Enhanced fluidized bed drying of potash powders

钾肥为农业中的植物生长提供了一种必不可少的化合物--钾。干燥是钾肥生产的关键步骤之一，沸腾床具有操作简单、成本低、占地面积小等优点，已被应用于钾肥工业的干燥工艺中。在干燥过程中，天然气与空气一起燃烧，提供热流态化气体。由于有限的知识和文献资料的稀缺，目前钾肥行业中沸腾床干燥器的操作更像是一门艺术，而不是一门科学。因此，通常会使用过量的热气来确保最终产品的质量。为了减少这一能源密集型过程对环境的影响，需要更好地了解和优化目前的流态化干燥机的运行。通过与MOSAIC的合作，这项拟议的研究旨在增进对钾粉的流态化干燥的了解，并就如何有效地操作流态化床和降低与干燥过程相关的运营成本为参与行业提供新的知识。其结果将是减少对环境的影响，提高加拿大钾肥行业的经济竞争力。 在拟议项目成功实施后，将对至少两名博士生和四名本科生研究助理(USRA)进行培训，并配备必要的技能和知识，为参与的钾肥行业或更广泛的其他行业工作，如石化、食品、制药行业，这些行业已经大量使用沸腾床。

Potash fertilizers provide one essential compound, potassium, for plant growth in agriculture. Drying is one key step in potash production, and fluidized beds have been used for drying processes in the potash industry owing to advantages such as ease of operation, low cost, and a small footprint. In the drying process, natural gas burned together with air is used to provide the hot fluidizing gas. The current operation of fluidized bed dryers in the potash industry is more of an art than a science due to limited knowledge and the scarcity of data in the literature. As a result, an excess amount of hot gas is usually used to ensure the final product quality. Improved understanding and optimization of the current operation of fluidized bed dryers is required to reduce the environmental footprint of this energy-intensive process. In collaboration with Mosaic, the proposed research aims to advance understanding of fluidized bed drying of potash powders and provide new knowledge to the participating industry with respect to how to efficiently operate fluidized beds and reduce operating costs associated with the drying process. The outcomes will be reduced environmental impact and enhanced economic competitiveness of the Canadian potash industry. After successful execution of the proposed project, at least two PhD students and 4 undergraduate research assistants (USRAs) will be trained and equipped with necessary skills and knowledge required to work for the participating potash industry or more broadly other industries such as petrochemical, food, pharmaceutical industries where fluidized beds have been intensively used.