Abstract
Fertilizers are commonly used to improve the soil quality in both conventional and organic agriculture. One such fertilizer is dolomite for which soil application in granulated form is advantageous. These granules are commonly produced from ground dolomite powder in continuous pan transfer granulators. During production, the granulator’s operation parameters affect the granules’ properties and thereby also the overall performance of the fertilizer. To ensure product granules of certain specifications and an efficient overall production, process control and intensification approaches based on mathematical models can be applied. However, the latter require high-quality quantitative experimental data describing the effects of process operation parameters on the granule properties. Therefore, in this article, such data is presented for a lab-scale experimental setup. Investigations were carried out into how variations in binder spray rate, binder composition, feed powder flow rate, pan inclination angle, and angular velocity affect particle size distribution, mechanical stability, and humidity. Furthermore, in contrast to existing work samples from both, pan granules and product granules are analyzed. The influence of operation parameter variations on the differences between both, also known as trajectory separation, is described quantitatively. The results obtained indicate an increase in the average particle size with increasing binder flow rate to feed rate and increasing binder concentration and the inclination angle of the pan. Compressive strength varied significantly depending on the operating parameters. Significant differences in properties were observed for the product and the intermediate (pan) samples. In fact, for some operation parameters, e.g., binder feed rate, the magnitude of the separation effect strongly depends on the specific value of the operation parameter. The presented concise data will enable future mathematical modeling of the pan granulation process, e.g., using the framework of population balance equations.
Highlights
IntroductionFertilizers, plant protection products, and soil conditioners of natural origin are increasingly used in both conventional and organic agriculture
Each investigated process operation parameter is discussed individually and results are compared to the reference experiment
The results indicate an increase in the average particle size with increasing binder flow rate to feed rate ratio, increasing binder concentration,with and increasing flow feed rate ratio, increasing binder concentration, and on incliinclinationbinder angle of therate pan.toCompressive strength varied significantly depending the nation angle of the pan.ACompressive dependingstrength on the opoperating parameters
Summary
Fertilizers, plant protection products, and soil conditioners of natural origin are increasingly used in both conventional and organic agriculture. Acid rains contribute to soil degradation [1,2,3]. Under these circumstances, the use of commercially available magnesium-calcium fertilizers for deacidification purposes is no longer sufficient, and enrichment with suitable trace elements is required. The use of commercially available magnesium-calcium fertilizers for deacidification purposes is no longer sufficient, and enrichment with suitable trace elements is required One such fertilizer is dolomite, which in powder form, after grinding, acts as a fertilizer providing magnesium and calcium to [4,5,7]
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