A Draft-Tube Conical Spouted Bed for Drying Fine Particles

A study has been conducted on the performance of a draft tube conical spouted bed for drying fine particles. Batch operation has been performed with nonporous, porous, and open-sided draft tubes in order to ascertain the optimum configuration of this internal device. The nonporous draft tube requires the lowest minimum spouting velocity. Nevertheless, the solid circulation rate and the drying efficiency of the open-sided draft tube are superior to any other spouted bed configuration. Moreover, it allows for reducing the height of the fountain and, consequently, the height of the drying equipment.     

Drying of Biomass in a Conical Spouted Bed with Different Types of Internal Devices

The drying of sawdust was studied in a conical spouted bed pilot plant in order to adapt this feed for the pyrolysis process. Air at different temperatures was used and the effect of sawdust particle size and operating gas velocity was studied. Batch operation was performed with no internal device and with nonporous and open-sided draft tubes in order to ascertain the optimum configuration of the contactor. Although the nonporous draft tube required the lowest minimum spouting velocity, its performance was poor due to deficient gas–solid contact. Configurations with open-sided draft tubes and with no internal devices had higher efficiencies because of their better contacts. An increase in air temperature resulted in a reduction in drying time but the operating conditions need to be fine-tuned to ensure proper energy efficiency.     

Drying of Agricultural Grains in a Multiple Porous Draft Tube Spouted Bed

A multiple porous draft tube spouted bed (MPDTSB) was used to carry out drying of Ragi (Eleusine coracana), Barley, and Wheat grains. Batch experiments were conducted under varied conditions of initial moisture contents of grains, air inlet temperatures, and airflow rates. The draft tube parameters and fluid inlet sizes were also varied in the study. The results indicated that MPDTSB has the potential to be used for scale up to large-scale solids drying. In addition, two single porous draft tube spouted beds (SPDTSBs) were used for comparison with MPDTSB; the batch drying times in the MPDTSB were found to be lower when compared to those in SPDTSB under identical operating conditions.     

Microwave-Assisted Spouted Bed Drying of Lettuce Cubes

Microwave-assisted spouted bed (MSBD) drying of lettuce cubes was investigated experimentally. Response surface methodology was used to optimize the process with spouting air temperature, microwave power level, and superficial air velocity. The dried product obtained was compared with that obtained using other drying technologies such as hot air drying, air spouted bed drying, vacuum microwave drying, and vacuum freeze drying. The comparison is based on the rehydration ratio, chlorophyll content of the product, color, and the drying time required.     

Slot-Rectangular Spouted Bed: Hydrodynamic Stability and Effects of Operating Conditions on Drying Performance

A new spouted-bed configuration (rectangular cross-section with air entry through two bottom slots) was investigated as a dryer of milk and a paste mixture of milk and blackberry pulp. The aim was to analyze hydrodynamic stability and the effects of operating conditions on powder production efficiency. For the best conditions of paste-feeding flow rate, air temperature and inert type, hydrodynamic was stable and powder production efficiency was greater than 75%. The slot-rectangular spouted bed allowed for tripling of the paste-feeding flow rate at a lower air velocity compared to the conventional geometry, showing its potential for process scale-up.     

Distributor Induced Hydrodynamics in a Conical Fluidized Bed Dryer

The hydrodynamics induced by perforated, punched, and mesh (Dutch weave) distributor plates have been studied using dry placebo pharmaceutical granule in a conical fluidized bed dryer at inlet superficial gas velocities of 0.5 to 3.5 m/s. For superficial gas velocities up to 2.0 m/s, the punched plate design leads to improved hydrodynamics based on reduced bubble frequencies and limited segregation. Beyond 2.0 m/s, the influence of gas velocity supersedes that of distributor design, as coalescence dominates the hydrodynamic behavior resulting in low-frequency, high-intensity spectral density distributions for all distributor designs.     

超细粉在导向管喷动床中的流化行为

以料径5μm的CaCO3超细粉为物料，对其在半圆形导向管喷动床中的流化行为进行研究，考察床层压降特性及喷嘴直径、导喷距及导向管直径对起始流化行为的影响。     

Control of Spouted Bed Dryers

During the last 8 years, the Drying Center at Universidade Federal de São Carlos has been investigating the control problems of drying process of pasty materials associated with the spouted bed dryer. Starting with structures involving PI controller, we also implemented advanced MPC control techniques and real time optimization (this last one based on simulations only). Different control structures were implemented in a pilot spouted bed dryer where the behavior of the system was tested for water and homogenized chicken eggs. Based on promising results, the perspective is to use an adequate control system in a spouted bed scale‐up.     

Spouted Beds of Inert Particles for Drying Suspension

A brief review of Brazilian research on drying process in spouted beds shows its relevance and evolution trends. Needs for applying this technique to dry pasty materials are discussed, focusing on a new model approach in order to overcome operational problems with particle agglomeration and with thermal efficiency. Based on this approach, two cases, drying of black liquor in a conical spouted bed of inert polypropylene particles under intermittent operation and drying of egg emulsion in a conical spouted bed of inert glass beads under continuous operation, are presented and analyzed.     

Spouted Beds of Inert Particles for Drying Suspension

ABSTRACT

A brief review of Brazilian research on drying process in spouted beds shows its relevance and evolution trends. Needs for applying this technique to dry pasty materials are discussed, focusing on a new model approach in order to overcome operational problems with particle agglomeration and with thermal efficiency. Based on this approach, two cases, drying of black liquor in a conical spouted bed of inert polypropylene particles under intermittent operation and drying of egg emulsion in a conical spouted bed of inert glass beads under continuous operation, are presented and analyzed.     

Continuous Drying of Slurry in a Jet Spouted Bed

ABSTRACT

he performance of a laboratory scale jet spouted bed (JSB) for drying rice flour slurry was studied. The bed consisted of ceramic balls (5028 mm diameter) and the rice flour slurry was sprayed onto the moving particle surface near the inlet part. All the experiments were carried out at the jet spouting regime. This regime has high bed void fraction and violent movement and collision of bed particles. As a result, the dried product layer is attrited from particle surface as a fine powder and entrained from the bed by the spouting air. The experimental result were presented to show the effects of static bed height, inlet air flow rate and temperature, and feed concentration and flow rate on the outlet air temperature, thernal efficiency, and mean particle size and moisture content of the product. Asimple mathematical model, which is based on the conservation of mass and energy equations, was developed. Predicted results agreed well with those obtained from the experiment.     

Minimum Spouting Velocity of Draft Tube Conical Spouted Beds Using the Neural Network Approach

A multilayer perceptron with back‐propagation learning algorithm is developed to predict the minimum spouting velocity (u_ms) in draft tube conical spouted beds. Six dimensionless variables involving ten essential geometric and operating parameters of the beds were taken as model inputs. To compare the model results with both experimental data and those predicted by the limited existing empirical equations, the root mean square error and the mean relative error are utilized. Although there is a complex relationship between the input variables and u_ms, and despite the huge number of data available, the steps of training and testing show good agreement with the corresponding experimental values. This demonstrates that an artificial neural network is a useful approach to predict u_ms, especially when the relationship between the geometric and operating parameters and u_ms is complex and difficult to define.     

Drying of Suspensions in the Draft Tube Spouted Bed

A draft tube spouted bed dryer with inert particles was used for drying suspensions. The effects of the operating conditions on dryer throughput and product quality were investigated. Experiments were performed in a cylindrical column 215 mm in diameter with a draft tube 70 mm in diameter and 900 mm in length. The bed was made of polyethylene particles, 3.3 mm in diameter with a density of 921 kg/m³. The fungicide Zineb, calcium carbonate, calcium stearate and pure water were used as feeding materials. A drying model using the continuity and momentum equations for turbulent accelerating two‐phase flows and conventional rate equations is proposed and discussed. The work is relevant for estimating dryer performance.     

Local porosity in conical spouted beds consisting of solids of varying density

Local bed voidage has been measured in conical spouted beds by means of an optical fibre, for different geometric factors of the contactor (angle and inlet diameter) and under different experimental conditions (height of the stagnant bed, particle diameter and air velocity). The study has been carried out with glass beads and materials of lower density (high- and low-density polyethylene, polypropylene and extruded and expanded polystyrene). From the results, a correlation has been proposed for calculation of the local bed voidage in the spout and annular zones. The effect of the experimental conditions on the bed voidage in the solid ascent (core) and descent (periphery) regions of the fountain has been studied and the fountain has been proven to be of greater importance in the design of conical spouted beds, as solid density and shape factor are lower.     

Drying Kinetics of Oil Palm Frond Particles in an Agitated Fluidized Bed Dryer

The drying kinetics of oil palm frond particles in a laboratory-scale agitated fluidized bed dryer were investigated under various operating conditions: inlet air temperature (50–80°C), superficial air velocity (0.6–1.0 m/s), bed load (200–300 g), and agitation speed (300–500 rpm). To study the effects of these variables on the drying time and drying rate, an experimental design using Taguchi orthogonal array was employed. Based on analysis of variance (ANOVA), the results indicated that inlet air temperature greatly affected the drying rate, followed by superficial air velocity and bed load. The effect of agitation speed on the drying rate was found to be small. The experimental drying kinetics data were compared with the values obtained from three different models, namely, the Page model, modified quasi-stationary method (MQSM), and a new composite model. It was found that the proposed new model could satisfactorily predict the complete drying rate curve for the drying of oil palm fronds.     

新颖环形喷动床颗粒喷动特性实验研究

一种新颖的环形喷动床由内外两个不同内径、同心的垂立圆筒组成,在环形空间底部设置多个喷口,在喷口两侧布置倾斜的导流板.研究颗粒在这种喷动床内的流动特性,探讨喷口结构、颗粒种类以及床内载料量对环形喷动床颗粒喷动特性的影响.实验结果表明:颗粒在环形喷动床内分为三个明显不同的区域,即颗粒填充移动区、密相喷动流化区以及稀相夹带区.当颗粒出现分区喷动后,随床内载料量的增多,填充移动区的高度维持不变,始终等于导流板的高度,而密相喷动区的高度不断增加.风量和颗粒种类对床层最大喷动量、密相喷动高度以及床层压力分布规律有着十分重要的影响.采用不同的喷口结构时,在相同的载料量下,直向喷口的密相喷动区高度更大,而且床内各测点的平均压力大于采用斜向喷口时的相应测点压力.     

Simulation Of Drying Suspension In A Conical Spouted Bed

A software for simulating the drying operation of diluted suspensions in conical spouted beds of inert particles has been developed. This computer program combines the fluid flow and the solids circulation models with the drying kinetic equations. The simulated results for drying animal blood in a spouted bed of inert particles compare with data reported in the literature.     

Optimization of Potato Cube Drying in a Microwave-Assisted Pulsed Spouted Bed

The drying homogeneity of the microwave–pulsed spouted bed drying (MPSBD) method was studied via preparing tubers granules by MPSBD under different predefined conditions. The effects of three parameters (microwave power, moisture content transition point, and loading) on the homogeneity of prepared tubers granules were studied. Based on response surface analysis results, it was concluded that the optimum conditions for tuber granules prepared by MPSBD method is 1.10 W/g microwave power, 80% moisture content transition point, and 90 g material loading. It was proven that the experimental result from the predicted optimal condition agreed with the model-predicted results, which evidenced the accuracy of the response surface analysis. Furthermore, the brighter color and higher rehydration capacity of samples prepared by MPSBD indicates that MPSBD is a promising method that can be applied in the food dehydration industry.     

Effect of Inert Particles Properties on Performance of Spouted Bed Dryers

Design rules for spouted bed dryers with inert particles are given to control size and size distribution of a dry material when changing the size and shape of inert particles as well as the material from which they are made. Implications on product quality, solids separation from the exhaust air, and energy requirements are discussed based on inert particles made of Teflon and stainless steel.