Population Balance Application in TiO2 Particle Deagglomeration Process Modeling

Abstract

The deagglomeration of titanium-dioxide powder in water suspension performed in a stirring tank was investigated. Owing to the widespread applications of the deagglomeration process and titanium dioxide powder, new, more efficient devices and methods of predicting the process result are highly needed. A brief literature review of the application process, the device used, and process mechanism is presented herein. In the experiments, deagglomeration of the titanium dioxide suspension was performed. The change in particle size distribution in time was investigated for different impeller geometries and rotational speeds. The modification of impeller geometry allowed the improvement of the process of solid particle breakage. In the modelling part, numerical simulations of the chosen impeller geometries were performed using computational-fluid-dynamics (CFD) methods whereby the flow field, hydrodynamic stresses, and other useful parameters were calculated. Finally, based on the simulation results, the population-balance with a mechanistic model of suspension flow was developed. Model predictions of the change in particle size showed good agreement with the experimental data. Using the presented method in the process design allowed the prediction of the product size and the comparison of the efficiency of different impeller geometries.

Chemical and Process Engineering

“…The model parameters were taken from model presented in: (Bałdyga et al, 2008b) for silicon oxide, a similar material. The same approach was applied in (Krzosa et al, 2021). The porosity of an aggregate can be calculated as:…”

Population Balance Modeling and Mechanistic Analysis of Inorganic Pigment Dispersion in a High-Speed Disk Disperser and a Vertical Bead Mill

“…Finally, Krzosa et al (2021) 37 investigated the dispersion of TiO 2 in a water suspension using an un-baffled tank disperser. In combination with the parameters obtained from CFD simulations, a population balance equation was built.…”