Model Development and Validation of Fluid Bed Wet Granulation with Dry Binder Addition Using a Population Balance Model Methodology

Abstract

An experimental study in industry was previously carried out on a batch fluid bed granulation system by varying the inlet fluidizing air temperature, binder liquid spray atomization pressure, the binder liquid spray rate and the disintegrant composition in the formulation. A population balance model framework integrated with heat transfer and moisture balance due to liquid addition and evaporation was developed to simulate the fluid bed granulation system. The model predictions were compared with the industry data, namely, the particle size distributions (PSDs) and geometric mean diameters (GMDs) at various time-points in the granulation process. The model also predicted the trends for binder particle dissolution in the wetting liquid and the temperatures of the bed particles in the fluid bed granulator. Lastly, various process parameters were varied and extended beyond the region studied in the aforementioned experimental study to identify optimal regimes for granulation.

Industrial application of heat- and mass balance model for fluid-bed granulation for technology transfer and design space exploration

“…Numerous modeling techniques have been applied to FBG processes. Among the most common approaches are mass-, heat-, and population balance models (PBMs) (Heinrich et al, 2005, Chaudhury et al, 2013, Hu et al, 2008, Muddu et al, 2018, Gupta, 2017), discrete and finite element methods (DEM and FEM), and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) (Sen et al, 2014, Mortier et al, 2011). Modeling studies in literature are mostly concerned with the computation of the evolution of particle size distribution (PSD) as well as granule moisture content typically captured as ‘loss-on-drying’ (LOD), and use granulation time as a process performance metric.…”

“…Heat- and mass balances, on the other hand, are useful to describe the granule moisture trajectories over time as function of process conditions, which include fluidization air flow, inlet air temperature and humidity, binder solution spray rate etc. (Heinrich et al, 2005, Hu et al, 2008, Muddu et al, 2018, Djuris et al, 2017).…”

CFD-DEM Modeling and Simulation Coupled to a Global Thermodynamic Analysis Methodology for Evaluating Energy Performance: Biofertilizer Industry

“…The first study using this approach [16] simulated plug flow through horizontal pipes. Since then, many different problems have been solved with this method [17][18][19].…”

Special Issue on “Process Modelling and Simulation”

“…Accordingly, half of the published articles in this special issue focus on model building and parameter estimation and validation. From the chemical and process systems engineering field, we received two contributions [11,12] that model the underlying physical phenomena beyond the classical macro scale, with the aim of having a reliable simulation for predicting the effects of different process operation regimes on product quality, and hence reducing experimentation costs. Also related to this goal, two contributions brought heat and power systems into the scope: [7] proposed a grey-box model of limited complexity that couples the production process with the plant's combined heat and power system in order to reduce operation costs, whereas [8] modeled the hydraulic dynamics in a nuclear reactor cooling pump with respect to different vane structures to ensure safe operation in case of power failures.Models for decision support must be tailored to the actual process, or the underlying equations should allow the transfer of the lab-scale data to any desired scale.…”