How to simulate solids train (crystallize → filter → dry)
An MSMPR crystallizer feeds a cake filter and dryer — the crystal size and cake moisture propagate on the stream's solids payload (pharma / minerals workflow).
- 1Open the ready-made model
Open the "Solids train (crystallize → filter → dry)" model in the MaximaLabs workspace — no install, no license. It loads live on the canvas, ready to edit and run.
- 2Confirm the thermodynamics
This process is modeled with the NRTL property package over ethanol, water — already selected, so the phase equilibrium and enthalpy are physically consistent from the first run.
- 3Review the flowsheet
The flowsheet chains CR, FIL, DRY. Every block is a real, solvable unit op you can reconfigure on the canvas.
- 4Run the simulation
Click Run. The deterministic solver converges the material and energy balances (recycles included) and fills the live stream table — the AI never invents a number.
- 5Read the results and iterate
Inspect the converged streams, tweak a spec, and re-run — or ask the AI copilot to explain a result or diagnose a failed solve in plain English.
- Thermodynamics
- NRTL
- Components
- ethanol, water
- Unit operations
- CRFILDRY
Opens live on the canvas — free, no install.
Explore the model & flowsheetFrequently asked questions
- What does the Solids train (crystallize → filter → dry) model simulate?
- An MSMPR crystallizer feeds a cake filter and dryer — the crystal size and cake moisture propagate on the stream's solids payload (pharma / minerals workflow).
- Which thermodynamic method does it use?
- The NRTL property package, over ethanol, water — already selected. You can switch the method on the canvas before running.
- Which unit operations are in the flowsheet?
- It chains CR, FIL, DRY. Every block is a real, solvable unit operation you can reconfigure, add to, or remove.
- Do I need to install software or buy a license?
- No. Solids train (crystallize → filter → dry) runs entirely in your browser on MaximaLabs — free, no install, no license. Open the model to load it live and run the deterministic solver.
More guides like this
Crystallization with agglomeration (distributed CSD)
An MSMPR crystallizer solved with the rigorous distributed population balance (not just moments): the full crystal-size distribution is computed on a size grid, and an agglomeration (aggregation) kernel combines fine crystals into larger ones — coarsening the mass-weighted mean size (d43) and broadening the distribution (CV rises above the growth-only MSMPR value of ~1.0) while conserving mass exactly. The distribution, its coefficient of variation, and d43 propagate on the solid stream into the filter and dryer — the gPROMS/gCRYSTAL capability the moment model structurally cannot provide.
Crystallization + granulation finishing
A continuous MSMPR crystallizer, cake filter, and dryer feed a granulator that grows the dried crystals into free-flowing granules — the finished-product train after the mother liquor and dryer vapor leave.
Crystallize → thicken (dewatering)
An MSMPR crystallizer precipitates the salt, then a gravity thickener dewaters the crystal slurry into a dense underflow while a clarified overflow leaves the top — the solid-liquid separation a hydrometallurgy plant runs before filtration.
Grinding-circuit hydrocyclone classifier
A hydrocyclone classifies a mineral slurry by particle size — the unit that closes every closed-circuit grinding loop (mill → cyclone, coarse underflow recycled to the mill). A quartz slurry (200 µm mean, spread by a log-normal PSD) is split about a 100 µm corrected cut size (Plitt 1976): the coarse solids report to the thick underflow and the fines to the dilute overflow, split by the short-circuit recovery. The underflow comes out much coarser (~300 µm mean) than the overflow (~80 µm), and the solids mass balance closes exactly. Honest scope: the d50c is the real Plitt correlation, but the partition sharpness and water recovery are screening params.
Cobalt/nickel solvent extraction (D2EHPA)
A laterite leach liquor (Co/Ni/Mg in dilute sulfate solution) meets a D2EHPA-in-kerosene organic phase across a 20-stage countercurrent extraction circuit run at pH 5.2 — the real industrial operating window (e.g. Bulong, Murrin Murrin, Western Australia) that exploits the ~1 pH-unit gap between Co and Ni's D2EHPA extraction isotherms: Co extracts into the organic while Ni (and Mg gangue) are rejected to the raffinate. The loaded organic then meets fresh dilute-acid strip liquor across a 10-stage strip circuit at pH 1.0 (well below Co's isotherm), reversing the equilibrium to recover a concentrated cobalt strip liquor and regenerate barren organic. Real pH-isotherm chemistry throughout, not a fitted shortcut K_D.
Direct lithium extraction + LiOH crystallization
A Salar-brine DLE train: an Al-based sorbent column selectively loads Li+ (rejecting the brine's much larger Mg2+ background — real DLE sorbents cut a ~290:1 Mg/Li mass ratio down to under 1:1), the loaded sorbent is eluted with fresh water into an aqueous strip liquor (bridging the sorption column's own documented single-pass-loading scope), RO concentrates it, a real bipolar-membrane electrodialysis (BPED) cell converts LiCl to LiOH — Faraday's law links the applied current/membrane area/current efficiency to the actual Li+ transport rate (replacing an earlier placeholder fixed-conversion reactor), reporting real cell voltage and electrical power draw — and a forward-feed two-effect evaporator train (vapor from effect 1 heats effect 2) concentrates it to battery-grade LiOH·H₂O crystals. Real boiling-point elevation throughout via the Pitzer-electrolyte brine thermo package. Isotherm parameters per the sorption column's own citation (2024 Desalination study, Al-based DLE sorbent).