Solids holdup in flighted rotating drums: An experimental and simulation study

Abstract Directly heated rotary dryers are widely used in various industries and have been the subject of numerous studies. However, few studies have focused on the behavior of particle dynamics in these dryers, and most of them are still designed based on empirical data and pilot plant scale-ups. This paper reports on a study of the effect of operating conditions on solids flow in rotating dryers. The holdup of solids in the flights was modeled using the Eulerian Granular Multiphase Model and the results were compared with experimental data, using a methodology created specifically for this purpose. The influence of particle diameter, type of material, rotation speeds and drum loading on solids holdup in the flighted rotating drum has been analyzed. The results of the present work have shown that the Eulerian approach has been able to predict the fluid dynamics behavior of different solid materials in several operating conditions. Despite the deviations between predicted and measured results, this approach allows the development of a “more” generalized model, with “low” computational cost.