EDEM simulation technology is in use in a wide range of industries including: Consumer Goods; Dry Bulk Chemicals and Plastics Production; Coal Gasification; Oil & Gas Well Production; Electrophotogry/Xerography; and Planetary Exploration. 

Consumer Goods

Consumer goods manufacturers around the world are driving down costs, improving productivity and developing innovative approaches to manufacturing by simulating and analyzing particle flow and creating virtual prototypes using the world’s leading bulk material flow simulation software. 

From dry bulk material introduction to finished product handling, simulation of virtual particles and the generation of virtual prototypes, gives engineers the power to improve the design process and get new products to market faster and more profitably.

DEM Solutions are the world’s leading bulk material flow simulation experts - our EDEM® software is a powerful Computer Aided Engineering (CAE) tool based on Discrete Element Method (DEM) simulation - technology that is changing the way manufacturers are developing their operating models.  

Whether you manufacture health and personal care products, cosmetics, pre-packaged food, pet food, household cleaning products, tobacco products or other consumer packaged goods, EDEM bulk material flow simulation technology is the key to reducing costs and improving your bottom line.

Manufacturers of consumer goods around the world are using EDEM to:

• Streamline the design process
• Save on prototyping costs
• Promote design innovation
• Reduce risk by identifying the most cost effective, best performing design
• Get new equipment online sooner and new products to market faster
• Gain more control over final product consistency and quality
• Improve production rates and reduce energy consumption
• Lower product cost
• Increase customer satisfaction

Dry Bulk Chemicals and Plastics Production

EDEM® bulk material flow simulations - give your engineers the power to optimize flow rates in dry bulk materials handling and processing operations. 

When production rates and product quality depend on the efficient flow of dry bulk materials, what engineers need is a CAE tool specifically designed to simulate and analyze bulk materials flow.  

EDEM® - the unique technology specifically developed for simulating bulk materials flow from DEM Solutions, gives engineers a CAE tool that helps optimize dry bulk handling and processing equipment: 

• Mechanical and dense phase conveying of dry bulk materials 
• Transfer points from conveyors to equipment
• Size reduction equipment, such as bead mills, pulverizers, grinders, granulators, and pelletizers
• Processes such as mixing, separation, densification
• Filling and discharge of dry bulk materials storage and feed hoppers
• Solids conveying at the feed zone of plastic extrusion screws 

With the addition of EDEM CFD coupling for FLUENT, visualize the velocity, pressure and temperature distribution in single or twin-screw plastics extruders. Evaluate how changes in design and operating conditions affect particle residence time and the quality of mixing. More >

Coal Gasification - Dry Bulk Materials Handling and Coal Pulverization

Coal gasification process efficiency hinges on maintaining a steady supply of bulk materials, optimizing the coal pulverization process and, as a result, having better control over feedstock properties. 

EDEM® - the unique technology specifically developed for simulating bulk materials flow from DEM Solutions, can help your engineers improve the design and performance of bulk materials handling and size reduction equipment: 

• Improve flow of coal, coke, char, and other materials from conveyors to hoppers, bins, and gravimetric feeders
• Improve mill design for better performance of crushers, grinding mills, roller mills, rod mills, ball-tube mills, impact mills, hammer mills and ring-roll pulverizers
• Minimize wear of grinding media and equipment
• Optimize grinding process to minimize energy consumption
• Gain more control over feedstock properties to improve performance in Pulverized Coal Injection (PCI)
• Increase throughput to burner

Oil & Gas Well Production

Leading Oil & Gas companies around the globe have used EDEM® software to better understand granular material flow and particle-related production impairments in the near wellbore environment, helping them improve extraction technologies and reduce production costs. 

Concerns over oil field production and oil and gas well performance have led to an increased interest in software solutions in the upstream sector.  DEM Solutions offers the technology that is missing from most petroleum exploration & production software products - bulk material flow simulation. 

EDEM allows petroleum engineers to characterize and predict the flow of granular materials, such as sand, gravel, formation solids, and proppant, and simulate their transport through gravel pack, screens, perforations, and formation fractures.

EDEM helps the E&P industry gain insight and resolution to the challenges surrounding: 

• particle flow behavior in fractures produced by hydrofracing
• proppant transport, distribution, and deposition patterns
• effects of fracture geometry and orientation on proppant placement
• effects of particle size, density, and shape on proppant settling
• proppant performance in a variety of fracture systems
• flowback of formational solids or proppant 

Electrophotography / Xerography

Leading electrophotographic printing equipment manufacturers around the globe have utilized EDEM software technology to optimize the toner development process and the design of printing system components, leading to improvements that provide customers with better print quality, fewer image defects and increased print speed. 

The drive for product improvement in photocopying equipment, laser printers and LED printers has led to an increased need for bulk materials flow modeling software to simulate electrophotographic printing systems, with particular focus on the dry powder toner development process.   

EDEM allows engineers to characterize and predict flow behavior and examine mechanical, electromagnetic, and electrostatic forces involved in interactions between toner, carrier, paper coatings and integral process components, leading to increased control over the deposition of dry powders to generate an accurate and precise latent electrostatic image on the surface of the photoconductor. 

EDEM helps engineers improve electrophotographic equipment and process design:

• Improve efficiency of screw feeder mixing and transport of toners and carriers
• conduct virtual testing of particle tribocharging to optimize physical properties of toner and carrier particles
  improve control over dry powder deposition on various substrates
• simulate and optimize toner cloud properties; toner particle adhesive, magnetic and electrostatic forces, and toner velocity across the nip
• simulate heat transfer from the fuser roll to the toner and paper coating layer
• virtually test new designs of the printing systems components
• virtually test new designs to improve print quality - reduce unwanted deposition of toner in background areas, reduce image defects, maintain sharp edges, ensure a maximum print optical density, improve the geometric design of the components  

Planetary Exploration

The DEM Solutions Team has partnered with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) under their Innovative Partnerships Program (IPP) to assist NASA engineers in the development of custom solutions for the modeling and simulation of lunar dust and regolith using EDEM bulk materials flow simulation software.

DEM Solutions and NASA worked closely to develop custom Material Models and advanced software capability to be used in support of NASA Lunar and Mars exploration programs.  

EDEM is now helping NASA:

• simulate a “dusty” virtual lunar environment for the testing of new equipment designs
• streamline the design process for development of lunar vehicle traction
• simulate proposed lunar bulk materials excavation and handling operations associated with future lunar base excavation and construction activities
• simulate bulk materials handling and processing operations in proposed onsite lunar regolith beneficiation - the electrostatic separation of ilmenite
• develop surface systems dust mitigation technologies for dust removal and cleaning of optical and thermal radiator surfaces, connectors and seals, taking into account dust surface energy adhesion forces and dynamic friction 

These new EDEM capabilities can be applied in many other industries and have been adopted by several prominent US companies for terrestrial applications.  Both the NASA KSC Electrostatics and Surface Physics laboratory and the NASA Glenn Research Center’s ISRU Lunar Regolith Characterization Laboratory participated in this partnership.