Granulator with Parsum Probe - Wacker Chemical Case Study

The Kempten plant which produces a ceramic granulate, purchased a Parsum probe to measure the particle size of their final product. The probe was installed below the spray dryer. The spray dryer contained a rotating disk granulator, which allows the fluid to cross through a rotating wheel or disk. The average particle size produced for a given feed is primarily a function of the diameter of the granulator wheel and the RPM. Therefore, by changing the RPM of the rotating disk granulator, you can control the particle size of the process.

The graph below shows the direct correlation between changing the speed of the rotating disk granulator and the particle size. It's obvious from the graph that increasing the RPM of the granulator clearly decreased the particle size and when the RPMs of the disk granulator were decreased, the spray dryer produced a product with a larger particle size.

Since installing the Parsum, Wacker has been able to produce a more stable, in-spec product with the granulator. They plan on adding additional Parsum probes on their other spray drying process equipment to help optimize their granulators.