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Computational Modeling of Drying of Pharmaceutical Wet Granules in a Fluidized Bed Dryer Using Coupled CFD-DEM Approach

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Abstract

Drying of wet granules in a fluidized bed dryer is an important part of the pharmaceutical tablet manufacturing process. Complicated gas-solid flow patterns appear in the fluidized bed dryer, and interphase momentum, heat, and mass transfer happen during the drying process. A coupled computational fluid dynamics (CFD)-discrete element method (DEM)-based approach was used to model the drying process of pharmaceutical wet granules in a fluidized bed dryer. The evaporation of water from the surfaces of the particles and the cohesion force between the particles due to the formation of liquid bridges between the particles were also considered in this model. The model was validated by comparing the model predictions with the experimental data available from the literatures. The validated model was used to investigate the drying kinetics of the wet granules in the fluidized bed dryer. The results from numerical simulations showed that the dynamics and rate of increase of temperature of wet particles were considerably different from those of dry particles. Finally, the model was used to investigate the effects of inlet air velocity and inlet air temperature on the drying process. The model predicted increase in drying rate with the increase of inlet air velocity and inlet air temperature. This model can help not only to understand the multiphase multicomponent flow in fluidized bed dryer but also to optimize the drying process in the fluidized bed dryer.

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank Jonathan Rifkin of University of Connecticut for helping to install CFDEM® coupling in Storrs HPC facility of University of Connecticut.

Funding

This work was funded by Takeda Pharmaceuticals International, Cambridge, MA.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut, USA

    Hossain Aziz, Syed N. Ahsan & Bodhisattwa Chaudhuri

  2. Drug Product Development, Pharma Sci, Takeda Pharmaceuticals International, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

    Giovanni De Simone & Yijie Gao

  3. Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut, USA

    Bodhisattwa Chaudhuri

  4. Institute of Material Sciences, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut, USA

    Bodhisattwa Chaudhuri

Authors
  1. Hossain Aziz
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  2. Syed N. Ahsan
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  3. Giovanni De Simone
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  4. Yijie Gao
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  5. Bodhisattwa Chaudhuri
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Contributions

H.A.: Methodology, data analysis and interpretation, visualization, and writing–original draft

S.N.A.: Methodology and writing–review and editing

G.D.S.: Methodology

Y.G.: Methodology, supervision, and writing-review and editing

B.C.: Conceptualization, supervision, funding acquisition, and writing–review and editing

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Bodhisattwa Chaudhuri.

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Aziz, H., Ahsan, S.N., De Simone, G. et al. Computational Modeling of Drying of Pharmaceutical Wet Granules in a Fluidized Bed Dryer Using Coupled CFD-DEM Approach. AAPS PharmSciTech 23, 59 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1208/s12249-021-02180-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1208/s12249-021-02180-x

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