Particle Technology and Fluidization

Impact of process parameters on critical performance attributes of a continuous blender—A DEM-based study

  1. Atul Dubey,
  2. Aditya U. Vanarase,
  3. Fernando J. Muzzio*

Article first published online: 12 MAR 2012

DOI: 10.1002/aic.13770

Issue

AIChE Journal

AIChE Journal

Volume 58, Issue 12, pages 3676–3684, December 2012

Additional Information

How to Cite

Dubey, A., Vanarase, A. U. and Muzzio, F. J. (2012), Impact of process parameters on critical performance attributes of a continuous blender—A DEM-based study. AIChE J., 58: 3676–3684. doi: 10.1002/aic.13770

Author Information

  1. Dept. of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ 08854

*Dept. of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ 08854

Publication History

  1. Issue published online: 8 NOV 2012
  2. Article first published online: 12 MAR 2012
  3. Accepted manuscript online: 10 FEB 2012 10:51AM EST
  4. Manuscript Revised: 31 JAN 2012
  5. Manuscript Received: 11 NOV 2011

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Keywords:

  • continuous blender;
  • discrete element method;
  • residence time distribution

Abstract

A discrete element method-based computational study carried out to study the effect of impeller design, speed, and input feed rate on the performance of a continuous powder blender is presented. The blender performance was characterized using the mean particle residence time, the residence time distribution, the number of blade passes experienced by the powder, and the mean centered variance. The powder residence time decreased with increasing impeller speed; however, the number of blade passes experienced a maximum at an intermediate speed. The effects of feed rate and impeller design were more prominent at lower speeds. Lower feed rate resulted in the powder experiencing higher number of blade passes. The number of blade passes was also higher for the alternate blade pattern when compared to the forward pattern. The computational findings were compared with an experimental study which showed that the model captured the essential flow dynamics well. © 2012 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 2012

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