Continuous Fluid Bed Granulation

A configuration enabling this process is shown in Figure 4. For start-up, the equipment is filled with raw material similar to a batch unit. After the material has been granulated, the process is switched to the continuous mode allowing material to be introduced via the rotary inlet valve and discharged as granules by a second outlet valve. The process can be controlled by monitoring the pressure drop over the product bed. The inlet air is segmented, which allows the product in different areas to be treated with different temperatures. Although the process is essentially plug flow, a significant amount of back mixing occurs during processing.

Figure 4 Continuous Fluid Bed Granulation