Computational fluid dynamics simulations of aerosol behavior in a high-speed (Heubach) rotating drum dustiness tester

Potential exposure from hazardous dust may be assessed by evaluating the dustiness of the powders being handled. Dustiness is the tendency of a powder to aerosolize with a given input of energy. Previously we used computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to numerically investigate the flow inside the European Standard (EN15051) rotating drum dustiness tester during its operation. The present work extends those CFD studies to the widely used Heubach rotating drum. Air flow characteristics are investigated within the Abe-Kondoh-Nagano k-epsilon turbulence model; the aerosol is incorporated via a Euler-Lagrangian multiphase approach. The air flow inside these drums consists of a well-defined axial jet penetrating relatively quiescent air. The spreading of the Heubach jet results in a fraction of the jet recirculating as back-flow along the drum walls; at high rotation rates, the axial jet becomes unstable. This flow behavior qualitatively differs from the stable EN15051 flow pattern. The aerodynamic instability promotes efficient mixing within the Heubach drum, resulting in higher particle capture efficiencies for particle sizes d < 80 μm.     

The influence of particle size on separation and dustiness in powder mixtures during nonelectrostatic and electrostatic coating

Common food powders and their mixtures, consisting of two powders with the same composition but different in particle size: fine (51–95 μm) and coarse (244–401 μm) NaCl, KCl, sucrose, rice starch, maltodextrin, whey protein, casein and soy protein, were coated on a target at 0 and −25 kV. Over half of the mixtures showed separation due to a difference in particle size. Separation was caused by the difference in individual transfer efficiency of the powders and interactions during coating. Both composition and differences in size were found to be important. Being in a mixture did not change the amount of dust formed.     

Dustiness test of nanopowders using a standard rotating drum with a modified sampling train

The standard rotating drum tester was used to determine the dustiness of two nanopowders, nano-TiO₂ and fine ZnO, in standard 1-min tests. Then, the sampling train was modified to determine the number and mass distributions of the generated particles in the respirable size range using a Scanning Mobility Particle Sizer (SMPS), an Aerodynamic Particle Sizer (APS) and a Multi-orifice Uniform Deposit Impactor (MOUDI) in the 30-min tests. It was found that very few particles below 100 nm were generated and the released rate of particles decreased with increasing rotation time for both nanopowders in the 30-min tests. Due to the fluffy structure of the released TiO₂ agglomerated particles, the mass distributions measured by the MOUDI showed large differences with those determined by the APS assuming the apparent bulk densities of the powders. The differences were small for the ZnO agglomerates, which were more compact than the TiO₂ agglomerates.     

Dustiness behaviour of loose and compacted Bentonite and organoclay powders: What is the difference in exposure risk?

Single-drop and rotating drum dustiness testing was used to investigate the dustiness of loose and compacted montmorillonite (Bentonite) and an organoclay (Nanofil^®5), which had been modified from montmorillonite-rich Bentonite. The dustiness was analysed based on filter measurements as well as particle size distributions, the particle generation rate, and the total number of generated particles. Particle monitoring was completed using a TSI Fast Mobility Particle Sizer (FMPS) and a TSI Aerosol Particle Sizer (APS) at 1 s resolution. Low-pressure uniaxial powder compaction of the starting materials showed a logarithmic compaction curve and samples subjected to 3.5 kg/cm² were used for dustiness testing to evaluate the role of powder compaction, which could occur in powders from large shipments or high-volume storage facilities. The dustiness tests showed intermediate dustiness indices (1,077–2,077 mg/kg powder) in tests of Nanofil^®5, Bentonite, and compacted Bentonite, while a high-level dustiness index was found for compacted Nanofil^®5 (3,487 mg/kg powder). All powders produced multimodal particle size-distributions in the dust cloud with one mode around 300 nm (Bentonite) or 400 nm (Nanofil^®5) as well as one (Nanofil^®5) or two modes (Bentonite) with peaks between 1 and 2.5 μm. The dust release was found to occur either as a burst (loose Bentonite and Nanofil^®5), constant rate (compacted Nanofil^®5), or slowly increasing rate (compacted Bentonite). In rotating drum experiments, the number of particles generated in the FMPS and APS size-ranges were in general agreement with the mass-based dustiness index, but the same order was not observed in the single-drop tests. Compaction of Bentonite reduced the number of generated particles with app. 70 and 40% during single-drop and rotating drum dustiness tests, respectively. Compaction of Nanofil^®5 reduced the dustiness in the single-drop test, but it was more than doubled in the rotating drum test. Physically relevant low-pressure compaction may reduce the risk of particle exposure if powders are handled in operations with few agitations such as pouring or tapping. Repeated agitation, e.g., mixing, of these compacted powders, would result in reduced (app. 20% for Bentonite) or highly increased (app. 225% for Nanofil^®5) dustiness and thereby alter the exposure risk significantly.