Trends in Food Science & Technology 21 (2010) 383e398

Review

Computational fluid
dynamics (CFD)
applications in spray
drying of food
products
Rinil Kuriakose and
C. Anandharamakrishnan*
Human Resource Development, Central Food
Technological Research Institute, Council for Scientific
and Industrial Research (CSIR), Mysore 570 020, India
(Tel.: D91 821 2514310; fax: D91 821 2517233;
e-mail: anandharamakrishnan@cftri.res.in)
The application of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) in the
area of spray drying of food ingredients is reviewed. The results
from previous studies have shown that CFD can be useful tool for
predicting the gas flow pattern and particle histories such as
temperature, velocity, residence time and impact position.
Moreover, CFD can also be used for investigating different
chamber design on drying behaviour of food materials as well
as scale-up studies. This paper provides the aireparticle interactions, different turbulence models, reference frames, reaction
engineering model used for spray-drying applications along
with the particle histories and different spray chamber configurations. The recent developments in this research area such as
drying kinetics model, dropletedroplet interactions, unsteady
state simulations and integration of population balance model
are discussed. In addition, the current limitations and future
scope for the potential research are also highlighted.

Introduction
Spray drying is a well established method for converting
liquid feed materials into a dry powder form. Spray drying
is widely used to produce powdered food products such as
* Corresponding author.
0924-2244/$ - see front matter 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.tifs.2010.04.009

whey, instant coffee, milk, tea and soups, as well as healthcare and pharmaceutical products, such as vitamins, enzymes and bacteria. Normally, spray dryer comes at the
end-point of the processing line, as it is an important step
to control the final product quality. It has some advantages
such as, rapid drying rates, a wide range of operating temperatures and short residence times. In recent years, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) has been increasingly
applied to food processing operations. In spray-drying operations, CFD simulation tools are now often used because
measurements of air flow, temperature, particle size and humidity within the drying chamber are very difficult and expensive to obtain in large-scale dryer.
CFD is a simulation tool, which uses powerful computers
in combination with applied mathematics to model fluid flow
situations and aid in the optimal design of industrial processes. The method comprises solving equations for the conservation of mass, momentum and energy, using numerical
methods to give predictions of velocity, temperature and
pressure profiles inside the system. It powerful graphics
can be used to show the flow behaviour of fluid with 3D images (Anderson, 1984; Scott & Richardson, 1997).
The fluid motion was studied mathematically by
Richardson in 1910 and later by Courant, Friedrichs, and
Lewy (1928). This basic study instigated the development
of powerful numerical techniques that have advanced the
numerical description of all types of fluid flow (Shang,
2004). CFD activity emerged and gained prominence with
availability of computers in the early 1960s and it is applied
to all aspects of fluid dynamics (Parviz & John, 1997).
Since the early 1970s, commercial software packages (or
computer codes) became available, making CFD an important component of engineering practice in industrial, defense and environmental organizations. By the 1990s,
advances in computing power produced a similar boom in
software development and solutions. Since then CFD has
been used extensively by the scientific community worldwide. The reason for this interest is justified by the fact
that it is possible to model computationally the physical
fluid phenomena that are expensive and time consuming
to measure directly. For more detailed historical perspective
the books by Roache (1976) and Tannehill, Anderson, and
Pletcher (1997) are highly recommended. Today, CFD finds
extensive usage in basic and applied research, in design of
engineering equipment and in calculation of environmental
and geophysical phenomena.

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R. Kuriakose, C. Anandharamakrishnan / Trends in Food Science & Technology 21 (2010) 383e398

Although the origin of CFD can be found in the automotive, aerospace, and nuclear industries and also may other
processing industries, it is only in the recent years that
CFD has been applied to the food processing area (Scott,
1994). The ability of CFD to predict the performance of
new designs or processes before they are ever manufactured
or implemented make them an integral part of engineering
design and analysis (Schaldach, Berger, Razilov, & Berndt,
2000). The general application of CFD to the food industry
was reviewed by many researchers (Anandharamakrishnan,
2003; Norton & Sun, 2006; Scott & Richardson, 1997; Sun,
2007; Xia & Sun, 2002). All the above reviews concluded
that CFD is a powerful and pervasive tool for process and
product improvement in food processing sector.
The main application of CFD includes baking process
(Mills, 1998e1999; Therdthai, Zhou, & Adamczak, 2003;
Vries, Velthuis, & Koster, 1994), refrigerated display cabinets (Cortella, Manzan, & Comini, 1998; Foster, 1996), thermal sterilisation (Abdul Ghani, Farid, Chen, & Richards,
1999a, 1999b, 2001; Datta & Teixeira, 1987), pasteurization
of egg (Denys, Dewettinck, Pieters, 2005; Denys, Pieters, &
Dewettinck, 2003, 2004), mixing (Sahu, Kumar,
Patwardhan, & Joshi, 1999; Scott, 1977), and refrigeration
(Davey & Pham, 1997, 2000; Hu & Sun, 1999, 2000;
Moureh & Derens, 2000; Mariotti, Rech, & Romagnoni,
1995), spray-freezing (Anandharamakrishnan, Gimbun,
Stapley, & Rielly, 2010), heating and cooling processes
(Wang & Sun, 2003), humidification of cold storage
(Verboven et al., 2008; Verboven, Nicola, Delele, Schenk,
& Ramon, 2009) is also noteworthy. The list given above is
non-exhaustive and for detailed review of CFD applications
to food processing, reader may refer elsewhere (Sun, 2007).
CFD modelling has widely been used for drying process to study the simultaneous heat and mass transfer
problems (Masters, 1994; Mathioulakis, Karathanos, &
Belessiotis, 1998; Mirade & Daudin, 2000). The non-linearity and complex process involved during drying was reviewed by Kerkhof (1994). During 1970s a number of
simplified semi-empirical models was developed to understand drying of specific product in a specific spray dryer
(Paris, Ross, Dastur, & Morris, 1971; Place, Ridgway, &
Danckwerts, 1959). The use of computational fluid dynamics in the area of spray drying was reviewed early
by Reay (1988) and Bahu (1992). Latter, Fletcher et al.
(2003) and Langrish and Fletcher (2001, 2003) comprehensively reviewed the applications of computational fluid
dynamics in spray drying of food ingredients to predict the
flow patterns and temperature distributions of gas and
droplets inside the drying chamber. More recently,
Langrish (2009) has discussed about the different levels
and scales of mathematical modelling that can be applied
to the spray-drying process. However, reference frames,
particle histories (temperature, velocity, residence time
and impact positions), reaction engineering approach,
and population balance modelling are overlooked in the
early reviews.

The objective of the current paper is to summarise the

application of CFD in spray drying using different turbulence models and reference frames with their feasibility
along with particle histories. Moreover, the recent developments and future perspectives are also highlighted.
Spray drying
Spray drying is the process of transforming a feed (solution or suspension) from a fluid into a dried particulate form
by spraying the feed into a hot drying medium. Spray drying is a widely used industrial process for the continuous
production of dry powders with low moisture content
(Anandharamakrishnan, Rielly, & Stapley, 2007; Charm,
1971; Masters, 1991). As shown in Fig. 1 spray drying involves four stages of operation: (1) atomisation of liquid
feed into a spray chamber, (2) contact between the spray
and the drying medium (3) moisture evaporation and (4)
separation of dried products from air stream.
Atomisation
Atomisation is a process, where the bulk-liquid breaks
up into a large number of small droplets. The choice of atomizer is most important in achieving economic production
of high quality products (Fellows, 1998). The different
types of atomizer are rotary atomizer, pressure nozzle atomizer and two-fluid nozzle atomizer (Masters, 1991;
Mujumdar, 1987).
Spray-air contact
During spray-air contact, droplets usually meet hot air in
the spraying chamber either in co-current flow or countercurrent flow. The large surface area of the droplets leads
to rapid evaporation rates, keeping the temperature of the
droplets at the wet-bulb temperature. In this period different
products exhibit different characteristics such as, expansion, collapse, disintegration and irregular shape.
Separation of dried products
The dry powder is collected at the base of the dryer and
removed by a cyclone separator or screw conveyor or
a pneumatic system with a cyclone separator. Other
methods for collecting the dry powder are bag filters and
1

Feed Liquid
Air

Furnace
2

Exhaust gas

Spray-drying
chamber

Cyclone
separator

Product

Fig. 1. The process stages of spray drying.

R. Kuriakose, C. Anandharamakrishnan / Trends in Food Science & Technology 21 (2010) 383e398

electrostatic precipitators (Fellows, 1998). The selection of

equipment depends on the operating conditions such as particle size, shape, bulk density and powder outlet position.
Types of spray dryer
The two main designs of spray dryer commonly used are
the short-form and tall-form driers. Tall-form designs are
characterized by height-to-diameter aspect ratios of greater
than 5:1. Short-form dryers, have height-to-diameter ratios
of around 2:1. The short-form dryers are the most widely
used as they accommodate the comparatively flat spray
disk from a rotary atomizer. The flow patterns observed
in short-form dryers are more complex than those in tallform dryers, with many dryers having no plug-flow zone
and a wide range of gas residence times (Langrish &
Fletcher, 2001).
Computational fluid dynamics
CFD is a numerical technique for the solution of the
equations governing the flow of fluids inside defined flow
geometry. The flow of any fluid can be described using
the Naviers stokes transport equations (Bird, Stewart, &
Lightfoot, 1960). These equations are derived by considering mass, momentum and energy balances in an element of
fluid, resulting in a set of partial differential equations.
They are completed by adding other algebraic equations
from thermodynamics such as the equation of state for density and a constitutive equation to describe the rheology.
Detail descriptions of CFD and analysis of pre-processing,
processing and post processing can be seen in standard text
books and published papers (Bakker, 2002; Fletcher, 2000;
Sun, 2007; Versteeg & Malalasekera, 1995; Xia & Sun,
2002). In recent years there was good progress in the development of commercial CFD codes. Dombrowski, Foumeny,
and Riza (1993) extensively reviewed the various CFD codes with their applications and limitations.
Reference frames
The two most general two-phase modelling frames are
the EulerianeEulerian and the EulerianeLagrangian
methods. In the EulerianeEulerian frame, the dispersed
phase (droplets) are treated as a continuous (Eulerian)
phase, i.e. there are two Eulerian phases, one for the gas
and another for droplets, which are interacting and interpenetrating continua (Mostafa & Mongia, 1987). Each
computational cell contains certain fractions of gas and
droplets, and the transport equations are written in such
a way that the volume fractions of gas and liquid sum to
unity. If the computational cell consists of just a single
phase, the transport equations for the two phases revert to
the conventional single-phase system. The advantages of
the EulerianeEulerian approach are that it is usually relatively cheap in terms of computational demands for one additional set of equations and turbulence can be modelled
fairly simply. However, if a separate set of transport equations is solved for each particle size (single particle

385

diameter was used for the dispersed phase) then the Eulerian approach can be expensive. In addition there is some
uncertainty over the most appropriate Eulerian diffusion coefficients and heat transfer coefficients. Hence, the Eulerian
approach is best suited to flows with a narrow range of particle sizes where a high resolution of the particle properties
is not needed (Jakobsen, Sannaes, Grevskott, & Svendsen,
1997; Mostafa & Mongia, 1987).
In the EulerianeLagrangian particle tracking approach,
the gas phase is modelled using the standard Eulerian approach described above and the spray is represented by
a number of discrete computational particles. Individual
particles are tracked through the flow domain from their injection point until they escape the domain in a Lagrangian
frame work (Nijdam, Guo, Fletcher, & Langrish, 2006).
The EulerianeLagrangian model has the advantage of being computationally cheaper than the EulerianeEulerian
method for a large range of particle sizes. It can also provide more details of the behaviour and residence times of
individual particles and can potentially approximate mass
and heat transfer more accurately. On the other hand, the
approach can be expensive if a large number of particles
have to be tracked and it is best when the dispersed phase
does not exceed 10% by volume of the mixture in any region (Bakker, 2002).
In both the EulerianeEulerian and the EulerianeLagrangian methods, the exchange of momentum between particles and gas needs to be modelled. This
exchange can consist of several forces such as, drag, lift,
virtual mass, and wall forces. Mostafa and Mongia (1987)
concluded that the Eulerian approach performs better than
Lagrangian method. In contrast, Nijdam et al. (2006) found
that both Eulerian and Lagrangian modelling approaches
gave similar predictions for turbulent droplet dispersion
and agglomeration of sprays for a wide range of droplet
and gas flows. The two models were found to require similar computing times for a steady axi-symmetric spray.
However, the authors preferred the Lagrangian models because of their wider range of applicability.
Air flow pattern
During spray drying the particle behaviour is dependent
on the air flow pattern. Earlier studies were based on the
semi-empirical models for understanding of the spray-drying process. Inside the spray chamber there is presence of
significant air flow instabilities due to the inlet swirl.
Hence, the effect of turbulence inside the spray chamber
should be considered.
Turbulence models
Most commercial CFD codes use turbulence models that
are based on the splitting up of instantaneous quantities
into a time-averaged and a fluctuating part by a process
known as Reynolds decomposition. Four turbulence
models are commonly used for simulating sprays: (i) standard ke3 (k e turbulence kinetic energy and 3 e turbulence

386

R. Kuriakose, C. Anandharamakrishnan / Trends in Food Science & Technology 21 (2010) 383e398

dissipation rate) (Launder & Spalding, 1972, 1974) (ii)

RNG ke3, (Yakhot & Orszag, 1986) (iii) realizable ke3,
(Shih, Liou, Shabbir, & Zhu, 1995) (iv) Reynolds Stress
Model (RSM) (Launder, Reece, & Rodi, 1975). Three
models (standard, RNG, and realizable ke3) have similar
forms, with transport equations for k and 3. The standard
ke3 model focuses on the mechanisms that affect the turbulent kinetic energy. It can be used over a wide range of turbulent flows due to its robustness and reasonable accuracy.
In the realizable ke3 model, the term realizable means
that the model satisfies certain mathematical constraints
on the normal stresses, consistent with the physics of turbulent flows. It provides better prediction for flows involving
rotation, boundary layers under strong adverse pressure
gradients, separation, and recirculation (Anderson, 1984;
Fletcher, 2000).
The RNG-based ke3 turbulence model is derived from
the instantaneous NaviereStokes equations, using a mathematical technique called renormalization group (RNG)
methods. The analytical derivation results in a model with
constants different from those in the standard ke3 model
and additional terms and functions in the transport equations for k and 3. The effect of swirl on turbulence is included in the RNG model, which enhancing accuracy for
swirling flows.
The Reynolds Stress Model has the same general form
as the instantaneous NaviereStokes equations, with the velocities and other solution variables ensemble-averaged (or
time-averaged). The RSM is clearly superior for problems
where anisotropy of turbulence has a dominant effect on
the mean flow (e.g. highly swirling flows) (Bakker, 2002).
For turbulent flows, the standard ke3 model (k e turbulence
kinetic energy and 3 e turbulence dissipation rate) is the
most commonly used, because it converges considerably
better than Reynolds stress model (RSM) (Bakker, 2002).
The standard ke3 turbulence model is used commonly
where there is no swirling flow. The transport of the turbulence kinetic energy k and its dissipation rate 3 is given as
follows:
v
rk V$rk v V$
vt



 
mt
Vk Gk  r3
m
sk

and
v
r3 V$r3 v V$
vt



 
mt
3
V3 C13 Gk
m
s3
k

 C23 r

32
k

Gk is the generation of kinetic energy due to the mean

velocity gradients. The quantities sk and s3 are the turbulent Prandtl numbers for k and 3, respectively and C13,
C23, are constant. The turbulent (or eddy) viscosity, mt is
calculated from k and 3 as follows

mt rCm

k2
3

For calculating an approximate solution of fluid flow

equations, the equations have to be made discrete. For
this, the flow domain is divided into number of control volumes. This is called a grid and at each grid cell approximate solutions for the NaviereStokes and the continuity
equations are calculated.
A model which can predict the effects of turbulence (differential Reynolds stress model) under strong swirling conditions was reported by Oakley and Bahu (1991). Although the
model predictions showed good agreement with the experimental data, the differential Reynolds stress model involved
a higher computational effort than the standard ke3 model.
Livesley et al. (1992) used the ke3 model in their work for
the simulation of industrial spray dryers handling solutions
and slurries. They also found satisfactory agreement between
the numerical solution and the experimental measurements.
However, Huang, Kumar, and Mujumdar (2004a) showed
that RNG ke3 model prediction was better for swirling
two-phase flow in the spray-drying chamber for drying of
maltodextrin e sucrose solution compared to standard ke3,
realizable ke3 and Reynolds stress models.
Oakley (2004) used four different models such as (i)
heat and mass balances, (ii) equilibrium-based models,
(iii) rate-based models, and (iv) CFD models for modelling
of spray-drying operations. Author compared the above
four models and described the relevance of each model
for practical applications. The importance of applied gas
turbulence model, drying kinetics, effect of atomizing air
and turbulent particle dispersion in the modelling of spray
dryers using liquid suspension of bakers yeast as feed solution was studied by Li and Zbicinski (2005). They simulated a cocurrent spray dryer and determined the initial
parameters of discrete and continuous phases experimentally to be used in the model. In a continuing work,
Zbicinski and Li (2006) presented conditions for accurate
CFD modelling during spray dying of maltodextrin solution
at different solid concentrations. They compared the simulation results with the experimental data and concluded that
a maximum error of 20% will occur in the simulation results based on the discrete phase parameters. A brief review
of the air flow pattern studies in spray dryers was done by
Southwell and Langrish (2000). Table 1 summarises the
works performed on the CFD simulation of air flow pattern
during spray drying with their findings.
Atomisation
The atomisation stage during spray drying is very important since it affects the final particle size. A co-current
spray-dryer fitted with pressure nozzle was investigated
both in experiment and CFD simulation by Kieviet and
Kerkhof (1996) to develop a theoretical model for the prediction of final product quality. Good agreement was obtained between the experimental data and the simulation.

R. Kuriakose, C. Anandharamakrishnan / Trends in Food Science & Technology 21 (2010) 383e398

387

Table 1. Spray drying e air flow pattern studies.

Problem
descriptions

Model geometry

Turbulence model

Software

Findings

Authors

Simulation of air
flow pattern with
experimental
validation.

2D

Standard ke3 and

RSM

FLOW3D

Oakley and Bahu

(1993)

Simulation of air
flow pattern to find
out the oscillations
in the flow field.

2D

Standard ke3

FLOW3D

Effects of the air inlet

geometry and spray
cone angle on wall
deposition rates.

2D

Standard ke3

CFX

Simulation of air
flow and particle
trajectories in the
tall-form dryer with
experimental
validation.
Simulation of air
flow pattern,
temperature,
humidity, particle
trajectories and
resistance time in
a co-current spray
dryer fitted with
a pressure nozzle
Simulation studies
on the effects of
increased turbulence
in inlet air flow.

2D

Standard ke3

CFX

Non-swirling flow
spray chamber, the
ke3 model gives
good predictions of
gas velocity profiles,
whereas, for swirling
flows RSM model
gives better accurate
predictions.
Strongest oscillations
occur. Good
agreement between
hot-wire
anemometer velocity
measurements and
simulation results.
High swirl in the
inlet air and large
spray cone angle
gave the lowest wall
deposition rates in
both the experiments
and simulation.
Good agreement
between
measurements and
simulation results

2D

Standard ke3

CFX

Model prediction
agreed well with his
experimental
measurements of
velocity, temperature
and humidity.

Kieviet (1997)

2D

Standard ke3

CFX

Southwell, Langrish,
and Fletcher (1999)

Temperature and
moisture content of
the air with the
trajectories of the
particles.

2D

Standard ke3

NIZO-DrySim

Investigating the air

flow pattern,
temperature, velocity
and humidity profile
at different spray
dryer chamber
configuration.

2D

Standard ke3

Fluent

An increase in the
amount of
evaporation resulted
directly from
enhanced inlet
turbulence.
The drying of
droplets is
influenced by
particles surface to
surrounding air and
diffusion within the
particles.
The optimal
chamber geometry
will depends on the
feed properties,
atomizer type and
drop size distribution

Langrish et al. (1993)

Langrish and
Zbicinski (1994)

Zbicinski (1995)

Straatsma, Van
Houwelingen,
Steenbergen, and De
Jong (1999)

Huang et al. (2003b)

(continued on next page)

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R. Kuriakose, C. Anandharamakrishnan / Trends in Food Science & Technology 21 (2010) 383e398

Table 1 (continued)
Problem
descriptions

Model geometry

Turbulence model

Software

Findings

Authors

Experimental and
simulation studies of
inlet air swirl on the
stability of the flow
pattern in spray
dryers.

3D

RSM

CFX 5.6

Langrish, Williams,
and Fletcher (2004)

Simulation of a spray
dryer with rotary
atomizer. Kieviets
(1997) spray dryer
geometry was used.

3D

Standard ke3, RNG

ke3, realizable ke3
and RSM

Fluent 6.1

Simulation of spray
dryer fitted with
rotary atomizer.

3D

RNG ke3

Fluent

Simulation of a spray
dryer with pressure
nozzle and rotary
atomizer. Kieviets
(1997) spray dryer
geometry was used.
Simulation of a spray
dryer with rotary
atomizer

3D

RNG ke3

Fluent

Comparison of with
and without spray
showed that the
introduction of spray
has significant effect
on the flow
behaviour. An
increase in swirl
angle changes the
internal flow pattern.
Realizable ke3
cannot be used to
simulate highly
swirling two-phase
flow. RNG ke3
turbulent model
gives adequate
accuracy at
reasonable
computational time.
More volume of
drying chamber is
used by rotary
atomizer and
existence of strong
reverse flow just
beneath the rotating
disc.
Simulation results
agreed well with
Kieviet (1997)
experimental results.

3D

RANS

Fluent

Ullum (2006)

Simulation of
industrial scale spray
dryer with a new
drying kinetics
model for a heat
sensitive solution.

3D

Standard ke3

Fluent

Evaluation of droplet
drying models in
a spray dryer fitted
with rotary atomizer
using CFD
simulation

3D

RNG ke3

Fluent

Rotary atomizer has

a big influence on
the flow pattern in
pilot scale spray
dryer, but its
influence decreases
with increase in size
of spray dryer.
Good agreement
with experimental
data. Off-design
performance of spray
dryer was predicted
to analyse the effect
of various operating
parameters on drying
performance
The concept of
particle rigidity
prediction in a CFD
simulation was
explored and the
effect of initial feed
moisture content on
the drying models
was also studied.

Huang et al. (2004a)

Huang, Passos,
Kumar, and
Mujumdar (2005)

Huang et al. (2006)

Huang and
Mujumdar (2007)

Woo et al. (2008a)

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389

Table 1 (continued )
Problem
descriptions

Model geometry

Turbulence model

Software

Findings

Authors

Modelling droplet
drying in a spray
dryer fitted with
a pressure nozzle
under steady and
unsteady state.

2D and 3D

Standard ke3

Fluent

Mezhericher
et al. (2009)

Simulation of
industrial scale spray
dryer attached with
a Fluidized bed,
using Reaction
Engineering
Approach (REA).

2D

Standard ke3

Fluent

2D models can be
used for fast and
low-resourceconsumption
numerical
calculations with
some drawbacks. 3D
models can predict
the asymmetric flow
patterns and provide
actual 3D picture of
particle trajectories,
but require high
computing effort.
Smaller spray cone
angle facilitates easy
movement of
particles to the
fluidized bed. The
accuracy of REA
model in predicting
the single droplet
drying kinetics was
also explained.

An ultrasonic nozzle spray dryer was studied numerically

by Huang, Kumar, and Mujumdar (2004b). Birchal,
Huang, Mujumdar, and Passos (2006) simulated a spray
dryer fitted with a rotary atomizer for drying of milk emulsion by using CFD and also by a model with simplified particle motion. Authors also discussed the advantages and
limitations of each model in the design and optimisation
of spray dryers. Effects of atomizers types (rotary disc
and pressure nozzle) on droplet behaviour was performed
using CFD by Huang, Kumar, and Mujumdar (2006) for
spray drying of maltodextrin. They concluded that pressure
nozzle may lead to a high velocity variation in the center of
the chamber than the rotary atomizer. Moreover, large recirculation of droplets was also found during pressure nozzle
atomisation.
Particle histories
The understanding of particle histories such as, velocity,
temperature, residence time and the particle impact position
are important to design and operating spray drying. Moreover, final product quality is depending on these particle
histories. These particle histories can be tracked with the
help of CFD simulations. Many of the early models were
developed for gas temperature and velocity profiles but,
very few articles have been reported on particles histories.
The importance of the particle histories and findings are
discussed in the following sub sections.
Aireparticle interaction
The primary problem in spray-drying modelling is the
coupling of equations in mass, momentum and energy

Chen and Jin

(2009a)

between the gas and the droplets. The phenomena of

mass transfer from droplet to gas were coupling by evaporation, momentum exchange via drag and energy coupling
by heat transfer. Heat is transferred from the gas phase to
the droplets convectively and this leads to a decrease in
temperature of the gas this affects the viscosity and density
of the gas, which in turn may affect the gas flow field. This
then affects the droplet trajectories and the heat transfer rate
between the droplets and the gas (Crowe, Sharam, & Stock,
1977). Hence, all three equations (mass, momentum and
energy) are interdependent and should be included in the
gasedroplets interactions.
Crowe et al. (1977) first proposed the particle source in
cell (PSI-Cell) model. This is the basis for the discrete
phase model (DPM). The EulerianeLagrangian frame
(DPM) provides better residence times of individual particles with a large range of particle sizes. In the DPM, the
flow field is divided into a grid defining computational cells
around each grid point. Each computational cell is treated
as a control volume for the continuous phase (gas phase).
The droplets are treated as sources of mass, momentum
and energy inside the each control volume. The gas phase
is regarded as a continuum (Eulerian approach) and is described by first solving the gas flow field assuming no droplets are present. Using this continuous phase flow field,
droplet trajectories together with size and temperature histories along the trajectories are calculated. The mass,
momentum and energy source terms for each cell throughout the flow field is then determined. The source terms are
evaluated from the droplet equation and are integrated over
the time required to cross the length of the trajectory inside

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each control volume. The results are multiplied (scaled up)

by the number flow rate of drops associated with this trajectory (Crowe et al., 1977; Papadakis & King, 1988).
The gas flow field is solved again, incorporating these
source terms and then new droplet trajectories and temperature histories are calculated. This approach provides the
influence of the droplets on the gas velocity and temperature fields. The method proceeds iteratively calculating
gas and particle velocity fields.
The range of droplet sizes produced by the atomizer is
represented by a number of discrete droplet sizes. Each initial droplet size is associated with one trajectory, along
which the number flow rate of drops is constant, assuming
that no coalescence or shattering occurs. Once the air velocities, temperatures, and humiditys are postulated, the
transport equations for the droplets of each size are integrated over time and position to yield droplet trajectories,
velocities, sizes and temperatures. Calculations for droplets
of each initial size continue until the volatile fractions (e.g.
water) in the droplets evaporate completely, exit the column, or impact the column wall (Papadakis & King, 1988).
The PSI-Cell model (Crowe et al., 1977) was used by
Papadakis and King (1988) and they found good agreement
between the model and experimental results in a concurrent
spray dryer. ORourke and Wadt (1982) and Goldberg
(1987) had further developed this model. The effect of swirl
on increase in residence time due to entrainment of particles and formation of central recirculation zone was observed by Gupta, Lilley, and Syred (1984). However, all
these studies are mostly simplified numerical models.
Oakley, Bahu, and Reay (1990) simulated the air flow in
a co-current cylinder-on-cone spray dryer using PSI-Cell
model. The models predictions were compared to experimental measurements of the air flow using Laser Doppler
Anemometry. Although that study did not include the influence of the spray on the air flow field, but both measurements and simulations showed the presence of periodic
oscillations in the size of the recirculation zones inside
the drying chamber. The study also found that predictions
of the air flow patterns were sensitive to the values of turbulence parameters (selected at the annular air inlet) of
the standard ke3 turbulence model. Latter, Oakley and
Bahu (1993) validated the PSI-Cell model with experimental measurement. They also performed various works to assess appropriate turbulence models and to test the validity
of the results against experimental data and concluded
that CFD can be used for the determination of gas flow pattern, spray/gas mixing, particle temperature and moisture
histories. Langrish, Oakley, Keey, Bahu, and Hutchinson
(1993) analysed low frequency oscillations in the flow field
inside the drying chamber and their results are in agreement
with the Oakley et al. (1990) observations. They found that
the ability to predict the onset of vortex breakdown is of
significant use in assessing the impact of the precessing
vortex core upon wall deposition, drying efficiency and
product quality. Langrish and Zbicinski (1994) studied

the effect of air inlet geometry and spray cone angle on

the deposition rate. They studied the particle impact position and concluded that proper selection of chamber geometry and cone angle will help in reducing the depositional
problems and optimizing the performance of the system.
In the CFD simulation combined Eulerian and Lagrangian model is used to obtain particle trajectories by solving
the force balance equation:




rp  r g
d u p 18m CD Re
4

v  up g
dt
rp
rp dp 24
where, v is the fluid phase velocity, up is the particle velocity, rg is the density of the fluid and rp is the density of the
particle.
The particle force balance (equation of motion) includes
discrete phase inertia, aerodynamic drag and gravity. The
slip Reynolds number (Re) and drag coefficient (CD) are
given in the following equations.


rg dp  u p  v 
5
Re
m
CD a 1

a2
a3

Re Re2

where, dp is the particle diameter, and a1, a2 and a3 are constants that apply to smooth spherical particles over several
ranges of Reynolds number (Re) given by Morsi and
Alexander (1972).
The velocity of particles relative to air velocity was used
in the trajectory calculations (equation (4)). Turbulent particle dispersion was included in this model as discrete eddy
concept (Langrish & Zbicinski, 1994). In this approach, the
turbulent air flow pattern is assumed to be made up of a collection of randomly directed eddies, each with its own lifetime and size. Particles are injected into the flow domain at
the nozzle point and envisaged to pass through these random eddies until they impact the wall or leave the flow domain through the product outlet.
The heat and mass transfer between the particles and the
hot gas is derived following the motion of the particles.
mp cp


 dmp
dTp
hAp Tg  Tp
hfg
dt
dt

where, mp is the mass of the particle, cp is the particle heat

capacity, Tp is the particle temperature, hfg is the latent heat,
Ap is the surface area of the particle and h is the heat transfer coefficient
The heat transfer coefficient (h) is obtained from the
RanzeMarshall equation.
Nu

hdp
1=2
1=3
2 0:6Red Pr
kta

where, Prandtl number (Pr) is defined as follows

R. Kuriakose, C. Anandharamakrishnan / Trends in Food Science & Technology 21 (2010) 383e398

Pr

cp m
kta

where, dp is the particle diameter, kta is the thermal conductivity of the fluid, m is the molecular viscosity of the fluid.
The mass transfer rate (for evaporation) between the gas
and the particles is calculated from the following equation.


dmp
kc Ap Ys  Yg
dt

10

where, Ys* is the saturation humidity, Yg is the gas humidity

and kc is the mass transfer coefficient and it can be obtained
from Sherwood number
Sh

k c dp
1=2
1=3
2 0:6Red Sc
Di;m

11

where, Di,m is the diffusion coefficient of water vapour in

the gas phase and Sc is the Schmidt number, defined as
follows
Sc

m
rg Di;m

12

The values of vapour pressure, density, specific heat and

diffusion coefficients can be obtained from various sources
like Perry and Chilton (1984), Incropera, Dewitt, Bergman,
and Lavine (2007), etc.
When the temperatures of the droplet has reached the
boiling point and while the mass of the droplet exceeds
the non-volatile fraction. The boiling rate model was applied (Kuo, 1986)
 




p
d dp
c g T g  Tp
4kta
13

1 0:23 Re ln 1
rp c g dp
dt
hfg
where, kta is the thermal conductivity of the gas and cg is
the heat capacity of the gas.
Particle temperature
The particle temperature is very important in case heat
sensitive products. Aroma loss and thermal degradation of
heat sensitive materials is affected by the residence time
and the temperature of particles. Crowe et al. (1977) predicted that the smaller size particles have higher temperatures than the larger particles, because, the latter have
a smaller surface area to volume ratio and evaporate
more slowly. Kieviet (1997) studied the air flow pattern,
temperature, humidity, particle trajectories and residence
time in a 2D co-current spray dryer fitted with a pressure
nozzle using maltodextrin as feed solution. Author found
good agreement between the measured and modelled
data, and they concluded that the gradients in the center region of the drying chamber could be improved. The variation of particle temperature and gas temperature along the
particle trajectories during spray drying of skim milk solution (Huang, Kumar, & Mujumdar, 2004c) was studied

391

using different drying rate and turbulence models. They

found that the stochastic effect of turbulence flow has significant effect on the particle path during the drying period.
Anandharamakrishnan, Gimbun, Stapley, and Rielly (2008)
studied the particle temperature in both short-form and tallform spray dryer using CFD simulation for drying of whey
proteins. They found that due moisture evaporation of droplets, the temperature of droplets are high and is almost
equal to the gas temperatures outside the core region. Moreover, the temperature of gas in the core spray region and the
upper part of the chamber decreases due to the cooling effects of evaporation. The particle nature was also affected
by the outlet air temperature.
Particle residence time distribution (PRTD)
The particle residence time have a great impact on the
final powder quality and it also affect the product qualities
like solubility and bulk density. The residence time (RT) is
divided into two parts namely, primary and secondary residence times. The primary RT is calculated from the time
taken for droplets leaving the nozzle to impact on the
wall or leave at the outlet. The secondary residence time
can be defined as the time taken for a particle to slide along
the wall from the impact position to the exit.
One of the earliest works to determine residence time distribution directly in a co-current spray dryer was performed
by Pham and Keey (1977). Latter, Kieviet and Kerkhof
(1995) determined the RTD of particles in a co-current spray
dryer during the drying of aqueous maltodextrin solutions.
Kieviet (1997) observed that during spray drying of maltodextrin solution, the larger diameter particles have longer
RTs than smaller particles. He also found enormous difference between measured and predicted results due to particle
wall depositions and sliding movement. Ducept, Sionneau,
and Vasseur (2002) performed an experiment to determine
the RTD of particles and validated with the CFD predictions
in a superheated steam spray dryer. Authors concluded that
CFD is a valuable tool for studying particle size distribution
effects and flow rates. The residence time distribution of different sized particles in a spray dryer was studied by Huang,
Kumar, and Mujumdar (2003a) and they found that different
droplets follow different trajectories in the drying chamber.
Anandharamakrishnan et al. (2008) studied PRTD of whey
proteins in both short- and tall-form dryers and the residence
time (Fig. 2) indicates most of the particles have very low RT
during spray drying (short form). It was observed that a bent
outlet pipe inside the chamber increases the gas and particle
recirculation (Fig. 2); consequently, cold gas is mixed with
down-flowing hot inlet gas and dried particles will be exposed to the high inlet gas temperatures. This recirculation
may lead to denaturation of proteins or inactivation of enzymes (Anandharamakrishnan, 2008). Hence, bend outlet
pipe needs to be avoided inside the chamber for producing
high quality spray dried food products. Moreover, they
found that large difference between the gas and particle residence time. However, there is no direct measurement of

392

R. Kuriakose, C. Anandharamakrishnan / Trends in Food Science & Technology 21 (2010) 383e398

main outlet aided by mechanical hammer operations.

They also found that in a short-form dryer large fraction
of the particles strike the conical part of spray-dryer chamber, while in tall-form dryer the particle stroked the cylindrical part of the wall. In the both form of dryers they
found less impact on the ceiling, despite of the recirculation
of gas in this zone.

Fig. 2. Particle trajectories coloured by residence time (s)

(Anandharamakrishnan et al., 2008).

primary RT available to confirm the predictions and this is an

interesting challenge for future research.
Particle impact positions
The knowledge of particle impact positions is important
for the design and operation of spray dryers as it influences
the final product quality. In an earlier numerical study
(Reay, 1988) has shown that most likely areas for wall deposition are an annular area of the dryer roof and a region
below the atomizer where large particles are likely to deposit. Later, Kieviet (1997) investigated the interaction of
wall deposition with the residence time and the effect of
wall deposition on the product quality and yield during
spray drying of maltodextrin. Goula and Adamopoulos
(2004) determined how operating conditions can influence
the fouling and residue accumulation of the equipment during the drying process. Recently, Anandharamakrishnan
et al. (2008) studied the particle impact position during drying of whey proteins from the simulation data using inhouse post-processor. Fig. 3 aeb shows the top and front
cross-sectional views of the simulated results
(Anandharamakrishnan et al., 2008). These figures indicates that a large fraction of the particles (50%) strike the
conical part of the spray-dryer chamber (similar with the
earlier observation of Langrish & Zbicinski, 1994) and
23% of particles hit the cylindrical part of the wall, but
only a small proportion (25%) of the particles come out
of the outlet pipe line (the intended destination). A very
small 2% of particles hit the ceiling despite the large volume of re-circulated gas, but particles hitting the cone
and/or cylindrical wall (73%) should slide down to the

Chamber design and flow configuration

The effect of different chamber geometries (cylinder-oncone, lantern, hour-glass and pure cone) on the drying performance and the particle residence time was studied by
Huang et al. (2003a). They suggested that it is possible to
change the chamber geometry for better utilization of the
dryer volume. Similarly, a parametric study of gas flow patterns and drying performance was investigated by the same
research group (Huang, Kumar, & Mujumdar, 2003b). The
use of CFD to obtain uniform flow distribution in a plenum
chamber with a single, off-axis, inlet pipe was studied by
Southwell, Langrish, and Fletcher (2001). The flow distribution was investigated and the result was confirmed by experimental data for selected configurations. They concluded
that CFD can be used for several design alternatives for
overcoming poor flow distribution.
Apart from the conventional vertical design of the spray
dryers the use of horizontal design is gaining importance
nowadays. Huang and Mujumdar (2006) investigated a single-stage and two-stage horizontal spray dryer using CFD.
They found that use of good chamber design and incorporation of fluidized bed will improve the drying performance. In spray drying, the majority of works have been
performed on co-current flow. The modelling of air flow
patterns in a counter-current spray dryers (Harvie,
Langrish, & Fletcher, 2001), provided light into this area,
but has been lacked by experimental data for validation.
However, Bayly, Jukes, Groombridge, and McNally
(2004) has both measured and modelled air flow patterns
in a counter-current spray dryer using Reynolds Stress
Model for the gas turbulence and they found good agreement with the measured results.
Recent developments
In the recent years, the application of Reaction Engineering
Approach (REA), drying kinetics model, dropletedroplet interactions, unsteady state modelling and population balance
model for the simulation of spray dryers is increasing. In the
Reaction Engineering Approach, it assumes that evaporation
is an activation process to overcome an energy barrier, while
it is not the case for condensation or adsorption. REA is
a two-way model as compared to the one-way characteristic
drying rate curve (CDRC) for predicting the single droplet drying. The basic of REA was described by Chen, Pirini, and
Ozilgen (2001) and Chen and Xie (1997). This method describes the droplet drying trend, giving a detailed account of
the temperature changes that occurring within the droplet during the drying period and it requires some experimental data to

R. Kuriakose, C. Anandharamakrishnan / Trends in Food Science & Technology 21 (2010) 383e398

393

Fig. 3. Particle impact positions (a) top view (b) front view (Anandharamakrishnan et al., 2008).

determine the model parameters. The REA model was used by

Chen and Xie (1997) for the simulation of drying of thin layer
food materials such as kiwifruit, silica gel, potato and apple slices. Moreover, Huang et al. (2004a) found that this approach
(REA) fits in well with the fluent commercial CFD code for
spray drying.
Chen and Lin (2004) compared the REA and CDRC for
drying of skim milk and whole milk droplets. The same
modelling procedure was used by Chen and Lin (2005) to
measure the process of single milk droplet drying under elevated humidity conditions by REA. They found that the
REA method gave better predictions of the droplet drying
than the CDRC method. A REA model for drying of aqueous lactose droplet was developed by Lin and Chen (2006)
using the experimental data obtained by the improved glass
filament method. The REA method was used for modelling
whey protein concentrate droplet drying (Chen & Patel,
2008; Lin & Chen, 2007). They found that the model
showed reasonably good agreement with the experimental
data. They concluded that the inlet air temperature, feed
temperature and droplet size had a significant impact on
the drying rate and the overall product quality. The drying
kinetics model based on REA is also found to be influenced
by the above parameters. A work was carried out to evaluate the different drying models, namely REA, CDRC linear
and CDRC modified in a spray dryer fitted with rotary disc
atomizer by Woo et al. (2008a). Authors found that the
REA model can be used for prediction of particle surface
moisture of wet particles with better results. Chen (2008)
has reviewed the application of the REA model for
drying of thin layer materials and for solid droplets. The
similarities and differences between the two drying models

(CDRC and REA) were also discussed and the recent application of the latter model in the area of milk production for
scale-up from lab to industrial scale was also noted.
Further, this REA based drying kinetics model can be incorporated into the CFD programs in future years to determine the wall deposition pattern, droplet residence time and
droplet trajectories during spray-drying operation.
Apart from the boiling-point evaporation model few works
have been performed in determination of the drying kinetics
during spray drying. The experimental determination of
spray-drying kinetics was performed by Zbicinski,
Strumillo, and Delag (2002). They determined the spray-drying kinetics as a function of atomisation ratio and drying agent
temperature. Zbicinski, Piatkowski, and Prajs (2005) continued the study and proved that based on the critical moisture
content of the material, the spray-drying kinetics could be determined from the generalized drying curves. This lab scale
details can be used for scaling up of spray-drying process. Further, Woo, Daud, Talib, and Tasirin (2008b) analysed the effect
of wall surface properties on the deposition problem during
spray drying using different drying kinetics. They concluded
that proper selection of dryer wall material will provide potential alternatives for reducing the deposition problem. More recently, Roustapour, Hosseinalipour, Ghobadian, Mohaghegh,
and Azad (2009) performed a CFD study for the drying of
lime juice. They determined the drying kinetics based on experimental results of moisture content variation along the
length of chamber and numerically estimated residence time
of droplets. Authors found that an increase in initial droplet diameter resulted in a lower particle residence time. A comparison of two drying kinetics models namely, characteristic
drying curve (CDC) and REA was performed by Woo et al.,

394

R. Kuriakose, C. Anandharamakrishnan / Trends in Food Science & Technology 21 (2010) 383e398

(2008c) and they found that the different responses of the REA
and CDC to different initial feed moisture conditions due to the
respective formulation of the driving forces in the two models.
Further, the authors extended REA model to simulate the particle surface moisture.
More recently, dropletedroplet interactions during the
spray drying was performed by applying the transient
mode of calculations (Mezhericher, Levy, & Borde,
2008). The droplet collisions influenced the temperature
and humidity patterns while their effect on velocity was
less marked. They investigated both insulated and noninsulated spray chambers and reported that the insulation of
spray chamber will affect the air flow patterns and thereby
affecting the droplet trajectories. The probabilistic approach developed by ORourke (1981) was used by them
for determining the dropletedroplet interactions.
The unsteady state simulation of spray drying is new
area of research. Mezhericher, Levy, and Borde (2009)
modelled droplet drying in spray-drying chamber by applying the unsteady mode of calculations. They performed
both 2D and 3D analysis and concluded that the 3D model
predicts asymmetry of flow patterns in the spray chamber.
However, 2D axi-symmetric model can be used for fast
and low-resource-consumption numerical calculations.
Similarly, Woo et al. (2008a) also observed the same in
their unsteady state simulation. Chen and Jin (2009b) performed transient 3D simulations in an industrial scale spray
dryer (15 m tall and 10 m wide). They observed that the
particles make the central jet oscillate more non-linearly
and the frequency of oscillation decreases with the increasing feed rate. Recently, Woo et al. (2009) have performed
unsteady state simulations of spray drying and investigated
the effect of chamber aspect ratio and operating conditions
on flow stability. Authors observed that a large expansion
ratio produces a more stable flow due to the limitations
of the jet fluctuations by outer geometry constriction.
The modelling of spray dryers using population balance
method is gaining importance nowadays because this model
accounts for the droplet growth, coalescence and break up
during the spray-drying process. Nijdam, Guo, Fletcher,
and Langrish (2004) modelled the particle agglomeration
within the spray chamber using two different frameworks
namely, Lagrangian and Eulerian. They validated their prediction using phase doppler anemometry (PDA) measurement and they found that Lagrangian approach is more
suitable for modelling of agglomeration of particles in
terms of ease of implementation and range of applicability.
However, authors concluded that more work needs to be
performed to refine the turbulence models for the Lagrangian approach in order to account for the various particle turbulence phenomena and particleeparticle correlations.
Recently, Handscomb, Kraft, and Bayly (2009) included
source term for droplet coalescence and break up. This approach gives a better understanding of complexities of twophase flows in spray dryers. The model includes nucleation
and growth of suspended solids from an ideal binary

solution. Moreover, this approach may give opportunity

to perform the simulation of wet shells and puffing phenomena during the period of drying for a better understanding of the drying process.
Scope for future research
Still there is a scope for future research in this area for
optimisation of spray-drying process. The modelling of particle interactions (by four-way coupling between
gaseparticle and particleeparticle), particle coalescence
and break up is a great challenge for the modellers. The
modelling of turbulence using the Detached Eddy Simulation (DES) is also gaining importance. The success of these
models depends on the experimental validations. The reduction of wall deposition (including the product nature)
and thermal degradation by modifying the air inlet geometry and spray pattern also offers scope for future research.
The prediction of the particle residence time (including
sliding movement of particles in the secondary RT) is currently lacking. Hence, there is scope for future research in
the area to overcome problems like agglomeration, wall deposition, particle residence time, thermal degradation of
particles and aroma loss. Recently, Langrish (2007) also
observed the same. Thus modelling approach may leads
to the better productivity and high quality food products.
Conclusion
The objective of this review is to emphasis the importance of CFD in the modelling of the spray dryers. There
is considerable growth in the development and application
of CFD in the area of spray-drying to predict the complex
flow patterns. The EulerianeLagrangian model is suitable
for the spray-drying operations as it has the advantage of
being computationally cheaper than the EulerianeEulerian
method for a large range of particle sizes. The particle histories prediction will give an idea regarding the drying behaviour based on particle temperature, the residence time
based on trajectories and the final product recovery based
on impact positions. The REA based drying kinetics model
can be used to determine the temperature change within the
droplet during drying. However, more works needs to be
performed with population balance modelling. Moreover,
some of the problems during spray drying of food products
have been highlighted. Now, with the increasing computing
power CFD will be a valuable tool for the food industry in
answering complex fluid flow, heat and mass transfer phenomena and aid in better design and process control of
spray dryers.
Acknowledgements
Authors wish to thank Dr. V. Prakash, Director, CFTRI for
the support and encouragement in CFD simulation studies.
Anandharamakrishnan wishes to acknowledge Prof. C.D.
Rielly, Professor and Head, and Dr. Andy Stapley, Senior
Lecturer, Chemical Engineering Department, Loughborough
University, UK for their help.

R. Kuriakose, C. Anandharamakrishnan / Trends in Food Science & Technology 21 (2010) 383e398

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