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Modeling Drying Behavior of an Aqueous Chitosan Single Droplet Using the Reaction Engineering Approach

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Abstract

Spray drying of Chitosan solutions to prepare microparticles either using pilot or industrial scale spray dryer is a complex process; tracking morphological changes and obtaining drying kinetics of a single droplet would be very difficult. The acoustic levitator being a non-intrusive method is a useful experimental apparatus that enables particle/droplet suspension in the gaseous medium and capable of mimicking the drying process in a spray dryer. The drying of chitosan aqueous solutions into solid particles was investigated. The prediction of the size and drying kinetics until the formation of the solid structure was performed in an acoustic levitator. Studying the drying of single droplets is crucial for revealing the influence of the drying process parameters on the formation of dried particles. Droplets with initial chitosan concentration (10, 20, and 30 mg/ml) were investigated at different air-drying temperatures. A Reaction Engineering Approach (REA) model was developed and compared with the experimental drying curves, a very well agreement was found between the drying experiments and the REA model with a relative error of about 3% between the initial droplet mass and predicted droplet mass by the REA model.

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Abbreviations

A :

the surface area of droplet, [m2]

A 0e :

sound pressure amplitude, [N/m2]

B :

gas particle velocity, [m/s]

D :

droplet diameter, [m]

D 0 :

initial droplet diameter, [m]

E v :

activation energy, [j/mol]

h m :

mass transfer coefficient, [m/s]

\( {\dot{m}}_A \) :

mass flow rate of A, [kg/s]

m d :

total mass of the droplet, [kg].

m L :

mass of the liquid inside the droplet, [kg]

m s :

mass of the solids inside the droplet, [kg]

Nu:

nusselt number, [−]

R :

gas constant, 8.314462 [J/(mol·K)]

RHg :

relative humidity of drying air, [−]

S s :

minor axis, [m]

S l :

major axis, [m]

Sc:

Schmidt number, [−]

Sh:

Sherwood number, [−]

SPL:

sound pressure level, [dB]

T :

temperature, [k]

v s :

sound velocity, [m/s]

X :

dry basis of moisture content, [kg/kg]

α g :

thermal diffusivity of the gas, [m2/s]

ρ :

mass concentration of the droplet, [kg/m3]

ρ As :

vapor mass concentration at the droplet surface, [kg/m3]

\( {\rho}_{\mathrm{As}}^{\ast } \) :

saturated vapor mass density, [kg/m3]

ρ g :

the density of the air, [kg/m3]

\( {\mathfrak{D}}_g \) :

diffusion coefficient of vapor, [m/s2]

ω A :

mass fraction of the vapor, [−]

ω solids :

mass fraction of the solids, [−]

Ω Ac :

angular frequency, [Hz]

ψ :

fractionality coefficient

e :

equilibrium

s :

surface of droplet

d :

droplet

g :

gas

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Acknowledgments

The authors, therefore, gratefully acknowledge the DSR technical and financial support.

Funding

This work was supported by the Deanship of Scientific Research (DSR), King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, under grant no. (4-135-36-RG).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, 21589, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

    Belal Al Zaitone & Abdulrahim Al-Zahrani

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  1. Belal Al Zaitone
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  2. Abdulrahim Al-Zahrani
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Correspondence to Belal Al Zaitone.

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Al Zaitone, B., Al-Zahrani, A. Modeling Drying Behavior of an Aqueous Chitosan Single Droplet Using the Reaction Engineering Approach. AAPS PharmSciTech 21, 315 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1208/s12249-020-01853-3

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