Population Balance Modeling with Coupled Agglomeration and Disintegration Processes for TiO2 Nanoparticles Formation and Experimental Validation

Abstract

Particle size distribution of nanoparticles plays an important role in modelling many scientific and engineering problems. In this article, we proposed a Finite Volume Method (FVM) to model TiO2 nanoparticles formation using population balance equations (PBEs) by incorporating the simultaneous agglomeration and disintegration processes. The superposition of the PBEs for agglomeration and disintegration with different kernels leads to a system of partial-integro differential equations, which are numerically solved by using FVM. The precipitation of TiO2 nanoparticles in the batch reactor is studied experimentally as well as by numerical simulations based on Austin and Diemer disintegration kernels and Shear agglomeration kernel. Finally, the capability of the precipitation model is evaluated and the experimental results on particle sizes are compared with the numerical results.