Abstract
In the pharmaceutical industry, fluidised bed dryers are used to dry wet particles prior to compression. Although electrical capacitance tomography (ECT) has been traditionally used to obtain images of the fluidisation processes, in this research, capacitance measurements from an ECT sensor mounted on a lab-scale fluidised bed dryer were used to estimate solids concentration and moisture content profiles. Variation of permittivity with temperature and frequency were analysed theoretically. The experimental results show a clear distinction of moisture content profiles at different stages of drying. ECT provides an online volumetric analysis of the sample being dried, eliminating the need to take offline lab measurements. The ECT sensor was simulated using COMSOL in 3D and the simulation results were compared with and validated by the experimental results. The permittivity curves obtained by simulation improve the knowledge of material composition with different electrical properties in the fluidised bed dryer and also provide additional information for system calibration.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | 5th World Congress in Industrial Process Tomography |
| Publisher | International Society for Industrial Process Tomography |
| Pages | 334-341 |
| Number of pages | 8 |
| ISBN (Print) | 9780853163213 |
| Publication status | Published - 2007 |
| Event | 5th World Congress in Industrial Process Tomography - Bergen, Norway Duration: 3 Sept 2007 → 6 Sept 2007 |
Conference
| Conference | 5th World Congress in Industrial Process Tomography |
|---|---|
| Country/Territory | Norway |
| City | Bergen |
| Period | 3/09/07 → 6/09/07 |
Research Beacons, Institutes and Platforms
- Manchester Institute for Collaborative Research on Ageing