Agglomeration of Li(NixMnyCoz)O2 particles in Couette–Taylor flow reactor

Couette–Taylor flow reactor is a mixing device that offers wide range of mixing regimes within a single reactor and operates in continuous flow mode. This reactor is recently used in manufacturing the cathode material of lithium ion batteries. Here, we simulate the agglomeration process of Li(NixMnyCoz)O2 particles using computational fluid dynamics. Quadrature method of moments is implemented for modeling of aggregation and breakage in Couette-Taylor flow reactor. We conduct an experiment of the preparation of Li(NixMnyCoz)O2 precursors, and the experimental data are compared with simulated results for the validation of numerical model. The predicted evolutions of mean particle size are well agreed with experimental data. For the practical application, we investigate the effects of density ratio of particle to fluid and initial volume fraction of particles on the particle size. The results show that the particle diameter increases with increasing of density ratio, but it decreases with increasing of initial volume fraction of particles. On the other hand, the particle sizes become similar at high rotational speed.