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Advanced process control can benefit to the operation efficiency and quality of tablets produced by wet granulation lines. Following the development of a new fully continuous fluidized bed reactor as a potential substitute for the current batch dryer design, this paper examines the energy and product quality performances of two predictive control strategies using an experimentally validated simulator. The first one proposes an economic model predictive controller explicitly minimizing the dryer energy consumption. The second one follows the same objective, but uses a simpler classical predictive control framework implementing targets on manipulated variables to drive them toward low energy consumption operating points. Both controllers lead to similar performances, and consume about 20% less energy than a reference feedback scheme without manipulated variable setpoints. Results also show that tracking the product quality attribute significantly benefits from a feedforward action because of the long residence time. This article addresses a subject little explored by the literature, the control of continuous fluidized bed dryers, and clearly demonstrates that a standard linear strategy can reduce the operating costs with an appropriate design. • Predictive control is applied on a simulated continuous fluidized bed dryer. • An economic model predictive controller (EMPC) minimizes the energy consumption. • A more standard predictive controller (MPC) also aims for low-energy actions. • Both EMPC and MPC results in low-energy operations. • Feedforward compensation improves the product quality in both cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Grey-box modeling is applied to a continuous horizontal fluidized bed dryer. • Product is displaced by a screw conveyor and fluidized by two gas chambers. • Data from a dynamically operated prototype validates the model. • Results highlight the shortcomings in the modeling assumptions. • Potential improvements to the prototype design are also raised. Fully continuous drying can improve the production flexibility and throughput of tablets manufactured by wet granulation lines. A recently developed prototype incorporates a screw conveyor to a horizontal fluidized bed dryer for pharmaceutical particles. Research on advanced process control strategies led to the publication of a two-phase tanks-in-series framework to describe its dynamics. This paper calibrates the model to replicate the prototype behavior. A grey-box identification methodology estimates the empirical and uncertain parameters using experimental input-output data. The underlying assumptions are cross-validated with time-domain comparisons, output root mean square errors and confidence intervals. Results show that the model reproduces the observed trends in general and the discrepancies result from mechanical issues on the equipment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]