ON THE STEADY-STATE SIZE DISTRIBUTION OF DISPERSIONS IN BREAKAGE PROCESSES

Breakage processes are considered in the absence of agglomeration or c oagulation. A new method is proposed, based on a population balance ty pe of formulation, applicable to systems (such as dispersions) that ma y be characterized by a maximum stable particle size. In this method, considerable simplification is achieved by means of a transformation t hat effectively eliminates the breakage frequency, thus allowing the c onvenient computation of steady state through solution of an integral equation. To compute the steady state, apart from the maximum size and the breakage kernel, only an estimate of the initial distribution is required. Two functional forms of binary breakage kernels which can re present a large variety of possible breakage mechanisms are proposed ( by an appropriate selection of parameter values). For the sake of comp leteness, analytical solutions are also presented for several, relativ ely simple kernels. Finally, a study is made to assess the influence o f initial conditions on the steady-state size distribution, which is h elpful in tackling the inverse problem of determining the breakage ker nel using limited experimental data. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.