| Abstract: | Experiments were performed to study the hydrodynamic characteristics of a cocurrent, gas-liquid-solid fluidized bed containing cylindrical hydrotreating catalysts under conditions of high gas holdup. These conditions were established using an aqueous t-pentanol (0.5 wt. %) solution as the liquid phase in an attempt to simulate reaction conditions for hydrotreating of residual oils and coal liquefaction. Separate three-phase experiments were performed with air and water to investigate the effect of surface tension on hydrodynamic behavior. A mathematical model was developed to describe the minimum fluidization velocity behavior. Bed voidage, gas holdup and terminal velocity of the particles were analyzed and correlated empirically to investigate the effect of particle shape and liquid surface tension. A bubble-wakes interaction coefficient defined by Jean and Fan (1987) was determined for cylindrical particles. |
