Investigation of fluidized bed behaviour using electrical capacitance tomography

The temporal and cross-sectional distributions of particles in a 127 mm diameter fluidized bed have been obtained using a new generation, high-speed electrical capacitance tomography. Two planes of eight electrodes were used and mounted at 160 and 660 mm from the gas distributor which was a 3 mm thick porous plastic plate (maximum pore size of 50-70 μ m). 3 mm diameter, nearly-spherical polyethylene granules made up the bed. Experiments at sampling frequencies of 200-2000 cross-sections per second and gas superficial velocities from just below the minimum fluidization to 83% above minimum fluidization velocities were used. The time series of the cross-sectional average void fractions have been examined both directly and in amplitude and frequency space. The last two used probability density functions and power spectral densities. The information gathered shows that the fluidized bed was operating in the slugging mode, which is not surprising given the size of the particles. It has been found that an increase in the excess gas velocity above the minimum fluidization velocity resulted in an increase in the mean void fraction, an increase in the length and velocity of the slug bubbles as well as the bed height, and a slight decrease in the slug frequency. The results are presented in a level of detail suitable for comparison with later numerical simulation.     

Classifying the fluidization and segregation behavior of binary mixtures using particle size and density ratios

Experimental investigations show that fluidized binary mixtures exhibit varied pressure drop profiles and segregation patterns, depending on the level of disparity due to size and/or density differences. In this study, different mixture types are mapped on a graph of density versus size ratios. It is found that the ratio of the minimum fluidization velocities of individual components can be used to categorize these mixtures. A simple correlation is developed to compute the ratio of the minimum fluidization velocities based on the density and size ratios. Categorizing the binary mixtures in this manner gives a qualitative understanding of how the different mixtures behave on fluidization. © 2010 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 2011     

Effect of agitation on the fluidization behavior of a gas–solid fluidized bed with a frame impeller

The effect of agitation on the fluidization performance of a gas–solid fluidized bed with a frame impeller is experimentally and numerically investigated. A 3‐D unsteady computational fluid dynamics method is used, combining a two‐fluid model and the kinetic theory of granular flow. The rotation of the impeller is implemented with a multiple reference frame method. The numerical model is validated using experimental data of the bed pressure drop and pressure fluctuation. Although the minimum fluidizing velocity and bed pressure drop are independent of the impeller agitation, a sufficiently high agitation speed yields higher fluidization performance with reduced bubble diameters and internal circulations of particles. The fluidized bed can be divided into three zones: inlet zone where the gas distribution plays a major role, agitated fluidization zone where the impeller agitation has a positive effect on fluidization, and free fluidization zone where the impeller agitation has no effect on fluidization. © 2012 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 59: 1066–1074, 2013     

Using stereo XPTV to determine cylindrical particle distribution and velocity in a binary fluidized bed

Nonspherical particles are commonly found when processing biomass or municipal solid waste. In this study, cylindrical particles are used as generic nonspherical particles and are co-fluidized with small spherical particles. X-ray particle tracking velocimetry is used to track the three-dimensional particle position and velocity of a single tagged cylindrical particle over a long time period in the binary fluidized bed. The effects of superficial gas velocity (u _f), cylindrical particle mass fraction (α), particle sphericity (Φ), and bed material size on the cylindrical tracer particle location and velocity are investigated. Overall, the cylindrical particles are found in the near-wall region more often than in the bed center region. Increasing the superficial gas velocity u _f provide a slight improvement in the uniformity of the vertical and horizontal distributions. Increasing the cylindrical particle mass fraction α causes the bed mixing conditions to transition from complete mixing into partial mixing. © 2018 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 65: 520–535, 2019     

Critical fluidization velocities and maximum bed pressure drops of homogeneous binary mixture of irregular particles in gas-solid tapered fluidized beds

Recently, tapered fluidized bed has become more attractive because of the problems associated with conventional (cylindrical) beds like fluidization of widely distributed particles, entrainment of particles and limitation of fluidization velocity. There have been some investigations on hydrodynamics of uniform single size particles but there have been no detailed studies of homogeneous binary mixture of particles of different sizes and different particles in tapered beds. In the present work, an attempt has been made to study the hydrodynamic characteristics of homogeneous binary mixture of irregular particles in tapered beds having different tapered angles. Correlations have been developed for important characteristics, especially critical fluidization velocities and maximum bed pressure drops of homogeneous binary mixture of irregular particles in gas-solid tapered fluidized beds. Experimental values of critical fluidization velocities and maximum bed pressure drops have been compared with the developed correlations.     

Transition to turbulent fluidization in a binary solids fluidized bed

This paper presents a study on the transition velocity from bubbling to turbulent fluidization in a binary solids fluidized bed. Experiments were carried out with two kinds of binary solids mixtures with FCC as fine particles and silica sands as coarse particles. The onset velocity to turbulent fluidization, U_c, determined by the measurement of pressure fluctuations, was found to increase with increasing the fraction of coarse/heavy solids. By introducing an equivalent particle diameter and an equivalent particle density, the results obtained in this study can properly be described by a general correlation of U_c proposed by Cai and co-workers (1989) for mono-density particles with relatively narrow size distribution.     

Correlations for critical fluidization velocity and maximum bed pressure drop for heterogeneous binary mixture of irregular particles in gas–solid tapered fluidized beds

The tapered fluidized bed is a remedial measure for certain drawbacks of the gas–solid system, by the fact that a velocity gradient exists along the axial direction of the bed with increase in cross-sectional area. To study the dynamic characteristics of heterogeneous binary mixture of irregular particles, several experiments have been carried out with varying tapered angles and composition of the mixtures with various particles. The tapered angle of the bed has been found to affect the characteristics of the bed. Models based on dimensional analysis have been proposed to predict the critical fluidization velocity and maximum bed pressure drop for gas–solid tapered fluidized beds. Experimental values of critical fluidization velocity and maximum bed pressure drop compare well with that predicted by the proposed models and the average absolute errors are well within 15%.     

过热蒸汽流化床流化特性的实验研究

在底部直径为120 mm的锥型流化床中,以玻璃珠为流化颗粒,过热蒸汽为流化介质,研究了固体颗粒在过热蒸汽流化床中的流化特性,考察了操作温度和压力对临界流化速度(umf)的影响.结果表明,过热蒸汽流化床的流化行为与热空气相似,临界流化速度(umf)随床层温度的升高而减小,随床内压力的增大而减小;在相同温度条件下,过热蒸汽流化床的临界流化速度比热空气大.     

Prediction of minimum fluidization velocity for vibrated fluidized bed

The prediction of minimum fluidization velocity for vibrated fluidized bed was performed. The Geldart group A and C particles were used as the fluidizing particles. The method based on Ergun equation was used to predict the minimum fluidization velocity. The calculated results were compared with the experimental data.The calculated results of minimum fluidization velocity are in good agreement with experimental data for Geldart group A particles. For group C particles, the difference between the calculated results and experimental data is large because of the formation of agglomerates. In this case, the determination of agglomerate diameter is considered to be necessary to predict the minimum fluidization velocity.     

Mixing and segregation in a liquid fluidized bed of particles with different size and density

Experimental studies have been carried out on fluidization of irregular particle mixtures of different size and density. The mixing and segregation phenomena could be interpreted on the basis of the diffusion model of Kennedy and Bretton. The dependence of computed particle dispersion coefficient on liquid velocity, particle density and size has been discussed.     

Solids mixing kinetics and segregation in a vibrostabilized fluid bed

The vibration-induced reduction in internal mobility of a fluidized bed, which was reported in a recent paper (Beeckmans and MacWilliam, 1986), has been confirmed using a larger bed. It has now been found that above a particular fluidization velocity internal mobility is not affected by vibrations. Distributor grid geometry was found to have a small effect on the fluidizing gas velocity at which bubbles are first observed at the surface of the bed, but it had an insignificant effect on solids mixing rates. The extent of segregation at steady state was reduced by vibrations with both flotsam and jetsam tracer particles.     

Numerical modeling of particle fluidization behavior in a rotating fluidized bed

In this study, numerical modeling of particle fluidization behaviors in a rotating fluidized bed (RFB) was conducted. The proposed numerical model was based on a DEM (Discrete Element Method)-CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) coupling model. Fluid motion was calculated two-dimensionally by solving the local averaged basic equations. Particle motion was calculated two-dimensionally by the DEM. Calculation of fluid motion by the CFD and particle motion by the DEM were simultaneously conducted in the present model. Geldart group B particles (diameter and particle density were 0.5 mm and 918 kg/m³, respectively) were used for both calculation and experiment. First of all, visualization of particle fluidization behaviors in a RFB was conducted. The calculated particle fluidization behaviors by our proposed numerical model, such as the formation, growth and eruption of bubble and particle circulation, showed good agreement with the actual fluidization behaviors, which were observed by a high-speed video camera. The estimated results of the minimum fluidization velocity (U_mf) and the bed pressure drop at fluidization condition (ΔP_f) by our proposed model and other available analytical models in literatures were also compared with the experimental results. It was found that our proposed model based on the DEM-CFD coupling model could predict the U_mf and ΔP_f with a high accuracy because our model precisely considered the local downward gravitational effect, while the other analytical models overpredicted the ΔP_f due to ignoring the gravitational effect.     

Minimum fluidization velocity of binary mixtures

The fast defluidization method was used to measure the minimum fluidization velocities of binary systems. Based on the experimental data obtained from the published literature and from this work, different correlations used for predicting the minimum fluidization velocities of binary systems were evaluated and compared.     

流化床内介质主要流化特性参数的研究

利用6种不同粒度的磁铁矿粉作为加重质研究流化床的流化特性。研究表明,随着颗粒平均粒径的减小,床层表面的气泡尺寸明显减小,适宜分选的气速可调范围变宽,有利于流化床分选的进行,为确定最佳的分选条件提供了依据。     

High-velocity fluidization of solid particles in a liquid-solid circulating fluidized bed system

Particulate and aggregative fluidizations in a liquid-solid circulating fluidized bed system are characterized by chaotic time series analysis of local voidage and heat transfer fluctuations in terms of the correlation dimension and Kolmogorov entropy. Both correlation dimension and Komogorov entropy of the voidate fluctuation are found to decrease with decreasing bed voidage in both fluidization regimes, suggesting the suppression of chaotic motion of individual particles due to high solid concentration. The correlation dimension of the heat transfer fluctation in the aggregative fluidization regime is higher than that in the particulate fluidization regime. This reflects the complex convective motion of liquid and solid phases induced by the formation of the liquid streaks and aggregates of particles.     

变截面流化床理论模型及数值模拟

基于双流体模型,在一定假设的条件下推导得到了用于描述变截面床流化过程的局部平衡模型。对于局部平衡模型,空间导数项的离散采用五阶精度的WENO有限差分格式,时间导数项的离散采用TVD Runge-Kutta型的离散格式,对流量突变后的瞬态过程进行了模拟,得到固相体积分数在整个变化过程中沿床高的分布以及床高变化规律和床层表面颗粒速度变化曲线。对于流量突增过程,在床内不同位置形成了一系列的连续波,当所有的连续波到达床面整个变化过程结束。而对于流量突然减小过程,将会有固相体积分数间断在分布板处形成,当所有间断到达床面时,塌落过程结束。     

PVC类废塑料在冷态流化床中流化行为的研究

在Φ50 mm×800 mm圆柱体的冷态流化床反应器中,对PVC类废塑料、石英砂及其混合物的流化特性进行了研究。研究了PVC颗粒粒径与混合物料中PVC质量分数对混合物料的流化特性的影响规律,得到指导热态实验的关键参数。实验结果表明,PVC颗粒粒径与混合物料中PVC质量分数会影响混合物料的最小流化速度,也影响PVC颗粒与石英砂混合的均匀度。混合物料中PVC的质量分数越小,其最小流化速度就越小,混合物料也越容易实现充分混合;PVC颗粒为Geldart B类颗粒,但由于形状不规则,黏性力大,塌落特性明显,流化性能较差,显示出C类颗粒的流化特性,同时实际的最小流化速度要大于理论最小流化速度。PVC与石英砂混合物料冷态流化行为的研究结果为热态流化床降解PVC颗粒提供了基础数据和实践依据。     

Minimum fluidization velocity at elevated temperature in tapered fluidized bed

Very little data of minimum fluidization velocity at elevated temperatures of tapered bed are available in the literature. This study was undertaken to provide some data under elevated temperature conditions in tapered bed. Data on minimum fluidization velocity have been obtained experimentally for temperature up to 800 °C in case of 0.5 mm diameter of sand particles and up to 500 °C in case of 1 mm diameter of glass beads in tapered bed. An equation valid for the bed has been developed in terms of Archimedes number and Reynolds number. The experimental values for minimum fluidization velocity at elevated temperatures have been compared with the calculated values obtained from present equation and from earlier equations developed by other authors for ambient conditions in conventional (cylindrical) bed and tapered bed. Fairly good agreement was found to exist between the calculated (from present equation) and the experimental values.     

Prediction of critical fluidization velocity and maximum bed pressure drop for binary mixture of regular particles in gas–solid tapered fluidized beds

The problems associated with conventional (cylindrical) fluidized beds, viz., fluidization of wider size range of particles, entrainment of particles and limitation of fluidization velocity could be overcome by using tapered fluidized beds. Limited work has been carried out to study the hydrodynamics of single materials with uniform size particles in tapered beds. In the present work, an attempt has been made to study the hydrodynamic characteristics of binary mixtures of homogeneous and heterogeneous regular particles (glass bead and sago) in tapered fluidized beds having different tapered angles. Correlations have been developed for critical fluidization velocity and maximum bed pressure drop for gas–solid tapered fluidized beds for binary mixtures of regular particles. Model predictions were compared with experimental data, which were in good agreement.