Reaction Engineering Approach (REA) to model the drying kinetics of droplets with different initial sizes—experiments and analyses

Droplets with different initial sizes, which are typical in conventional liquid atomization for spray drying applications, will result in varying drying and crust formation histories. It is essential for any droplet drying model to accurately capture such fundamental phenomena. This study used a newly constructed glass-filament single droplet rig to evaluate the applicability of the Reaction Engineering Approach (REA) in describing such effect. For the three initial sizes (1, 2 and 3 μL) tested, the glass filament gravimetric method clearly distinguished the different drying kinetics and the crust formation phenomenon, delineated by the drying behavior. Analysis from the drying kinetics revealed that the main premise of the REA, which utilizes a material-specific master activation energy curve, is applicable to droplets of different initial sizes at all the three air temperatures tested. This allowed the REA to accurately predict the different temperature and moisture histories given by droplets with different initial sizes. The result supports the REA as a good modeling approach for a wide range of initial droplet conditions. A new master curve approach was proposed to predict the diameter change of droplets with different initial concentrations. Validation with the current and past experimental data revealed that this approach has strong potential to account for the different feed concentrations typically found in spray drying applications.