Investigating the hydrodynamics of gas–solid bubbling fluidization using recurrence plot

Hydrodynamics of gas–solid fluidized bed was investigated using time series of pressure fluctuations by evaluation of the corresponding recurrence plot (RP). Patterns within RP of the fluidized bed were classified into two groups of local white areas (LWA), showing macro structures, and local bold areas (LBA), showing meso and micro structures. These patterns showed that the fluidized bed system has three different hydrodynamic behaviors as superficial gas velocity increases; at low gas velocities, macro structures become more dominant, further increase in gas velocity empowers influence of finer structures on the hydrodynamic and finally the fluidization regime changes. Additionally, these results were confirmed by recurrence rate (RR) and average cycle frequency. Comparison of RP of the fluidized bed with Lorenz and complete stochastic systems showed that the fluidized bed is more complex than Lorenz system, however, it’s hydrodynamic has not stochastic nature.     

Investigating the flow structures in semi-cylindrical bubbling fluidized bed using pressure fluctuation signals

Hydrodynamic characteristics of a gas-solid semi-cylindrical fluidized bed was experimentally investigated and compared with that of a cylindrical bed by analysis of pressure fluctuations. Pressure fluctuations were analyzed in time and frequency domains using standard deviation, power spectral density function and discrete wavelet transform methods. Experiments were carried out in two semi-cylindrical and cylindrical fluidized beds of 14?cm in diameter each, operating in the bubbling fluidization regime at ambient pressure and temperature. Both beds were filled with glass beads of various sizes (120, 290 and 450?µm). The superficial gas velocity was varied in the range of 0.2–0.8?m/s. Results showed that although the minimum fluidization velocity is influenced by the particle size, it is not affected by the geometry of the bed. It was shown that the hydrodynamics of both beds are very similar and the difference is negligible. Number of large bubbles is slightly larger in the semi-cylindrical bed as compared with the cylindrical bed. Also, increase in the particle size and superficial gas velocity result in a greater difference between the number of large bubbles in both beds and the number of large bubbles in the semi-cylindrical bed increases slightly faster than in the cylindrical bed.     

Dynamic analysis of the scale-up of fluidized beds

A method is developed for hydrodynamics scale-up of gas-solid fluidized beds based on recurrence quantification analysis of nonlinear time series of pressure fluctuations. This method is an improvement of the previous method by including the entropy of pressure fluctuations to the list of scale-up parameters. Experiments were carried out at varying conditions, e. g., bed diameter (5, 9, 15, 40 and 80 cm ID), particle size (150, 300, 400 and 600 μm), bed height at aspect ratios (1, 1.5 and 2) and superficial gas velocities (ranging 0.1 to 1.7 m/s) to identify the main parameters that influence the dynamics and to develop a general interpretation of the analysis results. By investigation of the effect of operating parameters on entropy, a quantitative empirical correlation is proposed for including the entropy in the scale-up parameters. It was shown that this correlation improves the Glicksman’s method for the scale-up of fluidized beds.     

Experimental investigation of bubble behavior in gas-solid fluidized bed

In this work, to investigate the source of pressure fluctuations, behavior of a single bubble in a two-dimensional gas–solid fluidized bed was studied. Pressure sensors located at different heights of the bed measured presure fluctuations, and simultaneously a high speed camera was used to pursue all steps from formation to eruption of bubbles. Two types of particles were applied with different sizes and densities. Experiments showed that the maximum amplitude of formation was independent of the bubble diameter. But, it depended on density of particles, velocity of injection and the distance from bed surface. When injection stopped, there was a minimum in pressure profile related to the higher dense phase voidage for a higher superficial gas velocity after injection. Also, the maximum pressure fluctuation of bubble eruptions was related to the bubble diameter, density and size of particles. It was concluded that pressure fluctuations of formation, passing and eruption of bubbles in fluidized beds are originated due to changes in dense phase voidage, bed voidage and movement of particles during bubble eruption.     

Detecting Sudden Changes in Fluidization by Wall Vibration

Vibrations of fluidized bed walls reflect the nonlinear characteristics of bed hydrodynamics in gas–solid fluidized beds. Experiments were carried out in a lab-scale, two-dimensional fluidized bed operated at ambient conditions for three particle sizes, various gas velocities, three aspect ratios, and different probe locations. The S-statistic method, which is, in fact, the comparison of attractors of two dynamic signals in the state space, was used to determine de-fluidization condition in the bed. Different scenarios were tested to evaluate whether this method is able to detect changes in the hydrodynamics fluidized bed based on the bed vibrations, including change in the bed mass, particle size, and gas velocity. The results showed that this method is capable of detecting the de-fluidization state in the bed as a result of changes in gas velocity, particle size, and bed mass. However, an important factor is the location of probe, which can dramatically affect the capability of this method for detecting the de-fluidization state.     

Gas flow influences on bubbling and flow characteristics of fluidized bed with immersed tube under electrostatic effects

Industrial bubbling fluidized beds are used to fluidize particles. When particles are fluidized, electrostatic effects will cause the particles to form obvious agglomerates, thus reducing fluidization performance. For better fluidization performance, internal component immersed tubes are usually placed in fluidized bed to limit the bubble size and reduce particle agglomerates. Meanwhile, pulsed gas flow can increase particle disturbance, which is also an effective method to reduce particle agglomerates. In this paper, the CFD-DEM model under electrostatic effects is constructed to research the bubbling and flow characteristics in fluidized beds. Firstly, particle mixing qualities with and without the immersed tube are compared. Then, the effects of different superficial gas velocities are investigated with an immersed tube. Finally, different frequencies are applied to study the energy loss and flow characteristics around the immersed tube. The results show that the addition of the immersed tube can reduce bubble size to facilitate particle mixing. Due to the obstruction of the immersed tube, the bubbles are generated near the wall. As the superficial gas velocity increases, the larger bubbles are generated. Moreover, the electrostatic force applied to the particles varies periodically with the frequency of incoming pulsed gas flow, with fluctuations maximal at 2.5 Hz.     

Sulfation and attrition of calcium sorbent in a bubbling fluidized bed

A bubbling fluidized bed reactor was used as a desulfurization apparatus in this study. The height of the bed was 2.5 m, and the inner diameter was 9 cm. The bed materials were calcium sorbent and silica sand. The effects of the operating parameters of the flue gas desulfurization including relative humidity, temperature, superficial gas velocity, and the particle size of calcium sorbent on SO₂ removal efficiency and calcium sorbent conversion and attrition rate in the fluidized bed were investigated. It was found that the temperature effect in our system was negligible from 40 to 65°C. A higher relative humidity had a higher calcium conversion and a higher sulfur dioxide removal efficiency. Moreover, a smaller particle size of calcium sorbent had a lower calcium conversion in the cyclone but a higher sulfur dioxide removal efficiency. A lower superficial gas velocity resulted in a higher sulfur dioxide removal efficiency and a higher calcium conversion, thus, the total volume of the flue gas treated was maximum near the minimum fluidization velocity. Finally, an attrition rate model proposed in this study could predict the elutriation rate satisfactorily.     

Dominant Flow Structures in Gas–Solid Fluidized Beds Using Time and Frequency Domains Analyses

Time series analysis techniques in time domain and average cycle frequency were applied to characterize bubbling fluidization. The experiments were carried out in a laboratory scale fluidized bed, operated under ambient conditions and various sizes of particles, measurement heights, and different superficial gas velocities. It was found that a minimum in average cycle frequency and flatness and a shift of skewness from negative to positive against velocity correspond to shift from macrostructures and finer structures of the flow rather than transition velocity from the bubbling to turbulent regime. The power spectrum estimation of the measured pressure fluctuations shows that the peak dominant frequency of the pressure fluctuations is about 1.5–2.5 Hz which is corresponding to the macrostructures of the bed. Accordingly, the onset of turbulent fluidization regime was detected through standard deviation analysis. It was shown that the simple analysis techniques still have interesting information about hydrodynamics of fluidization and they can accurately estimate transition between dominant flow structures of a gas–solid fluidized bed.     

Using particle trajectory for determining the fluidization regime in gas–solid fluidized beds

Transition from bubbling to turbulent in a conventional gas–solid fluidized bed was evaluated from trajectory of particles in fluidized bed. A series of experiments were carried out in a lab-scale fluidization bed using radioactive particle tracking (RPT) technique for recording the position of a tracer in the bed. Statistical parameters, such as standard deviation and skewness of the time–position data, were utilized to determine the transition velocity from bubbling to turbulent regime. The results showed that the data obtained by the RPT technique can predict transition velocity. It was shown that the standard deviation of position fluctuations reach a maximum with increasing superficial gas velocity corresponding to regime transition. It was shown that transition from bubbling to turbulent can be determined using skewness and kurtosis of time–position data. The velocities obtained in this work are in good agreement with the available correlations.     

Effect of flow pulsation on fluidization degree of gas-solid fluidized beds by using coupled CFD-DEM

In this paper, the effect of inlet flow type on fluidization of a gas-solid fluidized bed was studied by using numerical simulations. Gas-solid fluidized beds are widely used in processes such as heating, cooling, drying, granulation, mixing, segregating and coating. To simulate the gas-particle flows, the unresolved surface CFD‐DEM was used considering Eulerian–Lagrangian approach. The fluid phase was modeled by computational fluid dynamics (CFD) while the solid phase was solved by discrete element method (DEM), and the coupling between gas and solid phases was considered to be four-way. The uniform and pulsed flows were injected through three nozzles located at the bottom of a rectangular bed. Three types of pulsed flow were considered: sinusoidal, rectangular and relocating. The fluidized bed behavior was discussed in terms of minimum fluidization velocity (MFV), pressure drop, bubble formation, bed expansion, particles velocity and, gas-solid interaction and particle contact forces. The results of different simulations indicated that the minimum fluidization velocity of the beds fluidized by pulsed flows was decreased by up to 33%. The influence of the pulsation amplitude on the minimum fluidization velocity was more significant than that of the pulsation frequency. The bed expansion and particles average velocity were increased by the pulsed flows, while the pressure drop and interaction force were decreased. As the pulsation frequency increased, the pressure drop and gas-solid interaction force increased, although size of the bubbles and bed expansion decreased. It was also observed that in large vibration frequencies, the bubbles became more regular. In the sinusoidal flow, the velocity and contact force between the particles were initially increased by frequency and in larger frequencies they were decreased.     

Bed expansion and fluctuation in cylindrical gas solid fluidized beds with stirred promoters

A profound and fundamental understanding of bed dynamics such as bed expansion ratio and bed fluctuation ratio of irregular particles of binary mixtures has been made in a cylindrical fluidized column for gas solid systems, resulting in a predictive model for fluidized beds. In the present work attempt has been made to study the effect of various system parameters (viz. rotational speed of the promoter, initial static bed height, superficial velocity of the fluidizing medium, particle size and density) on the bed dynamics through experimentation. The correlations for the bed dynamics have been developed on the basis of dimensional analysis. It was observed that the calculated values of bed dynamics agree well with the experimental values in most of the cases.     

Effect of various parameters on bubble formation due to a single jet pulse in two-dimensional coarse-particle fluidized beds

A soft-sphere discrete particle model based on re-arrangement of the gas phase governing equations has been developed to investigate the formation of a single bubble due to a central jet pulse in two-dimensional coarse-particle fluidized beds. A comprehensive study is made on the influence of bed width, particle properties and jet velocity on the bubble characteristics. The bubble grows heterogeneously when its diameter reaches one third of the bed width and elongates rapidly when its transverse size exceeds about one half of the bed width. At a given superficial velocity, a bed with a larger width leads to a decrease of gas leakage of the bubble. The influence of particle density and particle size on the bubble characteristics can be considered as the effect of the minimum fluidization velocity, which is consistent with the results obtained by two-fluid model in literature. In the presence of wall restrictions, bubble grows into an egg shape rather than an elliptical shape at detachment time when the superficial velocity is higher than the minimum fluidization velocity. Besides, a thin layer in dilute regime is observed near the top of the bed at a larger jet velocity. A bed of finer particles tends to form this layer more easily.     

Experimental fluid dynamics of particles in a dielectric barrier discharge plasma-enhanced spouted bed

This study proposed the fluidized particles with dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma in a slot-rectangular divergent-base spouted bed and focused on the dynamics of solid particles with the plasma irradiation. Two bed materials (Polypropylene (PP) particles and Polyamide (PA) particles) with same diameter (3 mm) were fluidized in this study. Fluidization parameters included gas velocity (7.4–14.9 m/s), particle amount (100–500), and plasma parameter (apply voltage, 0 and 7 kV) as the applied voltage were investigated here. Particle velocity profiles were analyzed through the methods of particle image velocimetry (PIV) and particle tracking velocimetry (PTV). Results show that the particle velocity was increased with the plasma irradiation, mainly by the enhancement in the vertical direction. The location of the highest particle velocity area related to the fluidization behavior of particles. With the increase of superficial gas velocity, the location of the highest particle velocity area raised along the central line but not reached the top of the solid bed. While the electron temperature of Ar plasma decreased with the addition of particles. Two electric fields (external electric field and surface charge electric field) presenting in the system were assumed to give the reason for the changes of the particle fluid dynamics.     

Hydrodynamic studies on fluidization of Red mud: CFD simulation

Hydrodynamic studies are carried out for the fluidization process using fine i.e. Geldart-A particles. Effects of superficial velocity on bed pressure drop and bed expansion is studied in the present work. Commercial CFD software package, Fluent 13.0 is used for simulations. Red mud obtained as waste material from Aluminum industry having average particle size of 77 microns is used as the bed material. Eulerian–Eulerian model coupled with kinetic theory of granular flow is used for simulating unsteady gas–solid fluidization process. Momentum exchange coefficients are calculated using the Gidaspow drag functions. Standard k–ε model has been used to describe the turbulent pattern. Bed pressure drop and bed expansion studies are simulated by CFD which are explained with the help of contour and vector plots. CFD simulation results are compared with the experimental findings. The comparison shows that CFD modeling is capable of predicting the hydrodynamic behaviors of gas–solid fluidized bed for fine particles with reasonable accuracy.     

Fluidization behavior of glass beads under different vibration modules

The expansion of free bubbling gas fluidized beds has been investigated experimentally in a two-dimensional perspex-walled bed. Glass beads were fluidized with dried air at varying gas velocities, while the bed was vibrated at different frequencies, amplitudes and directions to study their effects on the fluidization quality. The experimental results showed that the particle flow pattern depends on the vibration direction, especially at superficial gas velocities less than the minimum fluidization velocity U_mf. The effect of horizontal vibration on fluidization behavior of glass beads exists at superficial gas velocities less than U_mf, while the effect of vertical vibration on fluidization behavior still exists even at higher superficial gas velocities than U_mf.     

CFD-DEM study of the effects of solid properties and aeration conditions on heat transfer in fluidized bed

The solid properties are of significant influence on the thermal performance of the fluidized bed. In order to provide valuable information for the application of this equipment, a numerical study is carried to clarify the effects of solid properties on the heat transfer characteristics in a lab-scale fluidized bed by means of the CFD-DEM method. Specially, two aeration conditions, i.e. the same superficial velocity and the same fluidization number, are considered. The results show that the violent convective mechanism at bed bottom plays a significant role in the heating of the bed material. The entrainment of rising bubbles and hence solid mixing are the key factors to get better temperature uniformity of the bed during the heating process. With the decrease of particle density and size, the internal circulation of solid phase is strengthened under the same superficial velocity, while slightly weakened under the same fluidization number. Obvious resemblance can be captured between solid mixing and temperature uniformity, and the enhanced solid mixing usually leads to homogeneous temperature distribution of the bed. It can be found that the heating rate decreases with increasing solid density regardless of aeration setup. In addition, it is positively related to particle diameter under the same fluidization number, while keep unchanged under the same superficial velocity. Furthermore, enhanced solid mixing and better temperature uniformity can be captured with increasing solid heat capacity, which confirms that gas temperature shows considerable effect on gas-solid flow.     

The effect of ash and filter media characteristics on particle filtration efficiency in fluidized bed

The phenomenon of filtering particles by a fluidized bed is complex and the parameters that affect the control efficiency of filtration have not yet been clarified. The major objective of the study focuses on the effect of characteristics of ash and filter media on filtration efficiency in a fluidized bed. The performance of the fluidized bed for removal of particles in flue gas at various fluidized operating conditions, and then the mechanisms of collecting particles were studied. The evaluated parameters included (1) various ashes (coal ash and incinerator ash); (2) bed material size; (3) operating gas velocity; and (4) bed temperature. The results indicate that the removal efficiency of coal ash increases initially with gas velocity, then decreases gradually as velocity exceeds some specific value. Furthermore, the removal of coal ash enhance with silica sand size decreasing. When the fluidized bed is operated at high temperature, diffusion is a more important mechanism than at room temperature especially for small particles. Although the inertial impaction is the main collection mechanism, the "bounce off" effect when the particles collide with the bed material could reduce the removal efficiency significantly. Because of layer inversion in fluidized bed, the removal efficiency of incinerator ash is decreased with increasing of gas velocity.     

Circulating particle flow and air bubble behavior at various superficial air velocities in two-dimensional gas–solid fluidized beds

Circulating particle flow and behavior of air bubbles in a two-dimensional gas-solid fluidized bed of various superficial air velocities are investigated by recording videos of movement of a plastic pellet put into the fluidized bed and rising air bubbles using a video camera. The movement velocity of the plastic pellet and properties of the air bubbles such as the bubble rising velocity and the bubble distribution coefficient, which shows the proportion of the bubbles erupting at the center of the bed surface, are measured by analyzing the videos. It is found that the plastic pellet moves following the circulating particle flow; the particles rise up at the center of a column and fall down near the side walls, and that the movement velocity increases with the superficial air velocity. The bubble rising velocity, the apparent erupting bubble size and the bubble distribution coefficient increase, and the bubble eruption frequency slightly decreases, with the superficial air velocity. These results indicate that the circulating particle flow is generated by the rising air bubbles. In particular, the fact that the air bubbles rise at the center of the column and coalesce with other bubbles is closely related to the generation of the circulating particle flow.     

Evaluation of direct quadrature method of moment for the internally circulating fluidized bed simulation with ultrafine particles

In the framework of the Euler-Euler gas–solid two-fluid model, the particle population balance equation is solved by the direct quadrature method of moment. The dynamic process of ultrafine particle movement and aggregation in an internally circulating fluidized bed is simulated. The distribution of the concentration and velocity of the agglomerates in the flow process is given, and the changes of the moments in the bed are shown. The effects of different breakage coefficients and inlet gas rates on the concentration distribution of agglomerates are compared. The results show that the particle size decreases with the increase of breakage coefficient, and the time required to reach steady fluidization state increases; the higher the inlet velocity, the better the effect of circulating particles in the bed. When there is a certain gas velocity difference between the two sides, the effect of circulating particles in the bed is better.     

Entrainment of Heterogeneous Particles from Gas-Fluidized Bed

The entrainment of heterogeneous particles in a gas-fluidized bed for particle mixtures of categories A and B according to the Geldart classification was conducted in this study. The experiments were carried out in an acrylic column of 0.092 m diameter. The distributors were perforated plates of up to 5.9% free area fraction. Measurements of pressure gradients were made using 24 pressure taps. Glass beads with particle diameters from 60 to 400 μm were used. The mixtures were described using the Rosin-Rammler-Bennet granulometric distribution model. The transport disengaging height (TDH) heights were obtained using the Geldart methodology. A 2⁵ experimental design was applied relating the dispersion index, mean diameter, solid mass, superficial gas velocity, and free area fraction of the distributor to obtain the TDH heights. Slugging and transition for turbulence regimes characterized the behaviors of fluidized beds. The results showed that TDH heights for heterogeneous particles were dependent on the solid mass and superficial gas velocity.