CFD Modeling of the Wurster Bed Coater

In the Wurster bed coater, the wetting, drying, and circulation of particles are combined to produce a high quality coating. The drying and wetting conditions in a laboratory scale Wurster bed coater are modeled and compared with experimental data. A model combining multiphase fluid dynamics with heat and mass transfer is developed to model the particle and gas motion and the transport of thermal energy and moisture. A wetting region is defined, where a specified moisture content is set in the particle phase, above the jet inlet, to describe the injection of coating liquid. The simulation shows the characteristic circulation of particles in the equipment, as well as the behavior of the moisture in the system and agrees well with measurements. The simulation indicates how different process conditions influence the drying regions. The results show that most of the drying, under typical operating conditions, takes place in the Wurster tube. (C) 2009 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 55: 2578-2590, 2009