A circulating fluidised bed

Induced particle circulation was studied in a 0.3 m diam. air fluidised bed of sand with central draught tubes of 0.2 m and 0.15 m diam. and 0.6 m and 1.2 m in length. A “two-dimensional” bed, 0.3 m in width, of similar cross-section, was also used to study catalyst particle circulation. Superficial gas velocities of up to 0.4 m/s of air were supplied to the base of the draught tube to induce particle circulation rates in the annular downcomer of up to 400 kg/m² s. The circulation rate was shown to be affected by the gap height between the distributor and the draught tube, but was not affected by the draught tube length of height of bed above it. A model was developed to predict the circulation rate, assuming that the driving force for circulation was the density difference between draught tube and annulus and that energy was dissipated by particle shear at the walls. The theory is in reasonable agreement with the experimental results. A tentative model for predicting the shear stress at the wall of a flowing fluidised bed is presented.