It is often necessary, at the very least, to know and even control the quality of the mixture to create a deliberate segregation or, conversely, to avoid the segregation that may occur naturally. For clients such as IMERYS, SOLVAY, LAFARGE, ARCELORMITTAL, and others, Itasca participates in all phases of the process through discrete element modeling:

• Analysis of the quality of the mixture according to the operational conditions and the nature of the product,
• Understanding the origin of site observations,
• Process adaptation to meet the needs of the desired product, including modification of the operational line and operational parameters, adding a vibration system, and
• A temperature or a fluid can also be considered to get as close as possible to the real functioning, either directly in PFC or through coupling with third-party software.

Controlling the quality of particulate mixtures and segregation phenomena is a recurrent issue in many sectors of activity, ranging from the pharmaceutical or chemical industry (for powders), to the mining industry (for blocks), and the food industry (for grains).