In powder processing, agglomeration is defined as the process of amassing material fines into cohesive units like pellets or granules. Simply put, powder agglomeration means making fine powdery particles stick together to form larger particles that are easier to handle.
In bulk material processing, coating is the process of altering the material characteristics of particles only on their outermost surface in order to protect the material characteristics underneath. Coating often takes place directly after or as a final stage in industrial mixing processes.
In bulk powder processing, dispersion is the process of achieving even particle distribution of heterogeneous materials. Some powders, however, are poorly dispersible and have a tendency to clump together. In order to create a homogenous blend of such materials, many dispersion processes include intensive deagglomeration as part of the dispersion process.
Drying is a mass transfer process. All mass transfer processes involve moving mass from one location or phase to another. In the case of industrial powder drying, the liquid solvent to be removed is almost always water. This is typically done by applying heat, thus causing the water to evaporate.