(380z) Numerical Modeling of Wet Granulation Processes

Granulation is an important powder handling process to produce granules from fine powder. Due to many operating parameters, a number of trial-and-error tests are required for a granulation process, and this is a bottleneck for design, optimization and scale-up. Modeling of granulation is expected for design of a granulation process. Discrete element method (DEM) and population balance model (PBM) are widely used for the numerical modeling. DEM is a simulation method to calculate the powder flow in the granulator. However, DEM does not account for particle aggregation. On the other hand, PBM is a process modeling framework for tracking changes in particle properties over time. However, PBM does not consider the powder flow in the granulator. In recent years, a coupling approach between DEM and PBM (DEM-PBM model) has been proposed. DEM-PBM model is able to calculate both of the powder flow and the particle growth. However, more efforts are required to develop an accurate coalescence kernel for DEM-PBM model. In this study, DEM-PBM model including a novel coalescence kernel for granulation process was proposed. As a result, the model was able to predict the experimental result.