US EPA

2955725 

Journal Article 

Basic design methodology for a prilling tower 

Saleh, SN; Ahmed, SM; Al-Mosuli, D; Barghi, S 

2015 

Yes 

Canadian Journal of Chemical Engineering
ISSN: 0008-4034 

93 

8 

1403-1409 

10.1002/cjce.22230 

WOS:000357821400009 

A design methodology was developed for prilling towers based on simultaneous heat, mass, and momentum balances. Basic principles of the prilling process and related sub-models were considered for production of relatively mono-size prills. The method was employed in the design of a prilling tower for production of ammonium nitrate prills from a highly concentrated solution. A special showerhead spray, operating under laminar conditions in a Rayleigh jet break-up regime, was designed to enhance production of mono-size prills. Air was used at ambient conditions. The droplets leaving the showerhead fall through the air stream in a counter-current fashion. Heat transfer from particles to air includes cooling in the fully liquid state, solidification, and cooling in the fully solid state. The Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulation revealed the formation of a quiescent zone around the nozzle discharge region, which had a significant effect on decreasing the secondary disintegration of the droplets, and hence narrowed down the size distribution towards the desired value. The size of the produced prills was larger than the predicted value due to the formation of ammonia bubbles inside the prills. 

prilling tower; computational fluid dynamics (CFD); design method