RADIO FREQUENCY ENHANCED DRAUGHT TUBE SPOUTED BED DRYER

A study of the operation of a draught tube spouted bed in conjunction with dielectric heat addition was carried out. The addition of radio frequency allowed a greater amount of energy to be input into the particulate material in any given time, increasing the drying rate: however, the drying pattern was unaffected by the ratio of radio frequency to convective heat addition. The rate of moisture loss was proportional only to the total energy input. The synergy which often occurs with low levels of radio frequency addition does not occur with rf enhanced spouted beds.

The properties of spouted beds seem to be improved only for moisture contents at which packed bed drying can perform effectively.

Although the properties of spouted beds can be improved by radio frequency heat addition, their qualities although useful for specific operations, are unsuitable for more general use.     

Investigations on heat transfer and hydrodynamics under pyrolysis conditions of a pilot-plant draft tube conical spouted bed reactor

This paper describes the hydrodynamic and heat transfer performance of a pilot-plant scale conical spouted bed reactor designed for the pyrolysis of biomass wastes. The spouted bed reactor is the core of a fast pyrolysis pilot plant with continuous biomass feed of up to 25 kg/h, located at the Ikerlan-IK4 facilities.The aim of this paper is to obtain a deeper understanding of the spouted bed reactor performance at pyrolysis temperatures, in order to operate under stable conditions, improve the heat transfer rate in the reactor and minimize energy requirements. The influence of temperature on conical spouted bed hydrodynamics has been studied and wall-to-bed and bed-to-surface heat transfer coefficients have been determined.     

EVALUATION OF CONDUCTIVE HEAT TRANSFER MECHANISMS BETWEEN AN IMMERSED SURFACE AND THE ADJACENT LAYER OF PARTICLES IN BUBBLING FLUIDIZED BEDS

The evaluation of the heat transfer coefficient h_wp between a heat exchanging surface immersed in a gas fluidized bed and the adjacent layer of dense phase particles is analyzed in this contribution. Gas convective and radiant effects are not included in the present analysis.

The inclusion of h_wp, or an equivalent formation, in mechanistic models describing heat transfer has been necessary because the sudden voidage variation close to the immersed wall restrains significantly the heat transfer rate. However, there is not at present a widely accepted expression to evaluate h_wp.

A precise formulation for h_wp accounting for transient conduction inside spherical particles, the Smoluchowski effect, the concentration of particles in the adjacent layer (N_p) and an effective separation gap (l₀) is developed here.

Although N_p can be estimated, in principle, from experimental evidence in packed beds, and it is reasonably expected that l₀ = 0, the analysis of experimental heat transfer rates in moving beds, packed beds, and bubbling fluidized beds indicate that values of h_wp are, in general, smaller than expected from these assumptions. Appropriate values of l₀ and N_p are then stimated by fitting the experimental data.

The probable effect of surface asperities is also discussed by analyzing a simplified geometrical model. It is concluded that the parameter l₀ can be also effective to account for particle roughness, independently of thermal properties.     

THE EFFECT OF HETEROGENEOUS DRAG REDUCING SURFACTANT IN DRAG AND HEAT TRANSFER REDUCTION IN CRUDE OIL SYSTEMS

Pilot scale experiments have been performed to study the effect of a heterogeneous surfactant into the drag and heat transfer coefficient in crude oil pipelines. The effects of surfactant concentration, pipe diameter, Reynolds number and temperature were studied in this research program.

An extensive set of data was obtained for heat transfer and friction coefficients for a heterogeneous surfactant known as MDR-2000. A wide range of Reynolds numbers were covered and experiments were conducted for many different Prandtl numbers. All drag and heat transfer reduction experiments were performed in the same installation using the same measurement techniques which facilitates the assessment of the trends caused by the various parameters studied.

Typical results showed that the friction coefficient was reduced by half at the optimum concentration. While, the heat transfer coefficient was reduced even more dramatically.     

Wall-to-bed heat transfer coefficient in gas—liquid—solid fluidized beds

Wall to bed heat transfer has been studied in three-phase fluidized beds with a cocurrent up-flow of water and air. Six sizes of glass beads, two sizes of activated carbon beads and one size of alumina beads, varying in average diameter from 0.61 to 6.9 mm and in density from 1330 to 3550 kg/m³, were fluidized in a 95.6 mm diameter brass column heated by a steam jacket. Complementary heat transfer experiments have been performed also for a gas–liquid cocurrent column and liquid–solid fluidized beds. The wall-to-bed coefficient for heat transfer in the gas–liquid–solid fluidized bed is evaluated on the basis of the axial dispersion model concept. The ratio of the wall-to-bed heat transfer coefficient in the gas–liquid–solid fluidized bed to that in the liquid–solid fluidized bed operated at the same liquid flow rate is correlated in terms of the ratio of the velocity of gas to that of liquid and the properties of solid particles. A correlation equation for estimating the wall-to-bed heat transfer coefficient in the liquid–solid fluidized bed is also developed.     

PHASE HOLDUPS AND LIQUID-LIQUID EXTRACTION IN THREE PHASE FLUIDIZED BEDS

Effects of the continuous phase velocity (0.01-0.08 m/s(, the dispersed phase velocity (0.0-0.04 m/s) and particle size (1.0-3.0 mm) on the individual phase holdups and the mass transfer coefficient have been determined in two (liquid-liquid) and three (liquid-liquid-solid) phase fluidized beds.

In the beds, the dispersed phase holdup increased with dispersed phase velocity but it decreased with continuous phase velocity. Whereas the continuous phase holdup decreased with dispersed phase velocity but it increased with continuous phase velocity. The bed porosity increased with both the dispersed and continuous phase velocities in the beds of 1.7 and 3.0 mm particles. In addition, the continuous phase holdup decreased with the presence of solid particles in the bed, however, the dispersed phase holdup was not affected by the presence of the particles.

The overall mass transfer coefficients in the continuous and dispersed phases increased with increasing fluid velocities but it decreased with the bed height.

The continuous phase holdup and mass transfer coefficient data have been correlated with the operating variables and the dimensionless groups.     

MULTIPHASE HYDRODYNAMICS AND SOLID-LIQUID MASS TRANSPORT IN AN EXTERNAL-LOOP AIRLIFT REACTOR—A COMPARATIVE STUDY

The solid-solid mass transfer performance of an external-loop airlift reactor was measured by dissolution of benzoic acid coated on nylon-6 particles, and the hydrodynamics of the gas-liquid-solid multiphase system in the airlift reactor were investigated. The solid-liquid system was designed to simulate the micro-carrier culture of animal cells, and some typical suspensions of immobilized enzyme particles.

The solid-liquid mass transfer coefficient remained constant below a superficial air velocity of 0.04 ms^-1 for the particles examined, but increased rapidly with further increase in gas velocity. Solids loading (0.3-3.5% w/w) did not affect the mass transfer coefficient in turbulent flow.

The mass transfer coefficient was correlated with energy dissipation rate in the airlift reactor. The mass transfer coefficient in stirred vessels, bubble columns, fluidized beds, and airlift reactors was compared.

Over an energy dissipation Reynolds number of 4-400, the solid-liquid mass transfer coefficient in the airlift device was comparable to that obtainable in fluidized beds. The performance of the airlift was distinctly superior to that of bubble columns and stirred tanks.     

KINETICS OF DRYING IN CYCLICALLY SHIFTED SPOUTED BED

This paper presents kinetics of batchwise drying in a spouted bed apparatus with cyclically shifted gas stream, i.e. drying medium flowrate is changed cyclically along inlet cross-section of a bed during operation time.

Such an apparatus provides advantages of both spouted and oscillating beds which include: good hydrodynamic conditions within the bed and energy savings. Two types of particulate materials, i.e. beet and wheat seeds, which differ largely in physical properties were used in experiments.

Based on the results of this investigation formulae for reduced moisture content (X^red) in dependence on drying time and air temperature were developed.     

HEAT TRANSFER IN TRICKLE-BED REACTORS

The mechanism of radial heat transfer in two-phase flow through packed beds is examined. A model with 2 parameters: an effective radial thermal conductivity in the bed, k_e, and a heat transfer coefficient, h_w, at the wall, give a satisfactory interpretation of the radial temperature profile.

k_e was expressed in terms of a stagnant contribution, due to the heat conduction through the solid and the fluid in the void space, and a radial mixing contribution of the gas and liquid phases, due to the radial component of the velocity of both fluids. The radial mixing contribution of the liquid ( k_e)_L was compared with radial mass dispersion data, and a satisfactory agreement was obtained.

Moreover, ( k_e)was much higher than the gas mixing and the stagnant contributions.

Correlations for hw and k_e)_L have been proposed in accordance with the hydrodynamic regimes of the two-phase flow.     

IMPINGING JET DRYER

In coating and gravure printing, an impinging jet nozzle with high thermal efficiency for drying of coated film was developed.

Trial production 0f 40 kinds of nozzle enables to develop a high-performance impinging jet nozzle with heat transfer coefficient 1.5 times larger than that of current slit nozzle, through measurement of heat transfer coefficient, visualizations of air flow and heat transfer, and measuremenu of jet velocity and turbulence distribution. The purpose of the trial production was to expand a range of high heat transfer and promote turbulence compared with the current nozzle.

Paying attention to mass transfer within gravure ink coated film, drying characteristic of the film was analyzed by numerical solution of a set of equations governing the drying process in which concentration dependencies 0f the diffusion coefficient and the equilibrium vapor pressure were considered.

Applying these analyses. an industrial scale dryer with excellent drying efficiency has finally been developed.     

Particle-fluid heat transfer and dispersion in fluidised beds

The dynamic response of a gas fluidised bed has been measured for a range of particle sizes of lead glass ballotini and a range of particle Reynolds numbers. A dispersion model has been formulated that includes the effects of gas and particle mixing, fluid-to-particle heat transfer and intraparticle thermal conductivity, and the dynamic thermal response in theory has been found by solving the partial differential equations in the Laplace transform domain. The coefficient of thermal dispersion, the particle-to-fluid heat transfer coefficient and the intraparticle thermal conductivity have been found for the experimental response by non-linear regression. The coefficient of axial dispersion was found to be large and the particle to fluid heat transfer coefficients agreed with an established correlation for fixed and fluidised beds. The intraparticle thermal conductivity agreed with literature values for lead glass, the estimates showed no trend with flowrate, and the standard deviation of the estimate was three times smaller than the deviation found from similar experiments in fixed beds.     

EVALUATION OF OVERALL HEAT TRANSFER RATES BETWEEN BUBBLING FLUIDIZED BEDS AND IMMERSED SURFACES

A mechanistic model to evaluate heat transfer rates between the dense phase of gas fluidized beds and immersed surfaces has been recently presented by the authors. This model, denoted Generalized Heterogeneous Model (GHM), is formulated in terms of effective thermal properties for particles and interstitial gas. It has been conceived with the purpose of achieving a generalized formulation accounting simultaneously for conductive, gas convective and radiant effects.

The model was previously tested as regards its capability to predict radiative heat transfer rates in beds at high temperature and gas convective contribution in beds of large particles and high operating pressures.

It is the principal object of this contribution to evaluate the performance of the GHM for a wide range of particle sizes, covering from The purely conductive regime to the gas convection dominant regime.

Also, the main assumptions incorporated in the model are revised and some modifications are introduced, mainly on the basis of the results obtained by Mazza et al. (1997b).     

SLURRY DRYING IN GAS-PARTICLE CONTACTORS: FLUID-DYNAMICS AND CAPACITY ANALYSIS

The fluid-dynamic characteristics and evaporation capacities of several substrates (pure water, a mixture of water and carbohydrates, and apple pulps with maltodextrines) for conical spouted bed, fluidized bed and pneumatic dryers was compared.

For fluidized and spouted beds, the presence of fluids increased the fluid-dynamics parameters over the values when only inert particles were present in the beds. In both cases it was proposed correlations to predict those effects. In the spouted bed drier, increasing the load of inert particles resulted in a slight increase of the water evaporation capacity, while in the fluidized bed drier the effect was more marked. For fluidized and spouted beds, under similar operation conditions, the maximums of the suspension drying capacities are lower than the values of water evaporation, but for pneumatic drying this effect was the opposite. In general terms, the maximal capacities of fluidized bed dryers are higher than those observed in the spouted bed dryers.     

BOILING TWO-PHASE FLOW HEAT TRANSFER IN A HORIZONTAL BEND

A paucity of heat transfer rate data for boiling two-phase flow through bends was noted after an extensive literature survey, The present work was undertaken to redress this shortcoming.

A boiling water loop, capable of being operated at pressures up to 1300 kpa, was used. The lest section was in the form of a U-tube with two straight horizontal sections connected by a 180^° return bend. Using this loop, pressure drop and heat transfer data were gathered over a wide range of mass and heat fluxes. steam qualities and system pressures.

The data obtained were used to investigate the variation in heal transfer coefficients around the radial positions of the bend. Correlations for heat transfer coefficients for four different radial positions (top. bollom, inside and outside of the bend) have been presented for the first time. A possible explanation for the observed variations in heat transfer coefficients has also been suggested.     

A simple energy balance to determine heat transfer coefficients from low temperature measurements in a fluidised bed

A bench-scale fluidised bed (105 × 200 mm) was set-up for studying bed-to-gas and wall-to-bed heat transfer. Low temperature (17-200 °C) experiments were conducted at steady state avoiding excessive instrumentation and time. Compressed dry air at ambient temperature entered the bed through a distributor of a 200-mesh brass sieve and fluidised the single charge of alumina particles with a mean diameter of approximately 250 μm. The superficial gas velocity ranged from 0.085 to 0.412 m s^− 1. A simple model was developed based on steady state energy balances, i.e. equating the electrical power input separately to the rate of heat transfer from the heater walls to the bed and from the bed to the gas. The bed-to-gas heat transfer coefficient was calculated from the model equations. Inserting this value into the relevant heat transfer equations then extracted the wall-to-bed and bed-to-gas heat transfer coefficients. The agreement between the experimental and predicted values of temperatures validated the model. The latter may be successfully used to design fluidised beds for e.g. drying or combustion.     

MEASUREMENT OF INTERFACIAL AREA AND MASS TRANSFER COEFFICIENTS BY CHEMICAL METHOD OF C02 ABSORPTION INTO AQUEOUS SOLUTIONS OF NaOH IN A MODEL COLUMN WITH EXPANDED METAL SHEET PACKING

The theory of gas absorption accompanied by fast pseudo-fast order reaction which considered dependences of diffusivity, kinetic constant and Henry's law constant on absolute temperature and ionic strength was used to obtain values of effective interfacial areas and mass transfer coefficients in gas and liquid phase.

Experimental measurement of carbon dioxide absorption from mixture with air was performed in a pilot-plant column with expanded metal sheet packing irrigated with sodium hydroxide solution.

Resulting liquid and gas-side mass transfer coefficients are compared with values obtained from physical Absorption measurement of carbon dioxide into water and with measurement of gas-side mass transfer coefficient for sulphur dioxide in the same column.

The differences between determined values are discussed.     

Aerodynamics and heat transfer during coating of tablets in two-dimensional spouted bed

The two-dimensional spouted bed has been pointed out in recent research works as an improved configuration of spouted beds. The main advantages in relation to the conventional spouted beds are the easy construction and scale-up. In this work we begin the study of coating of tablets in two-dimensional spouted beds. An experimental system was constructed and the data obtained were used to determine the values of maximum pressure drop, minimum spout flowrate and gas-to-particle heat transfer coefficient, for 36 process conditions. The experimental results have been correlated with process and geometrical parameters.     

TWO-PHASE FLOW HEAT TRANSFER IN A HORIZONTAL STEAM WATER SYSTEM

There are various correlations available for predicting heat transfer coefficients during forced convective two-phase flow. The present work was undertaken to gather heat transfer rate data for the steam-water system and to evaluate (and if necessary, to modify) the available correlations in light of those data.

A boiling water loop, capable of being operated at pressures up to 1300 kPa, was used. The test section was in the form of a U-tube with two straight horizontal sections connected by a 180^° return bend. Using this loop, accurate pressure drop and heat transfer data were gathered over a wide range of mass and heat fluxes.

The data obtained were used to arrive at an improved correlation for the two-phase convective heat transfer coefficient h_pfor steam-water systems at relatively low pressures (800 kPa). The proposed correlation shows h_pis a much stronger function of Lockhart-Martinelli parameter than is indicated by most of the other correlations. Among the existing correlations evaluated, the correlation proposed by Davis and David [ 1964] and the one proposed by Dengler and Addoms (1956) fit our data best.     

Heat transfer in a swirling fluidized bed with geldart type-D particles

A relatively new variant in fluidized bed technology, designated as the swirling fluidized bed (SFB), was investigated for its heat transfer characteristics when operating with Geldart type D particles. Unlike conventional fluidized beds, the SFB imparts secondary swirling motion to the bed to enhance lateral mixing. Despite its excellent hydrodynamics, its heat transfer characteristics have not been reported in the published literature. Hence, two different sizes of spherical PVC particles (2.61 mm and 3.65 mm) with the presence of a center body in the bed have been studied at different velocities of the fluidizing gas. The wall-to-bed heat transfer coefficients were measured by affixing a thin constantan foil heater on the bed wall. Thermocouples located at different heights on the foil show a decrease in the wall heat transfer coefficient with bed height. It was seen that only a discrete particle model which accounts for the conduction between the particle and the heat transfer surface and the gas-convective augmentation can adequately represent the mechanism of heat transfer in the swirling fluidized bed.     

ANALYSIS OF SIMULTANEOUS RADIATIVE AND CONDUCTIVE HEAT TRANSFER IN FLUIDIZED BEDS

In the bubbling regime of operation for fluidized beds, the major mechanism for heat transfer is transient conduction to periodic packets of densely packed particles at the heat transfer surface. The well known Mickley and Fairbanks model, with various subsequently proposed modifications, adequately describes this transient conduction mechanism. However, no adequate theory exists for heat transfer in high-temperature fluidized beds where radiative contribution becomes significant.

Analysis of the radiative contribution is complicated by the nonlinear interaction of radiation with conduction/convection. This paper describes a differential formulation of the combined radiative/ conductive heat transfer process. The discrete flux method used by Churchill et al. for radiative transport in heterogeneous media is applied here to the problem of transient heat transfer to packets in fluidized beds. Packets are modeled as radiatively participating media with absorption, scattering, and emission of radiation. Simultaneous solution of the governing differential equations for temperature and forward and backward radiation fluxes permits calculation of instantaneous heat flux at the heat-transfer surface. Radiative transfer during bubble contact is added as a time-weighted contribution.

Using experimental data on radiative cross sections (from packed media experiments) and experimental data on packet residence times (from fluidized bed experiments), the combined conductive/radiative heat transfer to packets was obtained for examples of fluidized beds at different fluidizing velocities and wall temperatures. The analytical results indicate that the relative importance of radiation is affected by particle size, average packet residence time, and the radiative attenuation cross sections. For operating conditions representative of fluidized bed combustion, the model estimates a 10 to 20 percent contribution by radiation to the total heat transfer. Comparison to limited experimental data from the literature shows reasonable agreement.