Numerical Investigation on the Hydrodynamics of Ammonium Perchlorate Solution in DTB Crystallizer

The ammonium perchlorate (AP) is one of the useful oxidizer for making solid fuels, which is mainly produced by crystallization. In this study, the hydrodynamics of DTB crystallizer was simulated using Ansys Fluent in order to achieve a good understanding of flow pattern inside crystallizer which affects the CSD of AP. The hydrodynamic characteristics of crystallizer were studied for different sections of the crystallizer. The results showed that the upward flow inside the tube pushes the fresh feed to the boiling zone. Nucleation occurs in the boiling zone due to high saturation and shear stress of stream. The formed nuclei grow in the cross-section region between the tube and baffle in the presence of uniform downstream flow. In the classification region, the upward flow is uniform and slow enough to classify the crystals. Hence, this region is the best area to classify particles separated by the gravitational force.