Enhanced fluidized bed drying of potash powders

钾肥为农业中的植物生长提供一种必需的化合物——钾。干燥是钾肥生产的一个关键步骤，流化床因其易于操作、成本低、占地面积小等优点已被用于钾肥工业的干燥过程。在干燥过程中，天然气与空气一起燃烧，提供热流化气体。由于知识有限和文献中数据匮乏，目前钾肥行业流化床干燥机的操作更像是一门艺术而不是一门科学。因此，通常使用过量的热气体来保证最终产品的质量。为了减少这种能源密集型过程的环境足迹，需要改进对流化床干燥机当前操作的理解和优化。与Mosaic合作，提出的研究旨在促进对钾肥粉流化床干燥的理解，并为参与行业提供有关如何有效运行流化床和降低与干燥过程相关的运营成本的新知识。结果将减少对环境的影响，提高加拿大钾肥行业的经济竞争力。在成功实施拟议的项目后，至少两名博士生和4名本科生研究助理（USRAs）将接受培训，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，流化床已被广泛使用。

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.