Simulation of the spray drying of single granules: The correlation between microscopic forces and granule morphology

In the ceramic industry, spray drying is an important process transforming fine primary powder into processable granular material. Granule formation at spray drying has been investigated in the past and plausible explanatory models have been established for the governing mechanisms of granule formation. In this study, we use numerical modeling via coupled discrete element method and computational fluid dynamics simulations to investigate this formation process. The focus lies on the evolution of the granule morphology during drying of single droplets. In addition to a demonstration, that the simulation results support the propositions made by the experimentally-based models, a new correlation was found which leads to an extension of those models for granule formation in terms of the granule stability.