Flowsheet simulation of solids processes: Current status and future trends

Complex manufacturing processes are nowadays applied for production of various solid products. It is very common that for production of particles with desired properties several transformation steps like drying, milling, classification, granulation, etc. should be involved. This leads to the process structures consisting of different apparatuses or transformation substeps connected with material and energy balances. Consequently, development of new processes or optimization of already existing, as well as an optimal control, is a very challenging task, which can be partially solved using numerical modelling.

For the simulation of modern production processes, the flowsheet calculations can be effectively used. Starting from the 80 s a lot of work focused on the flowsheet simulation of liquid-vapor systems has been done and as result various well-established systems exist today. With respect to the solid processes the intensive research has been started much later. In this contribution we present our view about a current role of flowsheet simulation for modeling of particulate materials and specify the open fields which can be covered in future research.