD Simulation of Spray
Drying? .......................................................................2
1.2 Components of CFD Simulation of Spray Drying ..... 3
2 Basics of CFD ...........................................................7
2.1 How Are Those Velocity and Temperature
Plots Generated? ......................................................... 8
2.2 How Is Turbulence Captured?...................................16
2.3 Common Basic Numerical Strategies ........................19
3 Airflow Modeling ...................................................21
3.1 Turbulence Model Selection ......................................21
3.2 Transient Flow versus Steady Flow ...........................23
3.2.1 In What Situations Do We Expect
Transient Flows? ..............................................23
3.2.2 Important Numerical Strategies for
Transient Flows ...............................................29
4 Atomization and Particle Tracking ........................37
4.1 Capturing Rotating Atomization ................................38
4.2 Capturing Pressure-Based Atomization ....................42
v
vi ◾ Contents
ix
x ◾ Series Preface
xi
xii ◾ Preface
xiii
Chapter 1
Introduction
1
2 ◾ Computational Fluid Dynamics Simulation of Spray Dryers
Droplet drying
Particle tracking
Agglomeration/coalescense
Particle-wall deposition
Basics of CFD
7
8 ◾ Computational Fluid Dynamics Simulation of Spray Dryers
Wall
N Discretization in Y
Fluid n direction
flow
W w P e E Discretization in X
direction
s
S
∂ρv x ∂ρv x ∂( ∂ v x / ∂ x ) ∂( ∂ v x / ∂ y ) ∂ P
vx + vy =µ +µ − + ρgx
∂x ∂y ∂x ∂y ∂x
(2.3)
Wall
Fluid P P P P
flow
∂v x ∂v x
∫ ρv
CV
x
∂x
dCV +
CV
∫ ρv y
∂y
dCV
∂( ∂ v x / ∂ x ) ∂( ∂ v x / ∂ y ) ∂P
=
∫
CV
µ
∂x
dCV +
∫
CV
µ
∂y
dCV −
∫
CV
∂x
dCV
+
∫ ρg
CV
x dCV (2.4)
∫
A
∫
ρv x (v x ⋅ n )dA + ρv y (v x ⋅ n )dA
A
∂v x ∂v x
=
∫ µ ∂x ⋅ n dA + ∫ µ ∂y ⋅ n dA
A A
∂P
−
∫
CV
∂x
dCV +
∫ ρg
CV
x dCV (2.5)
The n term is the normal vector corresponding to the
surface of the area integration. Considering a discrete control
volume, small changes in the x, y, and z spatial lengths can
12 ◾ Computational Fluid Dynamics Simulation of Spray Dryers
The ρvx,e, ρvx,w, ρvy,n, and ρvy,s terms represent the mass
flow flux at the face of the control volume delineating the
convection of fluid “transporting” the momentum in the flow
field. This presents nonlinearity into the solution. The solution
of the flow field will thus require an initial guess of the flow
field followed by successive iterations to achieve a correct flow
field. Following Patankar (1980), let us denote these terms as
Fx,n, Fx,w, Fy,n, and Fy,s, respectively,
1. For the convective terms, the face velocity for the east and
west terms follows the properties of the control volume
upstream. The face velocity for the north and south terms
takes the average of the velocity values of the control vol-
umes adjacent to the face.
2. The velocity gradient was estimated from the difference
in the velocity at the adjacent control volumes.
14 ◾ Computational Fluid Dynamics Simulation of Spray Dryers
v + v x ,P
Fx ,e (v x ,E )∆y + Fx ,w (v x ,P )∆y + Fy ,n x ,N ∆x
2
v + v x ,P
+ Fy ,s x ,S ∆x
2
v − v x ,P v − v x ,W v x , N + v x ,P
= µ x ,E ∆y + µ x ,P ∆y + µ ∆x
∆x ∆x ∆y
v + v x ,S P − PW
+ µ x ,P ∆x − E ∆x ∆y + ρgx ∆x ∆y (2.9)
∆y 2
∂ρvi ∂ ∂ ∂ vi ∂ v j
+ (ρvi v j ) = µ + − δ P
∂x j ∂x j ∂xi
ij
∂t ∂x j
∂ ∂P
+ ( −ρvi vi ) − (2.12)
∂x j ∂x i
Airflow Modeling
21
22 ◾ Computational Fluid Dynamics Simulation of Spray Dryers
10.00
8.70
7.40
6.10
4.80
3.50
2.20
0.90
–0.40
–1.70
–3.00
2.00
1.60
1.20
0.80
0.40
0.00
–0.40
–0.80
–1.20
–1.60
–2.00
Deflection
for dryers that have air outlets at the top (air is recirculated
upwards with a bottom fluidized bed) or with the air outlet at
the bottom (Gabites et al. 2010; Jongsma et al. 2013).
Swirling of the inlet air is used in some spray dryers to
enhance the heat and mass transfer between the droplets and
the air. Numerical and experimental simulations suggest that
the incorporation of swirls tends to produce a more predict-
able transient flow behavior (Southwell and Langrish 2000,
2001). In simulations on a pilot-scale dryer, another distinct
feature of the inlet induced swirls is the expansion of the
central jet owing to the rotation of the flow. This will then
lead to the breakdown and splitting of the central vortex jet
depending on the angle of the swirl. Similar observations in
the vortex breakdown can be observed even for spray dry-
ers with atomizer-induced swirls (Woo et al. 2012). There are
more important details such as the flow fluctuation frequency
and the direction and motion of the flapping behavior of the
central jet, which will not be covered in this chapter; this
information can be accessed via the references cited and will
be useful for more detailed comparison with any industrial
work. For a general illustration, Figure 3.3 shows some of the
Airflow Modeling ◾ 27
Figure 3.3 Illustrations on the effect of swirls on the flow field pat-
tern in a spray dryer.
3.00
2.60
2.20
1.80
1.40
1.00
0.60
0.20
–0.20
–0.60
–1.00 Point monitor
Point monitor
Iterations
Residuals
Iterations
5.00
4.40
3.80
3.20
2.60
2.00
1.40
0.80
0.20
–0.40
–1.00
Point monitor
Iterations
Residuals
Iterations
Atomization and
Particle Tracking
37
38 ◾ Computational Fluid Dynamics Simulation of Spray Dryers
the rotating wall affects the flow field in two ways. Firstly, it
imparts a central rotating core in the region below the atom-
izer like a “tornado” which may extend towards the bottom
region of the spray dryer. Experimental evidence showed that
to a certain extent this imparts a higher stability to the air flow
in the spray dryer (Southwell and Langrish 2000); minimizing
the flapping motion of the central jet. However, in a separate
simulation report for a short form spray dryer, the rotating
central core imparted by the atomizer also induced significant
swirl to the central airflow which splits recirculating airflow
(Woo et al. 2009a,b). This affects the jet-feedback mechanism
as discussed earlier in Section 3.2.
The influence of the pumping effect has been studied
extensively (Langrish et al. 1992). The rotation of the disc
and the flow of the liquid within the atomizer will tend to
draw the air external to the atomizer into the gap between
the rotating disc and the static part or housing of the atom-
izer. It was found that this significantly affected the stability
and the flow field adjacent to the atomizer. From the author’s
experience in operating a rotating disc atomizer for a pilot-
scale dryer (Woo et al. 2007a,b), such a pumping effect may
recirculate the particles back into the gap, which may restrict
the movement of the atomizer, leading to disruption in the
process at extended operation times (atomizer plate jamming
and high “amp” situation).
Some simulations are carried out to model the simulation
of the rotating disc in great detail (Ullum 2006; Lin and Phan
2013). In these simulations, the airflow pattern and the pump-
ing effect of the atomizer can be captured. However, most
large-scale CFD simulations of the spray dryer do not account
for the pumping effect. There was only one report in which
detailed simulation of the rotating disc was incorporated into a
large CFD simulation of a complete spray dryer (Ullum 2006).
In the simulation, it was found that increasing the rotation of
the atomizer significantly affected the simulation of the flow
field. Although it was clear that such an effect is significantly
42 ◾ Computational Fluid Dynamics Simulation of Spray Dryers
Dimensions and shape of the internal swirl nozzle VOF simulation domain
1.00e+00
9.50e–01
9.00e–01
8.50e–01
8.00e–01
7.50e–01
7.00e–01
6.50e–01
6.00e–01
5.50e–01
5.00e–01
4.50e–01
4.00e–01
3.50e–01
3.00e–01
2.50e–01
2.00e–01
1.50e–01
1.00e–01
5.00e–02
0.00e+01
dv p 18µb Re g
= CD (vb − v p ) + (ρp − ρb ) (4.1)
dt 24ρp d p
2
ρp
24
CD = (1 + 0.15Re 0.687 ) (4.2)
Re
46 ◾ Computational Fluid Dynamics Simulation of Spray Dryers
ρb d p v p − vb
Re = (4.3)
µb
vb = vb + vb′ (4.4)
Yes
55
56 ◾ Computational Fluid Dynamics Simulation of Spray Dryers
Boundary
layer
Airflow
Figure 5.1 Heat and mass transfer exchange between the droplet/
particle and the local airflow flow (although not shown for simplicity,
the thermal and boundary layers will have different thicknesses).
dmw
− = hm Ap ( ψρv ,surface − ρv ,bulk ) (5.1)
dt
N
X − X eq
f = (5.6)
X er − X eq
N
dmw X − X eq hAp (Tb − T p ,wb ) (5.7)
− =
dt X cr − X eq ∆H L
E
ψ = exp − v (5.8)
RT p
Microbalance
Moisture content
Drying rate
Figure 5.2 Obtaining the CDC drying kinetics (thin film experiment
is shown as an example: if using single droplet, the changes in area
need to be measured). Linear falling rate is shown as an example.
Droplet Drying and Quality Modeling ◾ 67
ρ
Ev ,max = − RTb ln v ,bulk (5.10)
ρv ,surface
Glass filament
Convective
hot air
Droplet
Moisture content
Moisture content
Various drying
conditions
Drying time Drying time
Droplet diameter
Droplet diameter
Three
parameters
from one
drying
condition
Activation energy
Figure 5.3 Obtaining the REA drying kinetics (single droplet experi-
ment is shown as an example: if using thin film, the changes in area
need not be measured).
70 ◾ Computational Fluid Dynamics Simulation of Spray Dryers
1.2
30% wt initial solid
37% wt initial solid
1
Normalized activation energy,
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5
Normalized moisture content, X – Xb (kg/kg db)
(Continued)
◾
71
72
Table 5.2 (Continued) Master Activation Energy Curves for Some Common Spray-Dried Materials
◾
Initial Moisture
Content, % wt (Wet
Materials References Basis) Master Activation Energy Curve
(40% wt initial moisture – Xcritical 0.788 kg/kg db)
∆Ev
= −0.4779( X − Xb ) + 0.7129
∆Ev ,max
(43% wt initial moisture – Xcritical 0.640 kg/kg db)
∆Ev
= −0.5927( X − Xb ) + 0.7871
∆Ev ,max
(Continued)
Table 5.2 (Continued) Master Activation Energy Curves for Some Common Spray-Dried Materials
Initial Moisture
Content, % wt (Wet
Materials References Basis) Master Activation Energy Curve
Fu et al. 10% wt ∆Ev
(2011) = 0.802 exp ( −1.98( X − Xb )) + 0.198 exp −( X − Xb )0.475
( )
∆Ev,max
40% wt ∆Ev
= 1− 1.777( X − Xb )0.05746
( )
∆Ev ,max
40% wt ∆Ev
= 1− 0.03447( X − Xb )8.2950 exp −0.5353( X − Xb )1.6860
( ) ( )
∆Ev ,max
(1:1)
73
74 ◾ Computational Fluid Dynamics Simulation of Spray Dryers
mp ρ W + ρS X
dp = 3 6 ρ ρ ( X + 1) (5.11)
π W S
dp X wet basis
= b + (b − 1) (5.12)
d p , initial X wet basis , initial
Where,
1.2
Normalized droplet diameter, dp/dp,initial
1
0.8
0.6
D
hm = ab (2 + 0.6 Re 1/ 2Sc1/ 3 ) (5.14)
dp
k
hm = (2 + 0.6 Re Pr )
1/ 2 1/ 3
(5.15)
d p
Droplet Drying and Quality Modeling ◾ 85
87
88 ◾ Computational Fluid Dynamics Simulation of Spray Dryers
Acontact
Fcollision = − ( Ex + ην p ) (6.2)
2r p
Particle η E
Wall
x
Simulation Validation
Techniques
97
98 ◾ Computational Fluid Dynamics Simulation of Spray Dryers
2.5 m
111
112 ◾ Computational Fluid Dynamics Simulation of Spray Dryers
the simulation domain; the regions within the lance are typi-
cally not required in the simulation.