Development of a new innovative conceptual design for horizontal spray dryer via mathematical modeling

With advances in digital computer technology it is now possible to employ mathematical models to accelerate the innovation process in most industrial sectors. This article presents an illustration of this process to arrive at a new conceptual design for the traditional spray-drying process. Although not commonly recognized, there are some advantages to orienting the spray in a horizontal direction rather than the conventional vertical one. This requires the spray chamber to be redesigned completely without any prior guidance based on empirical data or observations. Here we have used a computational fluid dynamic model that has been validated with data for conventional vertical spray dyers to arrive at several conceptual designs of a horizontal spray dryer (HSD). Several stages in the evolution of the HSD design concept are presented and discussed. It is shown that use of a validated mathematical model can speed up the development process for an innovative product or process with very substantial savings in time, effort, and cost. This article presents simulation results for several spray chamber designs and points out the importance of the design of the air inlet and outlet arrangement for optimal efficiency and effectiveness.