Shakil Arman, Fahim Khan, Mostafa Meraj Pasha, Jackson Sanders, Zhijian Pei
Abstract
This paper explores the feasibility of granulating fine eggshell powder using spray freeze drying to produce feedstock powder for binder jetting additive manufacturing. Fine eggshell powder possesses carbon-capture potential but exhibits poor flowability, causing issues during powder spreading in binder jetting additive manufacturing processes. This study demonstrates, for the first time, that spray freeze drying effectively converts fine eggshell powder into spherical granules without altering their chemical composition. Granulated eggshell powder was successfully produced using a solid loading (percentage of eggshell powder in the slurry used in granulation) of 30 % (by volume), a spraying pressure of 0.25 bar, and a feed rate of 0.5 L/hr. The granulation process significantly improved powder flowability. Additionally, the specific surface area of the granules was higher than that of the fine eggshell powder.
Keywords: Flowability, Spray Freeze Granulation, fine eggshell powder, binder jetting