Coulson and Richardson’s Chemical Engineering: Volume 2A: Particulate Systems and Particle Technology

Coulson and Richardson’s Chemical Engineering

Volume 2A: Particulate Systems and Particle Technology

Sixth Edition

Raj Chhabra

Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Ropar, Rupnagar, Punjab, India

Madivala G. Basavaraj

Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai, India

Editor in Chief

Raj Chhabra

Table of Contents

Cover image

Title page

Copyright

Contributors

About Professor Coulson

About Professor Richardson

Preface to the Sixth Edition

Preface to the Fifth Edition

Preface to the Fourth Edition

Note to Fourth Edition—Revised Impression 1993

Preface to the 1983 Reprint of the Third Edition

Preface to Third Edition

Preface to Second Edition

Preface to First Edition

Introduction

Chapter 1: Introduction

Abstract

1.1 Material Science of Solids

1.2 Particulate Solids

1.3 Diverse Applications of Particulate Systems

1.4 Scope and Objectives of This Book

Chapter 2: Particulate Solids

Abstract

2.1 Introduction

2.2 Particle Characterisation

2.3 Sampling of Solids

2.4 Nomenclature

Chapter 3: Particulate Solids in Bulk: Storage and Flow

Abstract

3.1 Scope and General Characteristics

3.2 Agglomeration

3.3 Angle of Repose

3.4 Resistance to Shear and Tensile Forces

3.5 Flow of Solids Through Orifices

3.6 Flow of Solids in Hoppers

3.7 Measurement of Flowrate and Level of Bulk Solids

3.8 Conveying of Solids

3.9 Mixing of Bulk Solids

3.10 Segregation in Bulk Solids

3.11 Nomenclature

Chapter 4: Classification of Solid Particles From Liquids and Gases

Abstract

4.1 Introduction

4.2 Classification of Solid Particles

4.3 Separation of Suspended Solid Particles From Fluids

4.4 Recent Developments in Size and Shape Separation of Particles

4.5 Nomenclature

Chapter 5: Particle Size Reduction and Enlargement

Abstract

5.1 Introduction

5.2 Size Reduction of Solids

5.3 Types of Crushing Equipment

5.4 Size Enlargement of Particles

5.5 Modelling of Breakage and Aggregation Using Population Balancesa

5.6 Nomenclature

Chapter 6: Motion of Particles in a Fluid

Abstract

6.1 Introduction

6.2 Flow Past a Cylinder and a Sphere

6.3 The Drag Force on a Spherical Particle

6.4 Nonspherical Particles

6.5 Motion of Bubbles and Drops

6.6 Drag Forces and Settling Velocities for Particles in Non-Newtonian Fluids

6.7 Accelerating Motion of a Particle in the Gravitational Field

6.8 Motion of Particles in a Centrifugal Field

6.9 Nomenclature

Chapter 7: Flow of Fluids Through Granular Beds and Packed Columns

Abstract

7.1 Introduction

7.2 Flow of a Single Fluid Through a Granular Bed

7.3 Dispersion

7.4 Heat Transfer in Packed Beds

7.5 Packed Columns

7.6 Hold-Up

7.7 Pressure Drop in Fibrous Porous Systems

7.8 Nomenclature

Chapter 8: Sedimentation

Abstract

8.1 Introduction

8.2 Sedimentation of Fine Particles

8.3 Sedimentation of Coarse Particles

8.4 Sedimentation of Suspensions of Rod-Like Particles or Fibrous Systems

8.5 Nomenclature

Chapter 9: Fluidisation

Abstract

9.1 Characteristics of Fluidised Systems

9.2 Liquid–Solids Systems

9.3 Gas–Solids Systems

9.4 Gas–Liquid–Solids Fluidised Beds

9.5 Heat Transfer to a Boundary Surface

9.6 Mass and Heat Transfer Between Fluid and Particles

9.7 Summary of the Properties of Fluidised Beds

9.8 Applications of the Fluidised Solids Technique

9.9 Nomenclature

Chapter 10: Liquid Filtration

Abstract

10.1 Introduction

10.2 Filtration Theory

10.3 Filtration Practice

10.4 Filtration Equipment

10.5 Nomenclature

Chapter 11: Centrifugal Separations

Abstract

11.1 Introduction

11.2 Shape of the Free Surface of the Liquid

11.3 Centrifugal Pressure

11.4 Separation of Immiscible Liquids of Different Densities

11.5 Sedimentation in a Centrifugal Field

11.6 Filtration in a Centrifuge

11.7 Mechanical Design

11.8 Centrifugal Equipment

11.9 Nomenclature

Chapter 12: Product Design and Process Intensification

Abstract

12.1 Product Design

12.2 Process Intensification

Chapter 13: Colloidal Dispersions

Abstract

13.1 Introduction

13.2 Sources of Model Colloidal Particles

13.3 Consequence of Small Size

13.4 Stability of Colloidal Dispersions

13.5 Characterisation of Colloidal Dispersions

13.6 Colloidal Interactions

13.7 Destabilisation of Colloids

13.8 Settling of Aggregates

13.9 Viscosity of Colloidal Dispersions

13.10 Nomenclature

Chapter 14: Health and Explosion Hazards

Abstract

14.1 Introduction

14.2 Health Hazards and Risks of Dust and Fine Powders

14.3 Dust Explosions

14.4 Prevention of Dust Explosions

14.5 Nomenclature

Chapter 15: Advanced Topics in Particle Technology

Abstract

15.1 Introduction

15.2 Anisotropic Particles

15.3 Particle Stabilised Emulsions

15.4 Soft Particles

15.5 Particle Separation Using Microfluidic Devices

15.7 Nomenclature

Problems

Index

Copyright

Butterworth-Heinemann is an imprint of Elsevier

The Boulevard, Langford Lane, Kidlington, Oxford OX5 1GB, United Kingdom

50 Hampshire Street, 5th Floor, Cambridge, MA 02139, United States

© 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Details on how to seek permission, further information about the Publisher’s permissions policies and our arrangements with organizations such as the Copyright Clearance Center and the Copyright Licensing Agency, can be found at our website: www.elsevier.com/permissions.

This book and the individual contributions contained in it are protected under copyright by the Publisher (other than as may be noted herein).

Notices

Knowledge and best practice in this field are constantly changing. As new research and experience broaden our understanding, changes in research methods, professional practices, or medical treatment may become necessary.

Practitioners and researchers must always rely on their own experience and knowledge in evaluating and using any information, methods, compounds, or experiments described herein. In using such information or methods they should be mindful of their own safety and the safety of others, including parties for whom they have a professional responsibility.

To the fullest extent of the law, neither the Publisher nor the authors, contributors, or editors, assume any liability for any injury and/or damage to persons or property as a matter of products liability, negligence or otherwise, or from any use or operation of any methods, products, instructions, or ideas contained in the material herein.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN: 978-0-08-101098-3

For information on all Butterworth-Heinemann publications visit our website at https://www.elsevier.com/books-and-journals

Publisher: Susan Dennis

Acquisition Editor: Anita Koch

Editorial Project Manager: Ali Afzal-Khan

Production Project Manager: Prem Kumar Kaliamoorthi

Cover Designer: Victoria Pearson

Typeset by SPi Global, India

Contributors

Madivala G. Basavaraj     Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai, India

Jayanta Chakraborty     Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, Kharagpur, India

Raj Chhabra     Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Ropar, Rupnagar, Punjab, India

Abhijit Deshpande     Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai, India

Kanjarla Anand Krishna     Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai, India

Anand Prakash     Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada

V. Shankar     Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, Kanpur, India

Anurag Tripathi     Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, Kanpur, India

About Professor Coulson

John Coulson, who died on 6 January 1990 at the age of 79, came from a family with close involvement with education. Both he and his twin brother Charles (renowned physicist and mathematician), who predeceased him, became professors. John did his undergraduate studies at Cambridge and then moved to Imperial College where he took the postgraduate course in chemical engineering—the normal way to qualify at that time—and then carried out research on the flow of fluids through packed beds. He became an Assistant Lecturer at Imperial College and, after wartime service in the Royal Ordnance Factories, returned as Lecturer and was subsequently promoted to a Readership. At Imperial College, he initially had to run the final year of the undergraduate course almost single-handed: a very demanding assignment. During this period, he collaborated with Sir Frederick (Ned) Warner to write a model design exercise for the I. Chem. E. Home Paper on ‘The Manufacture of Nitrotoluene’. He published research papers on heat transfer and evaporation, on distillation, and on liquid extraction, and coauthored this textbook of Chemical Engineering. He did valiant work for the Institution of Chemical Engineers, which awarded him its Davis medal in 1973, and was also a member of the Advisory Board for what was then a new Pergamon journal, Chemical Engineering Science.

In 1954, he was appointed to the newly established Chair at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, where Chemical Engineering became a separate Department and independent of Mechanical Engineering of which it was formerly part, and remained there until his retirement in 1975. He took a period of secondment to Heriot Watt University where, following the splitting of the joint Department of Chemical Engineering with Edinburgh, he acted as adviser and de facto Head of Department. The Scottish university awarded him an Honorary DSc in 1973.

John’s first wife Dora sadly died in 1961; they had two sons, Anthony and Simon. He remarried in 1965 and is survived by Christine.

JFR

About Professor Richardson

Raj Chhabra

Professor John Francis Richardson, Jack to all who knew him, was born at Palmers Green, North London, on 29 July 1920, and attended the Dame Alice Owens School in Islington. Subsequently, after studying chemical engineering at Imperial College, he embarked on research into the suppression of burning liquids and fires. This early work contributed much to our understanding of the extinguishing properties of foams, carbon dioxide, and halogenated hydrocarbons, and he spent much time during the war years on large-scale fire control experiments in Manchester and at the Llandarcy Refinery in South Wales. At the end of the war, Jack returned to Imperial College as a lecturer where he focused on research in the broad area of multiphase fluid mechanics, especially sedimentation and fluidization, and the two-phase flow of gasses and liquids in pipes. This laid the foundation for the design of industrial processes like catalytic crackers and led to a long-lasting collaboration with the Nuclear Research Laboratories at Harwell. This work also led to the publication of the famous paper, now common knowledge, the so-called Richardson-Zaki equation, which was selected as the week’s citation classic (Current Contents, 12 February 1979)!

After a brief spell with Boake Roberts in East London, where he worked on the development of novel processes for creating flavours and fragrances, he was appointed professor of chemical engineering at what was then the University College of Swansea, (now University of Swansea) in 1960. He remained there until his retirement in 1987 and thereafter continued as an emeritus professor until his death on 4 January 2011.

Throughout his career, his major thrust was on the wellbeing of the discipline of chemical engineering. In the early years of his teaching duties at Imperial College, he and his colleague John Coulson recognized the lack of satisfactory textbooks available in the field of chemical engineering. They set about rectifying the situation, and this is how the now well-known Coulson-Richardson series of books on chemical engineering was born. The fact that this series of books (six volumes) is as relevant today as it was at the time of their first appearance is a testimony to the foresight of John Coulson and Jack Richardson.

Throughout his entire career spanning almost 40 years, Jack contributed significantly to all facets of professional life, teaching, research in multiphase fluid mechanics, and service to the Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChem E, UK). His professional work and long-standing public service were well recognized. Jack was president of IChem E during the period from 1975 to 1976; he was named a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering in 1978 and was awarded an OBE in 1981.

In his spare time, Jack and his wife Joan were keen dancers, having been founding members of the Society of International Folk Dancing, and they also shared a love of hill walking.

Preface to the Sixth Edition

Raj Chhabra

Madivala G. Basavaraj

The fifth edition of this title appeared in 2002, and obviously, there is a gap of more than 15 years between the fifth edition and the sixth edition in your hands now. The fact that this title has never been out of print is a testimony to its timelessness and evergreen character, both in terms of content and style. The sole reason for this unusually long gap between the two editions is the fact that Jack Richardson passed away in 2011, and, therefore, the publishers needed to be sure whether it was a worthwhile project to continue. The question was easily answered in the affirmative by numerous independent reviews and by the continuous feedback from the users of this volume—students, teachers, and working professionals—from all over the world. Having established that there was a definite need for this title, the next step was to identify individuals who would have the inclination to carry forward the legacy of Coulson and Richardson. Indeed, we feel privileged to have been entrusted with this onerous task.

The basic philosophy and the objectives of this edition remain the same as articulated so very well by the previous authors of the fifth edition, except for the fact that it has been split into two subvolumes, 2A and 2B. In essence, this volume, 2A, continues to concentrate on the fundamentals of particulate processing operations, as applied to wide-ranging industrial settings. In particular, consideration is given to the characterisation of particles, both at the individual level as well as in bulk, in terms of their size, shape, texture, packing characteristics in the context of storage, and flow in bins and hoppers, etc. Similarly, the processes used to effect size reduction and enlargement of particles and the segregation and mixing phenomena in dry solids are also introduced in this volume. The next set of topics includes the all-too-familiar operations of the flow and heat transfer in packed and fluidised beds and in the settling of concentrated slurries and suspensions. These ideas, in turn, are applied to the classification of solids based on their size and/or density differences using the gravity or centrifugal flow fields. The entire volume has been reviewed while keeping in mind the feedback received from the readers and reviewers. Wherever needed, both contents and presentation have been improved by reorganising the existing material for easier understanding, or new material has been added to provide updated and more reliable information. Apart from the general revision, the specific changes made in this edition are summarized below:

(i)A new Chapter 1 is introduced, not only to bring out the truly interdisciplinary character of this field, but also to illustrate the broad range of applications of particulate matter cutting across various industrial settings.

(ii)The material in the old version of Chapter 1 has been redistributed in three chapters, Chapters 2–4, to improve the clarity of presentation for easier understanding of the numerous concepts involved here in the characterisation of particulates.

(iii)In Chapter 5, a new section on the application of population balance modelling approach to size reduction has been added.

(iv)In addition, three new chapters have been added in this edition. Chapter 13 deals with the behaviour of colloidal and nanoparticles in solutions. Chapter 14 is concerned with the health and process hazards associated with the handling and processing of dry powders. Chapter 15 deals with recent developments and novel aspects of particle technology.

Most of these changes are based on one of the volume editors—Raj Chhabra’s—extensive conversations and discussion with Jack Richardson over a period of 30 years (from 1981 onward). It is also appropriate to mention here that it is beyond the expertise of a single individual to undertake the revision of the entire volume. Therefore, we are grateful to our many friends who have volunteered to shoulder the responsibility of revising various chapters in this edition. These deserve to be singled out as follows: Abhijit Deshpande and Anand Krishna Kanjarla (Chapter 1), Anurag Tripathi (Chapters 2 and 3), Jayanta Chakraborty (Chapter 5), Anand Prakash (Chapter 9), and V. Shankar (Chapter 15). Very little editorial changes have been made to the chapters written by these individuals.

We are grateful to the many other individuals who have facilitated the publication of the sixth edition. Over the past 2 years, it has been a wonderful experience working with the staff at Butterworth-Heinemann (Elsevier). Each one of them has been extremely helpful, and some of these individuals deserve a mention here. First and foremost, we are grateful to Anita Koch for commissioning the new edition of this volume. She not only patiently answered our endless queries but also came to our rescue on several occasions. Similarly, Joshua Bayliss and Ali Afzal-Khan went far beyond their call of duty to see this project through. Finally, Prem Kumar Kaliamoorthi assembled the numerous fragments in different forms and formats—ranging from handwritten notes to latex files—into the finished product in your hands. We end this preface with an appeal to our readers to please let us know as and when you spot errors or inconsistencies so that these can be rectified at the earliest opportunity.

Rupnagar and Chennai, March 2019

Preface to the Fifth Edition

J.F. Richardson

J.H. Harker

It is now 47 years since Volume 2 was first published in 1955, and during the intervening time the profession of chemical engineering has grown to maturity in the United Kingdom, and worldwide; the Institution of Chemical Engineers, for instance, has moved on from its 33rd to its 80th year of existence. No longer are the heavy chemical and petroleum-based industries the main fields of industrial applications of the discipline, but chemical engineering has now penetrated into areas, such as pharmaceuticals, health care, foodstuffs, and biotechnology, where the general level of sophistication of the products is much greater, and the scale of production is often much smaller, though the unit value of the products is generally much higher. This change has led to a move away from large-scale continuous plants to smaller scale batch processing, often in multipurpose plants. Furthermore, there is an increased emphasis on product purity, and the need for more refined separation technology, especially in the pharmaceutical industry where it is often necessary to carry out the difficult separation of stereo-isomers, one of which may have the desired therapeutic properties while the other is extremely malignant. Many of these large molecules are fragile and are liable to be broken down by the harsh solvents commonly used in the manufacture of bulk chemicals. The general principles involved in processing these more specialised materials are essentially the same as in bulk chemical manufacture, but special care must often be taken to ensure that processing conditions are mild.

One big change over the years in the chemical and processing industries is the emphasis on designing products with properties that are specified, often in precise detail, by the customer. Chemical composition is often of relatively little importance provided that the product has the desired attributes. Hence product design, a multidisciplinary activity, has become a necessary precursor to process design.

Although undergraduate courses now generally take into account these new requirements, the basic principles of chemical engineering remain largely unchanged and this is particularly the case with the two main topics of Volume 2, Particle Mechanics and Separation Processes. In preparing this new edition, the authors have faced a typical engineering situation where a compromise has to be reached on size. The knowledgebase has increased to such an extent that many of the individual chapters appear to merit expansion into separate books. At the same time, as far as students and those from other disciplines are concerned, there is still a need for an integrated concise treatment in which there is a consistency of approach across the board and, most importantly, a degree of uniformity in the use of symbols. It has to be remembered that the learning capacity of students is certainly no greater than it was in the past, and a book of manageable proportions is still needed.

The advice that academic staffs worldwide have given in relation to revising the book has been that the layout should be retained substantially unchanged—better the devil we know, with all his faults! With this in mind the basic structure has been maintained. However, the old Chapter 8 on Gas Cleaning, which probably did not merit a chapter on its own, has been incorporated into Chapter 1, where it sits comfortably beside other topics involving the separation of solid particles from fluids. This has left Chapter 8 free to accommodate Membrane Separations (formerly Chapter 20) which then follows on logically from Filtration in Chapter 7. The new Chapter 20 then provides an opportunity to look to the future, and to introduce the topics of Product Design and the Use of Intensified Fields (particularly centrifugal in place of gravitational) and miniaturisation, with all the advantages of reduced hold-up, leading to a reduction in the amount of out-of-specification material produced during the changeover between products in the case multipurpose plants, and in improved safety where the materials have potentially hazardous properties.

Other significant changes are the replacement of the existing chapter on Crystallisation by an entirely new chapter written with expert guidance from Professor J.W. Mullin, the author of the standard textbook on that topic. The other chapters have all been updated and additional Examples and Solutions incorporated in the text. Several additional Problems have been added at the end, and solutions are available in the Solutions Manual, and now on the Butterworth-Heinemann website.

We are, as usual, indebted to both reviewers and readers for their suggestions and for pointing out errors in earlier editions. These have all been taken into account. Please keep it up in future! We aim to be error-free but are not always as successful as we would like to be! Unfortunately, the new edition is somewhat longer than the previous one, almost inevitably so with the great expansion in the amount of information available. Whenever in the past we have cut out material which we have regarded as being out-of-date, there is inevitably somebody who writes to say that he now has to keep both the old and the new editions because he finds that something which he had always found particularly useful in the past no longer appears in the revised edition. It seems that you cannot win, but we keep trying!

Preface to the Fourth Edition

J.F. Richardson, Swansea

Details of the current restructuring of this Chemical Engineering Series, coinciding with the publication of the Fourth Edition of Volumes 1 and 2 and to be followed by new editions of the other volumes, have been set out in the Preface to the Fourth Edition of Volume 1. The revision involves the inclusion in Volume 1 of material on non-Newtonian flow (previously in Volume 3) and the transference from Volume 2 to Volume 1 of Pneumatic and Hydraulic Conveying and Liquid Mixing. In addition, Volume 6, written by Mr. R.K. Sinnott, which first appeared in 1983, nearly 30 years after the first volume, acquires some of the design-orientated material from Volume 2, particularly that related to the hydraulics of packed and plate columns.

The new subtitle of Volume 2, Particle Technology and Separation Processes, reflects both the emphasis of the new edition and the current importance of these two topics in Chemical Engineering. Particle Technology covers the basic properties of systems of particles and their preparation by comminution (Chapters 1 and 2). Subsequent chapters deal with the interaction between fluids and particles, under conditions ranging from those applicable to single isolated particles, to systems of particles freely suspended in fluids, as in sedimentation and fluidisation; and to packed beds and columns where particles are held in a fixed configuration relative to one another. The behaviour of particles in both gravitational and centrifugal fields is also covered. It will be noted that Centrifugal Separations are now brought together again in a single chapter, as in the original scheme of the first two editions, because the dispersal of the material between other chapters in the Third Edition was considered to be not entirely satisfactory.

Fluid–solid separation processes are discussed in the earlier chapters under the headings of Sedimentation, Filtration, Gas Cleaning, and Centrifugal Separations. The remaining separations involve applications of mass-transfer processes, in the presence of solid particles in leaching (solid–liquid extraction), drying, and crystallisation. In distillation, gas absorption and liquid–liquid extraction, interactions occur between two fluid streams with mass transfer taking place across a phase boundary. Usually these operations are carried out as continuous countercurrent flow processes, either stagewise (as in a plate-column) or with differential contacting (as in a packed column). There is a case therefore for a generalised treatment of countercurrent contacting processes with each of the individual operations, such as Distillation, treated as particular cases. Although this approach has considerable merit, both conceptually and in terms of economy of space, it has not been adopted here, because the authors’ experience of teaching suggests that the student more readily grasps the principles involved, by considering each topic in turn, provided of course that the teacher makes a serious attempt to emphasise the common features.

The new edition concludes with four chapters which are newcomers to Volume 2, each written by a specialist author from the Chemical Engineering Department at Swansea—

Adsorption and Ion Exchange (Chapters 17 and 18)

(topics previously covered in Volume 3)

by J.H. Bowen

Chromatographic Separations (Chapter 19)

by J.R. Conder

and

Membrane Separations (Chapter 20)

by W.R. Bowen

These techniques are of particular interest in that they provide a means of separating molecular species which are difficult to separate by other techniques and which may be present in very low concentrations. Such species include large molecules, submicrometre size particles, stereo-isomers, and the products from bioreactors (Volume 3). The separations can be highly specific and may depend on molecular size and shape, and the configuration of the constituent chemical groups of the molecules.

Again I would express our deep sense of loss on the death of our colleague, Professor John Coulson, in January 1990. His two former colleagues at Newcastle, Dr. John Backhurst and the Reverend Dr. John Harker, have played a substantial part in the preparation of this new edition both by updating the sections originally attributable to him, and by obtaining new illustrations and descriptions of industrial equipment.

Finally, may I again thank our readers who, in the past, have made such helpful suggestions and have drawn to our attention errors, many of which would never have been spotted by the authors. Would they please continue their good work!

Note to Fourth Edition—Revised Impression 1993

In this reprint corrections and minor revisions have been incorporated. The principal changes are as follows:

(1)Addition of an account of the construction and operation of the Szego Grinding Mill (Chapter 2).

(2)Inclusion of the Yoshioka method for the design of thickeners (Chapter 5).

(3)Incorporation of Geldart’s classification of powders in relation to fluidisation characteristics (Chapter 6).

(4)The substitution of a more logical approach to filtration of slurries yielding compressible cakes and redefinition of the specific resistance (Chapter 7).

(5)Revision of the nomenclature for the underflow streams of washing thickeners to bring it into line with that used for other stagewise processes, including distillation and absorption (Chapter 10).

(6)A small addition to the selection of dryers and the inclusion of Examples (Chapter 16).

Preface to the 1983 Reprint of the Third Edition

In this volume, there is an account of the basic theory underlying the various unit operations, and typical items of equipment are described. The equipment items are the essential components of a complete chemical plant, and the way in which such a plant is designed is the subject of Volume 6 of the series which has just appeared. The new volume includes material on flowsheeting, heat and material balances, piping, mechanical construction, and costing. It completes the Series and forms an introduction to the very broad subject of Chemical Engineering Design.

Preface to Third Edition

In producing a third edition, we have taken the opportunity, not only of updating the material but also of expressing the values of all the physical properties and characteristics of the systems in the SI System of units, as has already been done in Volumes 1 and 3. The SI system, which is described in detail in Volume 1, is widely adopted in Europe and is now gaining support elsewhere in the world. However, because some readers will still be more familiar with the British system, based on the foot, pound, and second, the old units have been retained as alternatives wherever this can be done without causing confusion.

The material has, to some extent, been re-arranged and the first chapter now relates to the characteristics of particles and their behaviour in bulk, the blending of solids, and classification according to size or composition of material. The following chapters describe the behaviour of particles moving in a fluid and the effects of both gravitational and centrifugal forces and of the interactions between neighbouring particles. The old chapter on centrifuges has now been eliminated and the material dispersed into the appropriate parts of other chapters. Important applications which are considered include flow in granular beds and packed columns, fluidisation, transport of suspended particles, filtration, and gas cleaning. An example of the updating which has been carried out is the addition of a short section on fluidised bed combustion, potentially the most important commercial application of the technique of fluidisation. In addition, we have included an entirely new section on flocculation, which has been prepared for us by Dr. D.J.A. Williams of University College, Swansea, to whom we are much indebted.

Mass transfer operations play a dominant role in chemical processing and this is reflected in the continued attention given to the operations of solid–liquid extraction, distillation, gas absorption, and liquid–liquid extraction. The last of these subjects, together with material on liquid–liquid mixing, is now dealt within a single chapter on liquid–liquid systems, the remainder of the material which appeared in the former chapter on mixing having been included earlier under the heading of solids blending. The volume concludes with chapters on evaporation, crystallisation, and drying.

Volumes 1–3 form an integrated series with the fundamentals of fluid flow, heat transfer, and mass transfer in the first volume, the physical operations of chemical engineering in this, the second volume, and in the third volume, the basis of chemical and biochemical reactor design, some of the physical operations which are now gaining in importance and the underlying theory of both process control and computation. The solutions to the problems listed in Volumes 1 and 2 are now available as Volumes 4 and 5, respectively. Furthermore, an additional volume in the series is in course of preparation and will provide an introduction to chemical engineering design and indicate how the principles enunciated in the earlier volumes can be translated into chemical plant.

We welcome the collaboration of J.R. Backhurst and J.H. Harker as co-authors in the preparation of this edition, following their assistance in the editing of the latest edition of Volume 1 and their authorship of Volumes 4 and 5. We also look forward to the appearance of R.K. Sinnott’s volume on chemical engineering design.

Preface to Second Edition

J.M. Coulson

J.F. Richardson

This text deals with the physical operations used in the chemical and allied industries. These operations are conveniently designated ‘unit operations’ to indicate that each single operation, such as filtration, is used in a wide range of industries, and frequently under varying conditions of temperature and pressure.

Since the publication of the first edition in 1955 there has been a substantial increase in the relevant technical literature but the majority of developments have originated in research work in government and university laboratories rather than in industrial companies. As a result, correlations based on laboratory data have not always been adequately confirmed on the industrial scale. However, the section on absorption towers contains data obtained on industrial equipment and most of the expressions used in the chapters on distillation and evaporation are based on results from industrial practice.

In carrying out this revision we have made substantial alteration to Chapters 1, 5-7, 12, 13, and 15¹ and have taken the opportunity of presenting the volume paged separately from Volume 1. The revision has been possible only as the result of the kind cooperation and help of Professor J.D. Thornton (Chapter 12), Mr. J. Porter (Chapter 13), Mr. K.E. Peet (Chapter 10), and Dr. B. Waldie (Chapter 1), all of the University at Newcastle, and Dr. N. Dombrowski of the University of Leeds (Chapter 15). We want in particular to express our appreciation of the considerable amount of work carried out by Mr. D.G. Peacock of the School of Pharmacy, University of London. He has not only checked through the entire revision but has made numerous additions to many chapters and has overhauled the index.

We should like to thank the companies that have kindly provided illustrations of their equipment and also the many readers of the previous edition who have made useful comments and helpful suggestions.

Chemical engineering is no longer confined to purely physical processes and the unit operations, and a number of important new topics, including reactor design, automatic control of plants, biochemical engineering, and the use of computers for both process design and control of chemical plant will be covered in a forthcoming Volume 3 which is in course of preparation.

Chemical engineering has grown in complexity and stature since the first edition of the text, and we hope that the new edition will prove of value to the new generation of university students as well as forming a helpful reference book for those working in industry.

In presenting this new edition we wish to express our gratitude to Pergamon Press who have taken considerable trouble in coping with the technical details.

¹ N.B. Chapter numbers are altered in the current (third) edition.

Preface to First Edition

In presenting Volume 2 of Chemical Engineering, it has been our intention to cover what we believe to be the more important unit operations used in the chemical and process industries. These unit operations, which are mainly physical in nature, have been classified, as far as possible, according to the underlying mechanism of the transfer operation. In only a few cases is it possible to give design procedures when a chemical reaction takes place in addition to a physical process. This difficulty arises from the fact that, when we try to design such units as absorption towers in which there is a chemical reaction, we are not yet in a position to offer a thoroughly rigorous method of solution. We have not given an account of the transportation of materials in such equipment as belt conveyors or bucket elevators, which we feel lie more distinctly in the field of mechanical engineering.

In presenting a good deal of information in this book, we have been much indebted to facilities made available to us by Professor Newitt, in whose department we have been working for many years. The reader will find a number of gaps, and a number of principles which are as yet not thoroughly developed. Chemical engineering is a field in which there is still much research to be done, and, if this work will in any way stimulate activities in this direction, we shall feel very much rewarded. It is hoped that the form of presentation will be found useful in indicating the kind of information which has been made available by research workers up to the present day. Chemical engineering is in its infancy, and we must not suppose that the approach presented here must necessarily be looked upon as correct in the years to come. One of the advantages of this subject is that its boundaries are not sharply defined.

Finally, we should like to thank the following friends for valuable comments and suggestions: Mr. G.H. Anderson, Mr. R.W. Corben, Mr. W.J. De Coursey, Dr. M. Guter, Dr. L.L. Katan, Dr. R. Lessing, Dr. D.J. Rasbash, Dr. H. Sawistowski, Dr. W. Smith, Mr. D. Train, Mr. M.E.O’K. Trowbridge, Mr. F.E. Warner, and Dr. W.N. Zaki.

Introduction

Raj Chhabra

Welcome to the next generation of Coulson-Richardson series of books on Chemical Engineering. I would like to convey to you all my feelings about this project which have evolved over the past 30 years, and are based on numerous conversations with Jack Richardson himself (from 1981 onward until his death in 2011) and with some of the other contributors to previous editions including Tony Wardle, Ray Sinnott, Bill Wilkinson, and John Smith. So, what follows here is the essence of these interactions combined with what the independent (solicited and unsolicited) reviewers had to say about this series of books on several occasions.

The Coulson-Richardson series of books has served academia, students, and working professionals extremely well since their first publication more than 50 years ago. This is a testimony to their robustness and, to some extent, their timelessness. I have often heard much praise from different parts of the world for these volumes both for their informal and user-friendly yet authoritative style and for their extensive coverage. Therefore, there is a strong case for continuing with its present style and pedagogical approach.

On the other hand, advances in our discipline in terms of new applications (energy, bio, microfluidics, nanoscale engineering, smart materials, new control strategies, and reactor configurations, for instance) are occurring so rapidly and in such a significant manner that it would be naive, even detrimental, to ignore them. Therefore, while we have tried to retain the basic structure of this series, the contents have been thoroughly revised. Wherever the need was felt, the material has been updated, revised, and expanded as deemed appropriate. Therefore, the reader, whether a student, a researcher, or a working professional, should feel confident that what is in the book is the most up-to-date, accurate, and reliable piece of information on the topic he/she is interested in.

Obviously, this is a massive undertaking which cannot be managed by a single individual. Therefore, we now have a team of volume editors responsible for each volume having the individual chapters written by experts in some cases. I am most grateful to all of them for having joined us in the endeavour. Furthermore, based on extensive deliberations and feedback from a large number of individuals, some structural changes were deemed to be appropriate as detailed here. Due to their size, each volume has been split into two subvolumes as follows:

Volume 1A: Fluid Flow

Volume 1B: Heat and Mass Transfer

Volume 2A: Particulate Technology and Processing

Volume 2B: Separation Processes

Volume 3A: Chemical Reactors

Volume 3B: Process Control

Undoubtedly, the success of a project of such a vast scope and magnitude hinges on the cooperation and assistance of many individuals. In this regard, we have been extremely fortunate in working with some of the outstanding individuals at Butterworth-Heinemann, a few of whom deserve to be singled out: Jonathan Simpson, Fiona Geraghty, Anita Koch, Maria Convey, Ashlie Jackman, Joshua Bayliss, and Afzal Ali, who have taken personal interest in this project and have come to our rescue whenever needed, going far beyond the call of duty.

Finally, this series has had a glorious past, but I sincerely hope that its future will be even brighter by presenting the best possible books to the global chemical engineering community for the next 50 years, if not longer. I sincerely hope that the new edition of this series will meet (if not exceed) your expectations! Last, a request to the readers: please continue to do good work by letting me know if (no, not if, but when) you spot a mistake so that these can be corrected at the first opportunity.

Editor-in-Chief

Rupnagar, March 2019

Chapter 1

Introduction

Abstract

Solid materials dispersed in fluids, particulate systems, are introduced in this chapter. Material science aspects of solids such as the bonding and the crystal structure are briefly described. Classification of solids and their response to stress are presented. The most crucial characteristic of particulate solids is the size of the particles. Additional characteristics of particles, physical, thermal, and surface properties are summarized subsequently. Finally, the chapter provides examples of the diverse applications of particulate systems. Some directions of the future particle systems are also provided.

Keywords

Particulate systems; Materials science of particles; Characteristics of particles; Industrial application of particulate systems

Solid materials and their dispersion in fluids are the subject matter of this book. An individual unit of dispersed solid material is referred to as a particle. These solid-fluid material systems are referred to as particulate systems, particulate materials or particulates. Powders (concentrated solid particles in air), slurries (solid particles dispersed in liquid), and dispersions (fine solid particles dispersed in liquid) are few other terms commonly used to describe solid-fluid material systems. The inherent multiphasic nature of these systems can lead to a set of properties that can be solid-like and another set that can be fluid-like. Additionally, they exhibit several unique phenomena that are difficult to explain based on the knowledge of single-phase systems. Therefore, the engineering and science of particles and particulates (as collection of particles) offers great challenges in terms of design and understanding.

Because the particle behaviour is very crucial in determining the response of particulate systems, several key features of particles are introduced in this chapter. We begin by reviewing the material science and mechanical properties of solids. In the following sections, we outline some of the key characteristics of particulate systems. Finally, several past, current, and future examples in industrial applications, Fig. 1.1, and consumer applications, Fig. 1.2, are described. Several important features of particulate systems in these applications are highlighted.

Fig. 1.1 Examples of particulate systems in industrial applications.

Fig. 1.2 Examples of particulate systems in consumer applications.

1.1 Material Science of Solids

1.1.1 Bonding in Solids

Solids are made of aggregates of atoms held together by interatomic forces. The geometric arrangement of these atoms and the forces that bind them together to form cohesive solids that have significant influence on the properties of these materials. The fact that atoms prefer to stay in solid form instead of individual (free) atoms implies that the overall potential energy of a solid is lower than that of the free atoms.

It is worth revising the nature of the interatomic energies and the consequent forces. Consider two neutral atoms that are far apart. There exists attractive energy between these atoms due to the electrostatic attraction between the nucleus and the electron clouds of the individual atoms. This energy, which is of long range nature, depends weakly on the distance between the atoms, denoted by r, and is typically formulated as si1_e where a and m are constants. Convention dictates that attractive energy is negative. When the atoms get too close to each other, there is a repulsive energy arising from the nucleus-nucleus and electron-electron repulsions. The repulsive energy, which is of short range, due to Pauli's exclusion principle, is idealised as si2_e . The net interatomic potential is then treated as the sum of the attractive and the repulsive energies as, si3_e .

The most commonly assumed values for m and n are 6 and 12 and this form of interatomic interaction/potential is referred to as Lennard-Jones potential. One can gain insights into many material properties with a knowledge of the potential curves. For instance, the equilibrium separation (r0 in Fig. 1.3) between two atoms can readily be obtained by knowing that, at that point, the net force acting on the atom is zero. Thus, the value of F can be obtained by negative derivative of the potential curve F = −dU/dr. Similarly, the depth of the potential well is an indication of the amount of energy needed to separate the two atoms, which, in turn, decides the melting point of the material. Other properties such as coefficient of thermal expansion or elastic modulus can also be derived knowing the interatomic interactions. It is worth noting here that the above description is an idealisation of interatomic interactions where there is no explicit participation of electrons.

Fig. 1.3 Schematic of Lennard-Jones potential showing the variation of potential energy with distance between two atoms.

1.1.2 Classification of Solids

The chemical bonds between the atoms can be categorised as primary bonds and secondary bonds. Primary bonds, also referred to as strong bonds, are a consequence of the directional interaction of atoms either through the transfer or sharing of (valence) electrons. Secondary bonds, also referred to as weak bonds, are due to indirect interaction between are molecules/atoms.

Ionic bonds are formed due to complete transfer of one or more electrons from an electropositive atom (cation) to an electronegative(anion) atom. The electrostatic attraction between oppositely charged ions is typically long range and is nondirectional. The bond strength is high which makes ionic compounds mechanically hard. The bond strength of ionic bonds can range from 600 to 1500 kJ/mol.

Covalent bonds are formed between two atoms with similar electronegativities by sharing of their valence electrons. The electron cloud between the atoms is now localised between the atoms, resulting in high directionality of these bonds. Covalent bonds are also very strong and, therefore, result in compounds with high melting point. The bond strength of covalent bonds can range from 300 to 1500 kJ/mol.

Metallic bonds are typically seen between electropositive atoms wherein the outer most electrons of these atoms are delocalised across many atoms. Metallic bonds are typically nondirectional in nature. The bond strength of metallic bonds can range from 50 to 1000 kJ/mol.

On the other hand, the van der Waals bonds are weak electrostatic attractions between polarised atoms or molecules. The bond strength can range from 10 to 40 kJ/mol. Hydrogen bonds are similar to van der Waals bonds, except that these are caused by induced dipoles in molecules containing hydrogen. Hydrogen bonds are slightly stronger than the van der Waals bonds, in the range of 10–50 kJ/mol.

It is important to note here that materials seldom have bonding of only one kind. There is always a combination of different bonds. For example, the Si–C bond in silicon carbide has about 11% ionic bonding and 89% covalent bonding characteristics.¹

Based on the geometric arrangement of atoms, materials can be classified into crystalline or amorphous materials. Materials in which there is a regular 3D arrangement of atoms located at points related by translational symmetry are often referred to as crystalline and the underlying periodic arrangement as the crystal structure. The smallest repeating atomic arrangement is called a unit cell. As shown in the Fig. 1.4, the unit cell is a parallelepiped with edges given by a1,a2,a3 and the angles between them as α12,α23,α31. The periodic arrangement typically extends over distances much larger than the interatomic distances. Hence, crystalline materials are considered to have long-range order with translational symmetry. There are 14 different ways in which identical atoms can be arranged in 3D space. These are often referred to as the Bravais lattices. They are grouped into seven crystal systems, the details of which are shown in Fig. 1.4. Crystal structures of some of the common engineering materials are shown in Table 1.1. A key characteristic of crystals is a sharp melting temperature Tm, at which transition from ordered solid to a disordered liquid state is observed.

Fig. 1.4 14 three-dimensional Bravais lattices and 7 crystal systems from which they are derived.

Table 1.1

Amorphous/noncrystalline materials lack regular arrangement of atoms over large atomic distances, that is, they do not possess long-range order. One important consequence of the lack of long-range order is the absence of a sharp melting point. Instead, amorphous materials have what is commonly referred to as glass transition temperature Tg. Below this temperature, materials are generally hard and brittle, whilst above this temperature they are soft and flexible (Fig. 1.5).

Fig. 1.5 Specific volume versus temperature curves: (A) a crystalline solid with a melting point T m ; (B) a glass, with a glass transition temperature T g .

Solid materials are typically classified into three major groups: metals, ceramics, and polymers. Apart from this broad classification, one also often comes across two other categories: composites and biomaterials.

Metals and alloys are inorganic materials composed of one or more metallic elements. They are good conductors of heat and electricity. Most metallic systems are crystalline with some exceptions, such as metallic glasses. They also exhibit good ductility, which gives them ability to be shaped. Pure metals are seldom used in many applications. Most metals are used as alloys, formed by mixing two or more metals. Alloying allows improvement on the properties of pure metals.

Ceramics are inorganic, nonmetallic compounds. Most ceramics are oxides, but the term is also used for nitrides, carbides, etc. The bonding in ceramics can be either ionic or covalent. Ceramics are generally strong and chemically inert. Ionic ceramics are typically compounds of metals with nonmetals such as MgO, Al2O3, ZrO2, whereas covalent ceramics are compounds of two nonmetals (e.g. SiO2, SiC). Stone and clay porcelain are natural ceramics. High-performance ceramics are synthesised; they include alumina (Al2O3), silica (SiO2), other oxides, such as TiO2, ZrO2, carbides WC, TiC, SiC, and BC; nitrides Si3N4, TiN, and BN; and borides such as TiB2. Glasses fall under the category of ceramics. They exhibit high melting point, high compressive strength, and are often brittle.

Polymers are generally organic materials made of long chain or network of small repeating carbon containing molecules called monomers. Typically, covalent bonding is seen in polymers along with weak van der Waals and hydrogen bonds. Polymers can be either thermoplastic (those that can be melted and processed repeatedly), thermosets (can be formed only once and cannot be remelted), and elastomers or rubbers that can be stretched considerably and return to their original size rapidly when the force is removed. Polymers are also commonly refereed to as plastics. Plastics are sometimes defined as polymers that can be easily formed at low temperatures. Most polymers are noncrystalline, with some exhibiting a mixture of both crystalline and amorphous nature. They generally have low density and are typically electrical insulators. Natural polymers include cellulose, starch, and rubbers, whilst examples of the manmade or engineering polymers are polyethylene, nylon, and polytetrafluoroethylene.

1.1.3 Response of Solids to Stress

Rigid and deformable

A rigid solid material implies that it does not deform. For example, in fluidisation, we commonly assume that particles are subjected to forces due to phenomena such as drag and collision. However, we consider that particles do not deform due to application of such forces, and, therefore, the particles are assumed to be rigid. On the other hand, particles undergo deformation and eventual failure when subjected to size reduction operations. In these cases, particles are considered to be deformable. The validity of this assumption of rigid behaviour of materials would depend on the loading condition as well as the material properties.

Small and large deformations

As discussed in Section 1.1.2, for both ordered or disordered solids, the positions of atoms and molecules are fixed. When a force is applied on a solid material, it can lead to relative displacement of the atoms and molecules with respect to each other. This relative displacement results in deformation of the material on a bulk scale. When a small force is applied, small deformation is expected whilst large force leads to large deformation. Moreover, the deformation would also depend on interatomic and intermolecular interactions, or in other words, on the material properties. The deformation response of a material is characterised in terms of stress (=force per unit area) and strain (=relative displacement).

When strain is small, a linear relationship between stress and strain is generally observed. This is termed the elastic response of solids. In the elastic region, if the stress is reduced to zero, the stain also approaches zero. In other words, when the solid is deformed in the elastic region, it regains the original configuration upon the removal of the stress.

When a solid material is subjected to larger strains, it can exhibit three possible behaviours, as shown in Fig. 1.6. When the material is brittle, it breaks or fails when the strain is progressively increased. Another possibility is that the material shows a yielding and ductile behaviour. In the yielding region, the stress increase is no longer proportional to the strain. Beyond the yield, the material deforms, even though the stress does not increase significantly. Moreover, if the stress is removed, the material retains a residual strain. Therefore, beyond the yield stress, the material deformation is plastic. Due to such plastic deformation, the ductile materials deform significantly before they fail. The third type of behaviour shown in Fig. 1.6 is of rubbery materials. These materials deform too much larger extent, and with increasing strain, higher and higher stress is required at larger deformation.

Fig. 1.6 Stress as a function of strain for representative solid materials: (a) brittle material, (b) yielding and ductile material; (c) rubbery material.

The stress-strain response can be quantified based on a few mechanical properties. In the elastic region, the proportionality constant describing the linear stress-strain relation is called the modulus or stiffness. The stress at which yielding occurs is called the yield stress. The stress at which the material breaks or fails is termed its ultimate strength. Ceramics, which are mostly brittle materials, have generally high moduli and lower strengths. On the other hand, ductile metals have relatively lower moduli and higher strengths. Polymers, also ductile, have lower moduli and strengths when compared to metals. Toughness can be quantified as the area enclosed by the stress-strain curve, and it is a measure of the energy required to fracture or break the material. Ductile materials exhibit higher toughness than the brittle materials (Fig. 1.7).

Fig. 1.7 Mechanical properties of solid materials. (A) Modulus: the slope of stress versus strain; (B) strength: stress at failure; (C) toughness: energy of deformation.

Mechanical characterisation of solids is carried out in tensile, compressive or flexural loading. In particle technology, the compressive mechanical response of solids is relevant for size reduction. Similarly, attrition during particle handling, storage, and operation is also affected by this response.

Failure

Failure, breakage, or fracture of solid materials proceeds in several stages. A processed material generally consists of defects such as crystalline defects and voids. When a stress is applied, the defects can cause the formation of microcracks due to stress concentration. These microcracks propagate and combine to form a macrocrack, which then leads to the failure of the material.

In the case of brittle materials, defects lead to rapid generation and propagation of microcracks and macrocracks, and eventually to catastrophic failure. In the case of ductile metals, migration of crystal defects leads to dissipation of energy and plastic deformation. For polymeric materials, conformational changes and orientation of molecules lead to the dissipation of energy, and, therefore, resulting in large plastic deformation. Due to these mechanisms, size reduction is easier (or less energy intensive) for ceramics than for metals. Size reduction for polymers is most difficult due to their ductility or plastic deformation.

Failure of solid materials implies the creation of new solid interface whilst breaking ionic, metallic, or covalent bonds. Therefore, energy involved in fracture depends on surface energy and bond energies. Since metals and polymers can dissipate energy without breakage of bonds, size reduction is more difficult.

When a solid material is processed, defects are always present, and they are distributed within the material. Of the large number of defects, microcracks start at few locations in the material. At fewer locations, microcracks combine to form a macrocrack. At a specific location, macrocracks grow and lead to failure. Therefore, fracture of solids is inherently a statistical process. Materials fail because defects can never be eliminated, and generally, the greater the number of defects, the easier it would be for a few of the defects to lead to failure. Hence, a smaller sample size of the same material shows more strength and toughness (endures more stress before failure) because of fewer defects. Therefore, failure is more and more difficult with the smaller particle sizes.

The compressive strength of silica particles of 4–25 mm size-range varies from 10 to 150 MPa,³ with strength being higher for smaller particles. Table 1.2 provides compressive strength values for a few typical particulate materials.

Table 1.2

1.2 Particulate Solids

1.2.1 Characteristics of Particles

As we discussed earlier, particulate solids consist of different material types and of different atomic and molecular arrangements. Consequently, a diverse set of interactions are involved when we consider them. The mechanical properties of the particulate materials are also of varied nature, as described in Section 1.1.3. The diversity is also apparent when we consider the following factors that are very influential in determining the behaviour of particulate solids.

•Size. Particle size is one of the defining characteristics of particulate solids. The nature of interactions as well as the underlying physical mechanisms involved in a particulate process can vary depending on the particle size. Therefore, the same material can be used in different applications based on the particle size. Fig. 1.8 shows a few example characteristics, and their dependence on the particle size. As is evident from the figure, particulate solids generally have a distribution of particle sizes. Hence, to understand their behaviour, it is not only important to characterise the average size, but also the nature of distribution. Therefore, size reduction and size enlargement processes are used to arrive at an appropriate size distribution for a given application.

Fig. 1.8 Influence of particle size on example characteristics of particulate solids.

•Shape. The shape of particles is another important factor that influences the behaviour of particulate solids. It is helpful to classify shapes based on the dimensionality involved, as shown in Fig. 1.9. Particles can be 1D, for example, being rod-like in shape, 2D, such as platelets and flakes, or 3D, such as spheres and irregular shapes. An industrial powder may also contain different shapes, for example, a mixture of rod-like and irregular-shaped particles.

Fig. 1.9 Typical shapes of particles. (Redrawn based on information in Nouri A, Sola A. Metal particle shape: a practical perspective. Metal Powder Rep 2018. 10.1016/j.mprp.2018.04.001.)

•Thermal properties. In several particulate operations, heat transfer and thermal processing are involved. For such operations, thermal properties of particles are very important. Table 1.3 shows melting temperatures, thermal conductivities, specific heats, and glass transition temperatures of a few solid materials relevant to particulate systems. It should be noted that the thermal property of a particulate system is different from the properties of bulk solid.

Table 1.3

•Surface properties. Surface energy is a thermodynamic property of a material and is crucial in