Adapting the process conditions and performance in planetary roller melt granulation (PRMG) via the planetary spindle number

Abstract

Continuous melt granulation with a planetary roller granulator is a new continuous method based on the orbital motion of planetary spindles driven by a rotating central spindle in a surrounding roller cylinder. Here the configuration of the processing section is a central design aspect, which defines the processing conditions and process performance. In this study, the number of applied planetary spindles as part of the module configuration was varied. As a result, a correlation between direct process parameters, processing conditions and process performance was identified. Hereby, the data normalization relativized successfully the effect of the module configuration. The results are also suitable to identify a module configuration and process settings in the context of a process optimization towards energy input efficiency or energy consumption. Finally, the accounting of the particle modification in terms of size was suitable to link the effect of the investigated parameters to the granulation regime.