CHE 309: Chemical Reaction Engineering

Lecture--2-1
Lecture

Special Module: Fluidized Bed Coating

Contents
Introduction
Principle of fluidized-bed coating
Batch type fluidized-bed coater
Continuous fluidized-bed coater
Industrial application
Conclusions

History of powder coating

The history of coating in the pharmaceutical industry dates back
over 1000 years. The first coating of pills was recorded in the
drug literature of early Islam.
The pills were coated in rotating pans until the 19th century
Fluidized bed coater was invented by Dr. D. Wurster at 1959,
and it is applied in the field of pharmaceutical industry [US
patent 2,799,241].
Fluidized process was considered a revolutionary technique.
- Uniform coatings in short operating time

Fluidized Bed Coating

Solid Objects

Bed Particles

(Immersed into a
bed of coating
material)

Metal Coatings
Pharmaceutical
Agricultural
Chemical
Catalytic Reactions
production of Polyolefin

Solventless
coatings
Sustained release coatings
Enteric & Barrier coatings
Cosmetic coatings

Surface
treatments

Fluidization (Gas suspension)

Umf; particles are just suspended
(Expanded bed)

in upward flow gas

buoyant + frictional force

gravity force
The compressive force between
adjacent particles disappeared
Pressure drop through any
section of bed equals weight of
fluid and particles

Powder classification diagram for fluidization

by air-ambient conditions (from Geldart)
- relative fluidization properties for materials of various particle sized and densities

Density difference (g/cm3)

7
5

2
1
0.5

C
0.2

20

50

100

200

500

1000 2000

Mean particle size (m)

Group A: aeratable , these solids

fluidize easily
Group B: sandlike, these solids
fluidized well with vigorous
bubbling action and bubbles grow
large
Group C: generally cohesive and
difficult to fluidize. It easily gives
rise to channeling
Group D: spoutable, or large
dense particles, giving large
exploding bubbles or severe
channeling

Advantages of Fluidized-beds
The smooth, liquidlike of flow of particle allows
continuous automatically controlled operations with
ease of handling
The rapid mixing of solids leads to nearly isothermal
conditions
It is suited large-scale operation
Heat and mass transfer rate between gas and
particles are high

Disadvantages of Fluidized-beds
In efficient contacting system: especially serious
when high conversion of gaseous reactant is required
Nonuniform residence times of solids in the reactor
Friable solids are pulverized and entrained by gas
Erosion of pipes and vessels from abrasion by
particles can be serious

The movement of particle in the spray zone

for fluidizied bed coating
Fluidized Particle
Partial Coating of
Particle

Droplet Coalescence

Atomized Liquid Droplet

Fluidized Particle Movement

through Spray Zone
Solvent Evaporation
Atmomizing Nozzle

Liquid spray impinges on the solid bed

material as it move through spray zone

The repeated motion of particles

through the spray zone smooth and
uniform coating

Coating procedure on the suface of suspened particle

Essential for uniform coating

Spraying

coating particle
droplets

Wetting

Solidifying

coated
particle

Droplet is not wet but bead up
the resulting coating may be discontinuous layer of tiny sphere of solute
Use of surfactant or plasticizer
improvement of spreading or wetting of liquid on surface of particle

Fluized-bed Coating Processes

Batch type fluidized-bed
1) Top-spray using a conventional fluidized-bed
2) Bottom-spray with a partition
3) Tangential-spray with a rotor
Continuous type fluidized bed
1) Countercurrent contacting type
2) Crosscurrent contacting type

Batch type fluidized-bed process

Rotor spray
Spray nozzle is located above
the distributor
product container/expansion
chamber

Particles move up first inside

of partition, then move down
to the annulus
repeated circulation of
particle uniform coating

The disc height is adjustable

silt width air volume, drying
rate, spray rate, expanded
fluidization pattern - spiraling helix

Batch type fluidized-bed process

-Top spray
Advantages
Largest batch capacity
Simple set-up
Short time between batches
Disadvantages
Narrow application range
Often minor agglomeration can not be avoided
especially with smaller particles
Fluidization quality is not good with larger
denser particles

Batch type fluidized-bed process

-Bottom spray (Wurster type)
Advantages
Best film characteristics - uniform in
distribution due to good mixing; good quality
due to concurrent spraying
Widest application range - all film properties Moderate batch size
Disadvantages
The process should be tailored to the products
being made (Orifice plates may need to
changed

Batch type fluidized-bed process

-Rotor spray
Advantages
Good film characteristics due to minimization
of distance between product and nozzle
Easy to set up and operate
Disadvantages
Mechanical stress on the product

Schematic diagram of fluidized-bed spray coating system

Basic installation

TIS+

PDI

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

exhaust air
~
n

spraying solvent
PDI
FI

~
n

TIS+

PDIA+

PDIA+

FIC

TIC

fluid bed unit

control flaps
prefilter
posifilter
heater
dosing pump
vacuum pump
silencer

2
2

3
inlet air

heating medium
drain

Major parts for fluidized-bed coater

Continuous type Fluidized bed Process

- Crosscurrent contacting type -

Continuous type of multi-stage fluidized-bed

Smooth, and liquid like flow characteristics of particles in fluidized-bed allows continuous
automatically controlled operations with ease of handling

Countercurrent contacting type

Crosscurrent contacting type

Advantages of multi-stage fluidized-bed

In a single stage of fluidized-bed, a significant of
portion of feed particles stays in a vessel for a very short
time, consequently, a very large reactor is needed to
achieve high conversions.
Multistage for the particle coating, either by
countercurrent or crosscurrent flow reduces this by
passing and gives a distribution of residence times
approaching plug flow and size of reactor needed.

Improvement of throughput for multi-stage

fluidized-bed coater

*N=2

Fo =5.6

N=3

Fo =20.8

* coating loss 1%
negligent back-mixing
the same residence time

Major Parts for Continuous Fluidized bed Process

expansion chamber
with internal filter
inlet
shute
processing chamber
bottom
screen

inlet air plenum

discharge
shute

Operating Principle for Continuous Fluidized bed Process

exhaust air

solid raw
material

liquid raw
material

product
process air

Application - Coating, Granulation, Agglomeration

solid material
*binder
*coating liquid

Agglomeration
Coating
Cooling

e.g. suger

Variables involved in a fluidized-bed coater

Design variables

Process variables

Formulation variables

Type of equipment

Temp. of the Uf

Solvent(water/organic)

Type of nozzle

Spray rate

Coating solution composition

Type of distributor

Atmoization pressure

Particles properties

Diameter of insert
Distance of insert
above distributor
Height of insert

Batch size
Uf (inside/outside)

Coating materials
1) Cellulose derivatives, e.g. methyl cellulose, hydroxyethyl
cellulose, ethyl cellulose
2) Polymethylacrylate copolymer, e.g. Eudragit E, Eudragit series
3) Other polymers, e.g. polyvinyl pyrrolidone, polyvinyl acetate
phthalate, latex, shellac
4) Metal salts
1) water-based coating
2) solvent based coating
3) hot melts
4) coating emulsions
Due to strict air-pollution control and high cost of solvents, water-based and other solvent
free coatings are of increasing interest

Typical capacities of fluidized bed coaters with draft tubes

- bottom spray Bed diameter Draft tube diameter Height of draft tube
(mm)
(mm)
(mm)

Number of
draft tube

Approximate
batch size
(kg)

150

75

225

0.5-2

225

112

300

7-10

300

150

375

12-20

450

225

600

35-55

800

225

750

200-275

1150

225

900

400-575

Industrial application
Protective coating
& taste masking
Snack

Fluidized-bed coating
Enteric coatings
Control of site of
drug release

Fertilizer

Sustained
Controlled released
coating

Lithium ion battery

Detergent

Delay absorption of
drug component by
retarding release of
drug

Purpose of fluidized-bed coating for industrial application

Pharmaceutical industry: masking unpleasant taste; enteric and
stained release coating; improve appearance
Agricultural industry: sustained controlled release fertilizer or
insecticide
Detergent: protect active components from atmospheric
degradation (e.g., sodium percarbonate is used as an active oxygen component in
cleaning agents/unstable against moisture /used as a sodium sulphate decahydrate as coating
component)

Food industry: improve taste (sugar coating)

Battery industry: surface modification of active materials of
electrode

Fluidized-bed systems
employed for various industry
in Korea

Samil Pharm. Co.

Capa. : 120kg/batch
use: drug coating

Boehringer Ingelheim Pharm. Co.

Capa. : 120kg/batch
use: powder granulation

Oriental Fine Chemicals

Capa.: 900kg/batch
use: moisture barrier coating

Chosun Chemicals
Capa. : 500kg/batch
use: sustained release coating

Dae-woong Phar. Co.

Capa.: 120kg/batch
use: taste masking

Example I
- Electrochemical application
Graphite
6~10 m

LiCoO2
~5 m

LiMOx or C
1-300nm

x
LiMn2O4
8~10 m
LiMn2O4 Unit Cell

MOy

Mn
Li

c
a

Coating materials
Al, Mg, Ag, Cu, Sn etc.

Improvement
Performance
Rate capability
Stability

Example II
Formation of electromagnetic shielding film

conductive filler
Carbon fiber
~10-30 m

C
x

Carbonblack
< 1m

M
Ferric metals

EMI

Ag/Cu
conductive metals

Example III
-New drugsAspirin: anti-inflammatory
~20 m

Fluid suspension coating

Water soluble vitamin

(release effect of labor pains)
COOH

PMA coating
OCOCH3

rumatism, cerebral arteriosclerosis

and heart disease : prevent and
curing; long term dosage is required
(side effect:: stomach
discomfort, stomach ulcer,
coagulation problem and
possible bleeding)

New drug having Synergy effect

Transport
phenomena

Low
Value
limited
Use

Process
design

Thermo
dynamics

Fluidized-bed
coating

Cosmetics

High
Value
New
Function

Detergent

Food

Drugs

Hydro
dynamics

Process
control

Interfacial
phenomena

Fertilizer

Conclusions
Fluidized coating Technology is very interesting and
useful for various industrial fields.
It can be possible low value of basic materials which
applied to limited use can be changed to high priced
products with multi-functional use.
To understand the basic principle of fluidized-bed, the
learning of transport phenomena, process design,
thermodynamics, interfacial phenomena, process control
are required.

CHE 309 Intensified study 1)

1. Please describe the meaning of minimum fluidization ?

2. Can you drive the pressure drop of fluidization at minimum fluidization
condition?

Ref.

Daizo Kunii & Octave Levenspiel,

Fluidization Engineering, John Wiley & Sons, Inc.