Powder Pointers Fall 2009 Volume 3 No C

Brought to you by:

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Material Flow Solutions, Inc.
3536 NW 97 Blvd. Gainesville, FL 32606 Phone: 352-303-9123 E-mail: [email protected]

Knowing Your Material: In This Issue

Feature Article:
Achieving Successful Achieving Successful Process Design
The SSSpinTester
1
1
Powder Pointers Preview 2
Process Design Segregation in a 4-Salt Mixture
Regular Feature: Learning the Trade
3

Recommended mass flow angle 4

The Issue. Currently, many stress that is required to cause the
processes that handle bulk solids bulk material to fail or shear after
are not operating efficiently. storage. Most engineers
Some are subject to occasional, or experience the effect of this The SSSpinTester
(patent pending)
even frequent, hang-ups. Others property when material arches over
experience erratic flow rate the outlet of a process vessel. Will Revolutionize the
problems due to rathole collapse, They may experience the influence Pharmaceutical and
aerated material, poor of this property
Chemical Industries
gas injection, or lack when attempting
of mass flow. Still to empty a In its final stages of development,
others are tasked with process vessel the new SSSpinTester measures
combining dissimilar and notice the strength of fine powders using
products and main- stagnant regions a sample as small as 0.05 gram.
taining this mixture where material is Current methods of measuring the
in uniform condition clinging to the unconfined yield strength of a
during handling and walls. Bulk powdered material require at least
packaging. Hang- strength is some- one liter of sample – usually hard
ups, erratic flow times responsible to come by in the pharmaceutical
rates, and segregation for poor blending. and chemical industries.
appear to be major The cohesive Able to quantify the strength of
causes of handling nature of the fine powders in as little as 15
systems problems. material will also minutes, this novel tester takes its
Arch across hopper opening
Due to the length of control the weight user to the cutting-edge of pro-
this newsletter format, we will variations in tablet dies and small ductivity. Its 16x20 inch footprint
only consider the case where hang- packages. The solution to the makes it easy to accommodate in
ups are present in the process. arching problem is to make the any testing laboratory.
Let’s identify some general outlet large enough to prevent the
guidelines to avoid these arch from forming. Obviously it is The SSSpinTester will arrive at
situations. critical to measure the unconfined your facility, complete with bonus
yield strength of the bulk material. testing cells, a preprogrammed
The Cause. Hang-ups are caused However, the forces acting to laptop, and instruction manual
by the cohesive (or adhesive) break the arch depend on the bulk with demonstration video on CD.
nature of the bulk material. The density. So, another critical Plan ahead to start your New Year
material property responsible for material property to measure is the right – coming in early 2010. For
this behavior is the unconfined bulk density. The type of flow additional information:
yield strength of the bulk material. channel surrounding the outlet also
Strength is the major principle (Continued on Page 3)
Contact: Susan at 352-332-9476
Achieving Successful Process Design 2
Continued from page 1

has a significant impact on the material’s propensity to

arch. A flow channel which converges in all directions
simultaneously has twice the propensity to arch as a flow
channel that directs flow in one direction (plane flow). At
first glance, solving the arching problem should be a
straightforward task. One would simply measure the key
flow properties (strength and density) and use these to
compute the critical arching dimension and assure the
process outlet is greater than this dimension. However,
storage conditions and the amount of entrained air or local
gas pressure gradients in the material play a significant role
in inducing hang-ups due to external forces.

The Example. Consider erucamide pellets stored at Figure 1. Strength of Erucamide as a function of temperature
elevated temperatures. Plastic creep occurs between these
pellets, cementing particles together and resulting in a substantial gain in strength and arching propensity. In this
case, the difference between the operation temperature and the glass transition temperature plays a major role in the
strength of the bulk material. Quite often strength increases exponentially at temperatures above the glass
transition, or softening, temperatures. Notice the increase in strength as a function of temperature (see Figure 1).
A temperature of 36oC appears to be the critical temperature that initiates significant strength increase. Arching
behavior is directly proportional to the bulk yield strength and, as a result, is a function of the process temperature,
process temperature swings, storage time, environ-mental conditions (humid or not), aeration condition, and
surface chemistry. A similar relationship can describe rathole behavior. Conversely, external forces or gas
pressures applied to the material can change the forces acting to break the arch. Thus, gas pressure gradients can
be instru-mental in increasing or decreasing arching or rathole problems, depending on the direction they act. If the
gas pressure gradient acts in a direction opposite to flow, then the gas pressure increases arching problems. If the
gas pressure gradient acts in a direction compatible to flow, then the arch
Hθ ⋅ fc dimension decreases. Equation 1 summarizes this behavior. Although it is
AI = (1)
dP more complex, the critical rathole dimension is also modified by local gas
γ ⋅g − pressure gradients or other external forces. It is obvious from equation 1 that
dz
knowledge of the gas pressure gradient near the hopper outlet, or other places in
(Continued on Page 3)

Powder Pointers Preview Future Topics

Coming Next Quarter – Preventing Segregation To put you at the cutting-edge

Segregation is a primary cause of process failure. Understanding • PAT implementation

segregation can lead to the ability to greatly increase product quality,
• Successful agglomeration
reduce product loss, and increase customer acceptance. We have been
able to provide segregation solutions that reduce the amount of poor • Process simulation and
quality product produced from 30% down to 0.3% making statistical Predicting Behavior
control possible. Understanding segregation of just two components is • Milling – new techniques
relatively easy. However, real materials are often a mixture of many more
We encourage and welcome your
than two components. The interaction of all the components leads to
suggestions and special requests
complex segregation behavior that is not intuitively obvious, nor
for powder flow topics which you
explained by popular academic bimodal segregation theories. Our next
would like to see included in
newsletter will address how to characterize multi-component segregation
and how to design for multi-component and multi-mechanism segregation future editions of Powder Pointers.
issues. Contact: Susan at 352-332-9476
Achieving Successful Process Design 3
Continued from page 2

the hopper, is critical to understanding arch formation in

the process equipment. This is best seen in Figure 2. Bad
placement of gas injection causes gas pressure gradients Arching
in bin
that result in arching within the upper hopper. A similar
analysis could be done for rathole problems in aerated
systems. These pressure profiles can be computed for any
process equipment once the density, permeability, strength,
and friction angles are known. This analysis allows
optimal placement of air injection to prevent hang-up
No arching
conditions. Likewise, changing gas pressure gradients will in bin
also change critical mass flow hopper angles. Thus, gas
injection in the right location can help mass flow. Gas
injection in the wrong location can hurt mass flow.
The Guidelines. The solution of cohesive flow problems Figure 2. Arching in hopper due to bad placement of gas injection
requires:
• Measure key flow properties at conditions similar to real process conditions. Knowledge of particle surface
changes as a function of environment, system temperature, and surface chemistry will help identify the proper
test conditions to measure these flow properties. We can aid you in selecting the right conditions for your
process.
• Identify storage conditions, storage times, and any temperature swings that will aid in proper material flow
property analysis. Your process will naturally be subject to typical day-night cycles or heating-cooling cycles.
We can review your process and help you determine the magnitude of these changing process conditions. If the
change is critical, we can also simulate these day-night temperature excursion using finite element software.
• Calculate the influence of external forces to determine if they will hurt or help cohesive hang-up conditions.
This requires an analysis of your specific process and can be accomplished once key material flow properties
are known.
It is clear that process hang-ups are a convoluted combination of process flow properties, environmental conditions,
process geometry, and operation conditions. The solution for arching and/or rathole problems can often be found
in controlling or changing one or more process variables. Our testing and modeling methods allow us to predict
process behavior in your process so we can optimize process design based on key flow properties as well as
typical thermodynamic properties of the bulk solid that are easily measured. Let us help you understand how to
relate simple flow properties to critical process behavior. Contact: Kerry Johanson 352- 303-9123

The SPECTester Measures Segregation in a Four-Salt Mixture

Generally, segregation studies are done only for bimodal com-
binations because analysis of multi-component materials is
difficult and time-consuming. The interaction of two materials is
fairly simple and follows one or both of two predictable rules:
fines fill the voids, and/or fines collect near the hopper walls.
However, the majority of real process mixtures contain more
than two components, and the segregation pattern of a multi-
modal mixture is more complex due to interaction of multiple
are an indication
particle sets. Therefore, predictable patterns of differences
do not always hold in
either chemical composition or in
true. The segregation pattern of a bulk mixture can be measured
by observing the concentration of various components along a
pile. One way to gain access to the cross section of a pile is to fill
a slice model with material and observe the segregation pattern
Four salts in a hopper through the side of the slice model using optical techniques. The Schematic of a hopper slice
(Continued on Page 4)
Learning the Trade 4

Knowing and understanding key material properties is power to characterize bulk material flow behavior. We will
empower you quarterly as we discuss one of these fundamental flow properties and its industrial application.
Recommended Mass Flow Angle. The friction angle discussed last quarter is used to compute the recommended
mass flow angle for conical bins. This mass flow angle represents the slope angle of the conical hopper measured
from the vertical that will produce flow along the walls. Conical hoppers must be steeper than this to cause flow
along the walls. It is important to point out that the recommended mass flow angles are a function of the shape of
the bin. Plane flow hoppers converge in one direction at a time and also have a recommended mass flow angle that
will produce flow along bin and hopper walls. However, plane flow mass flow angles generally require about 10 to
12 degrees flatter than corresponding conical angles to achieve mass flow. Please note that mass flow does not
mean plug flow. Substantial velocity gradients can exist in mass flow bins. The recommended mass flow angle
also depends on the solids contact stress in the bin. The stress level in a given bin depends on the position in the
bin. At Material Flow Solutions, Inc. we compute the range of pressure expected in a given bin configuration and
then use the worse case friction angle in this stress level range to compute the recommended mass flow angle. It is
important to note that the recommended mass flow angles are for flow in a conical hopper.

The SPECTester Measures Segregation in a Four-Salt Mixture

Continued from page 3
ability to measure segregation patterns of a multi-component 0.7

mixture is critical to understanding segregation behavior of Top of Pile

0.6

that mixture. Concentration 0.5

Variation in color intensity is often very subtle. However, 0.4

reflectance spectroscopic methods can be employed to 0.3

Bottom of Pile
measure these subtle differences. Using photospectral 0.2

technology, the revolutionary SPECTester is able to identify 0.1

segregation in this sample of four distinct table salts based on 0
particle size due to differences in the spectral hue of the 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1

differently sized particles. The finer particles scatter more Dimensionless Radius (r/Rt)
150 micron to 300 micron 500 micron to 1500 micron
light and manifest as brighter than coarse particles. In this 1500 micron to 1900 micron 1900 micron to 2500 micron

instance, the data is used to quantify the segregation pattern

due to particle size differences. The profile to the right Segregation profile of a four-salt mixture

indicates that the coarsest particles (1900 to 2500µm) accumulate near the bin wall while the finer particles (500 to
1500µm) accumulate near the center of the pile. Very fine particles (150 to 300µm) and mid-size particles (1500 to
1900µm) show a minimal tendency to segregate.
Particle size segregation, while common, is but one of the segregation mechanisms measured by the SPECTester.
The tester also measures segregation by:
• Air entrainment
• Angle of repose
• Chemical component
• Fluidization
• Sifting
Should a material be subject to multiple segregation mechanisms, the SPECTester can determine both the primary
and secondary mechanism. All segregation data is collected and stored in both numerical and graphical form and is
downloadable via USB thumb-drive in Excel-ready format.
For additional information contact: Kerry Johanson 352-303-9123