Sonofragmentation of Rectangular Plate-like Crystals: Bivariate Population Balance Modeling and Experimental Validation
Ashok Das, Stutee Bhoi, Debasis Sarkar, Jitendra Kumar
Abstract
The use of multidimensional population balance equations in predicting ultrasound-assisted sonocrystallization processes is curbed by the unavailability of physically motivated macroscopic mathematical kernels. This study develops a comprehensive population balance modeling of the ultrasound-assisted sonofragmentation of thin rectangular plate-type pyrazinamide crystals. A new bivariate breakage selection function is presented, which takes care of the time dependence in particle selections along with the size dependence. Furthermore, a new mathematical formulation of the bivariate breakage distribution function is introduced to predict the outcomes of the sonofragmentation experiments of Bhoi et al. ( Chem. Eng. Sci. 2019, 203, 12−27). Finally, the results obtained from solving the developed population balance model are successfully validated against the experimental results. The developed population balance model accurately captures the effects of variations in ultrasonic amplitude and sonication time.