Scaling of heat transfer in granular material in rotating drums

Several industrial processes involve thermal treatment of granular materials and powders, in devices such as rotating drums, to bring about a desired chemical and/or physical transformation. Developing a better understanding of the heat transfer process can significantly improve the quality of the end product and efficiency. However, there is a lack of predictive models, for example, to predict the evolution of the distribution and average of the particles' temperature, particularly for the purposes of scale-up from laboratory scale experiments to manufacturing scale productions. We used discrete element method (DEM) based simulations to study the distribution of particles' temperature in rotating drums at low temperature. Various physical, mechanical, and thermal properties of particles were considered in the simulations and in the analysis. In addition, the effect of operating conditions such as size of drum, material fill level, and speed of rotation on the heat transfer were investigated. Based on the simulations, we identified timescales relevant to the heat transfer process and developed a relationship between these timescales that can be used to predict the average temperature of particles. We also found that the evolution of the temperature distribution, since different particles may have different temperatures, can be predicted based on these timescales. These findings can be used to predict the required time to heat up all particles to the desired temperature.