Use of CFD for the design and optimization of freeze-dryers

The aim of this chapter is to present and discuss a procedure to design or verify performances of a freeze-dryer, using data from computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations. The correlations and the data presented will allow a good design procedure for general equipment independent of its geometry. Of course, some of the steps require additional information, obtainable only from a detailed analysis of the considered equipment through CFD. In order to illustrate the procedure and highlight the advantage of using CFD for design and optimization, some typical results obtained from the simulation of a real industrial apparatus equipped with a 10 m3 chamber and either butterfly or mushroom isolating valve will be presented.