A novel granulation technique using a freeze–thaw method

In this short article, a novel method, the freeze–thaw procedure, was adopted for granulating nanosized silica colloids into free-flowing micron-sized particles. A considerable increase in tap density was observed. During the freezing process, the formation of ice was considered crucial for producing agglomerates. Therefore, when a different freezing procedure was used, agglomerates with different characteristics were obtained. Essentially, slow ice formation was associated with the formation of large agglomerates.