Drying wet powders with shear to prevent agglomerate formation

This report summarizes three years of IFPRI-supported research on cohesive powder flows and deagglomeration processes. The project’s primary objective was to investigate the drying of cohesive granular materials, specifically focusing on strategies to minimize salt deposits on dried powders. Over this period, we developed several lab-scale experimental approaches for both testing agglomerate fragmentation and characterizing cohesive powders. We detail insights ranging from the development of drying and fragmentation processes to the fundamental mechanics of bulk- and capillary-scale cohesion, alongside quantitative results from specialized techniques used to analyze these flows.