Approximate population balance equations for aggregation-breakage processes

A number of approximate methods for modeling aggregation of particulate sus pensions have been extended to simulate breakup as well and have been teste d by comparison with rigorous solutions for conditions representative of mo st aggregation-fragmentation processes. The simplest methods, based on a ge ometric discretization with size ratio equal to two, can calculate satisfac torily the average values of the population for particularly well-condition ed situations only and, even in those cases, are not capable of predicting the shape of the particle size distribution. Therefore more complex methods are usually required, capable of using denser size discretization. The cha racteristics of these models and the guidelines for their choice are discus sed in the paper, by considering their accuracy, ability to produce error e stimates, ease of implementation and speed. (C) 2000 Academic Press.