Fertilizer Machine for the Rotary Drum Granulator

rotary drum granulator 

Drum Granulators Granulation drums are common in the metallurgical and fertilizer industries and are primarily used for very large throughput applications (see Table 20-43). In contrast to discs, there is no output size classification and high recycle rates of off-size product are common. As a first approximation, granules can be considered to flow through the drum in plug flow, although backmixing to some extent is common.
A granulation drum consists of an inclined cylinder which may be either open-ended or fitted with annular retaining rings. Feeds maybe either premoistened by mixers to form granule nuclei, or liquid may be sprayed onto the tumbling bed via nozzles or distributor-pipe systems. Drums are usually tilted longitudinally a few degrees from the horizontal (0–10°) to assist flow of granules through the drum.
The critical speed for the drum is calculated from Eq. 20-67 with f = 80–90°. To achieve a cascading, tumbling motion of the load, drums operate at lower fractions of critical speed than discs, typically 30–50% of Nc. Scrapers of various designs are often employed to control buildup of the drum wall. Holdup in the drum is between 10 and 20% of the drum volume. Drum length ranges from 2–5 times diameter, and power and capacity scale with drum volume. Holdup and mean residence time are controlled by drum length, with difficult systems requiring longer residence times than those that agglomerate readily. One to five-minute residence times are common. A variation of the basic cylindrical shape is the multicone drum which contains a series of compartments formed by annular baffles [Stirling, in Knepper (ed.), Agglomeration, Interscience, New York, 1962].
Drum granulation plants often have significant recycle of undersize, and sometimes crushed oversize granules. Recycle ratios between 2:1 and 5:1 are common in iron-ore balling and fertilizer granulation circuits. This large recycle stream has a major effect on circuit operation, stability, and control. A surge of material in the recycle stream affects both the moisture content and the size distribution in the drum. Surging and limit-cycle behavior are common. There are several possible reasons for this, including:
1. A shift in controlling mechanism from coalescence to layering when the ratio of recycled pellets to new feed changes [Sastry and Fuerstenau, Trans. Soc. Mining Eng., AIME, 258, 335–340
2. Significant changes in the moisture content in the drum due to recycle fluctuations (recycle of dry granules in fertilizer granulation) [Zhang et al., Control of Particulate Processes 

In many cases, plants simply live with these problems. However, use of modern model-based control schemes in conjunction with improved methods for on-line moisture and particle size analysis can help overcome these effects [Ennis (ed.), Powder Tech., 82 (1995); Zhang et al., Control of Particulate Processes