Modeling and simulation of single droplet drying in an acoustic levitator

Abstract

We present a mathematical model for the full drying process of a single protein formulation droplet taking into account the convective impact arising from its levitation by a standing ultrasound wave. Using the finite element method allows us to compute the evaporation rate directly from the fully resolved heat and mass transfer within and around the levitated droplet. We apply our model to simulate the drying kinetics of pure water and aqueous phosphoglycerate kinase (PGK) droplets under various levitation and drying conditions. Empirical data from the literature are used to validate and discuss our numerical results. The acoustic streaming turns out to accelerate not only the first but also the second drying stage. Moreover, the dehydration of the protein molecules is found to be primarily responsible for their enzymatic inactivation throughout the drying process.