Hydrodynamics of a superheated steam vacuum fluidized bed

Hydrodynamics of a superheated steam vacuum fluidized bed was experimentally studied. In these experiments, eight different types of large particles (1970–7430 μm) were used. In all cases, a behavior similar to that found in an air fluidized bed was observed. The minimum fluidization velocity was found to be increasing with decreasing operating pressure. In the case of employing superheated steam, the minimum fluidization conditions are established at a lower velocity than using air as the fluidizing medium. These tendencies are attributed to the variation of the mean free path of molecules. On the other hand, the experiments showed that the bed voidage in the minimum fluidization conditions is almost insensitive to the variation of the operating pressure. Several equations were developed to predict the minimum fluidization velocity. The values provided by these equations were compared with the experimental data as well as with the predictions of the correlations presented in the technical literature.     

单组分球形颗粒最小流化速度的简便计算

对Ｇｅｌｄａｒｔｓ的Ｂ．Ｄ两类物料建立了一个新的采用倾斜量筒的随意松散堆积法来简易可行地确定该单分物料随意散堆积空隙率。实验数据表明，这一随意松散堆积空隙率可用来代替最小流化空隙的率的数值，并用Ｅｒｇｕｎ方程式，求取最小流化速度。     

HYDRODYNAMICS OF MAGNETOFLUIDIZED ADMIXTURE BEDS

Hydrodynamic behavior of a magnetofluidized bed is investigated over a wide range of magnetic-field intensity values as a function of superficial air velocity. The bed comprises of different proportions of copper and iron particles and is contained in a Plexiglas column of 0.102 m internal diameter. The uniform constant magnetic field is created by a Helmholtz electromagnet. In particular, the bed pressure drop is measured as a function of superficial air velocity and characteristic bed voidage and fluidizing velocities are determined at minimum fluidization and bubbling bed conditions. These characteristic properties of the magnetically stabilized fiuidized beds are reported as a function of magnetic-field intensity, and are correlated by suitable expressions. These will be useful for prediction purposes related to design and operation.     

HYDRODYNAMICS OF MAGNETOFLUIDIZED ADMIXTURE BEDS

Hydrodynamic behavior of a magnetofluidized bed is investigated over a wide range of magnetic-field intensity values as a function of superficial air velocity. The bed comprises of different proportions of copper and iron particles and is contained in a Plexiglas column of 0.102?m internal diameter. The uniform constant magnetic field is created by a Helmholtz electromagnet. In particular, the bed pressure drop is measured as a function of superficial air velocity and characteristic bed voidage and fluidizing velocities are determined at minimum fluidization and bubbling bed conditions. These characteristic properties of the magnetically stabilized fiuidized beds are reported as a function of magnetic-field intensity, and are correlated by suitable expressions. These will be useful for prediction purposes related to design and operation.     

Fluidization of moist sawdust in binary particle systems in a gas–solid fluidized bed

The fluidized behavior of binary mixtures of moist sawdust and glass spheres has been investigated. The sawdust alone was observed to fluidize poorly, with extensive channelling occurring. The addition of 0.322 and 0.516 mm glass spheres to the fluidized bed of sawdust improved the fluidization characteristics. The mixtures of sawdust and 0.322 mm spheres were completely mixed when fluidized. Mixtures of sawdust and 0.516 mm spheres were either partially or completely mixed, depending upon gas velocity in the fluidized bed. As the moisture content of the sawdust was increased, the minimum fluidization velocity of the binary mixture also increased. There was an upper limit to the moisture content of the sawdust at which fluidization could be achieved. When the moisture content of the sawdust exceeded 33 and 54 wt% on a dry basis, agglomeration and channelling occurred in the mixtures of sawdust and glass spheres, with sizes 0.322 and 0.516 mm, respectively. The moisture likely contributes to interparticle liquid bridging forces. Binary mixtures of larger 0.777 and 1.042 mm glass spheres and up to 82% moisture sawdust did not readily agglomerate, but the two components completely segregated during fluidization.     

Bed height and material density effects on fluidized bed hydrodynamics

Characterizing the hydrodynamics of a fluidized bed is of vital importance to understanding the behavior of this multiphase flow system. Minimum fluidization velocity and gas holdup are two of these key characteristics. Experimental studies addressing the effects of bed height and material density on the minimum fluidization velocity and gas holdup were carried out in this study using a 10.2 cm diameter cylindrical fluidized bed. Three different Geldart type-B particles were tested: glass beads, ground walnut shell, and ground corncob, with material densities of 2600, 1300, and 1000 kg/m³, respectively. The particle size range was selected to be the same for all three materials and corresponded to 500–600 μm. In this study, five different bed height-to-diameter ratios were investigated: H/D=0.5, 1, 1.5, 2, and 3. Minimum fluidization velocity was determined for each H/D ratio using pressure drop measurements. Local time-average gas holdup was determined using non-invasive X-ray computed tomography imaging. Results show that minimum fluidization velocity is not affected by the change in bed height. However, as the material density increased, the minimum fluidization velocity increased. Finally, local time-average gas holdup values revealed that bed hydrodynamics were similar for all bed heights, but differed when the material density was changed.     

Fluidization of Group B particles with a rotating distributor

A novel rotating distributor fluidized bed is presented. The distributor is a rotating perforated plate, with 1% open-area ratio. This work evaluates the performance of this new design, considering pressure drop, Δp, and quality of fluidization. Bed fluidization was easily achieved with the proposed device, improving the solid mixing and the quality of fluidization.In order to examine the effect of the rotational speed of the distributor plate on the hydrodynamic behavior of the bed, minimum fluidization velocity, U_mf, and pressure fluctuations were analyzed. Experiments were conducted in the bubbling free regime in a 0.19 m i.d. fluidized bed, operating with Group B particles according to Geldart's classification. The pressure drop across the bed and the standard deviation of pressure fluctuations, σ_p, were used to find the minimum fluidization velocity, U_mf. A decrease in U_mf is observed when the rotational speed increases and a rise in the measured pressure drop was also found. Frequency analysis of pressure fluctuations shows that fluidization can be controlled by the adjustable rotational speed, at several excess gas velocities.Measurements with several initial static bed heights were taken, in order to analyze the influence of the initial bed mass inventory, over the effect of the distributor rotation on the bed hydrodynamics.     

Fluidization characteristics of oil palm frond particles in agitated bed

Fluidization characteristics of crushed oil palm fronds were studied. The elongated shape of the particles and their fibrous nature created entanglement between the particles and caused the bed to form crack and plug flow when aerated in ordinary fluidized bed. Fluidization of the fibres became feasible with the aid of mechanical agitation. Agitation helped to loosen the entanglement of the fibres which prevents air to pass through the bed of particles, as a result, fluidization state could be attained. Experiments were carried out in a column with height of 72 cm and ID of 14.4 cm. Superficial air velocities used ranged from 0.1 to 1.1 m/s, bed heights ranged from 4 to 8.5 cm, agitation speeds ranged from 300 to 500 rpm and particle initial moisture contents from 0.5 to 2.4 g water/g dry solids. Analysis of the fluidization characteristics showed that minimum fluidization velocity was independent with bed height and agitation speed. However, investigation on the effect of particle initial moisture content showed that minimum fluidization velocity increased with particle moisture content. A new empirical correlation to predict minimum fluidization velocity has been derived which gives good agreement with experimental data in this study and the data from other study in the literature.     

Hydrodynamics of the Pulsed Fluid Bed with Cyclically Relocated Gas Stream with Lengthwise Pulsation

The hydrodynamics studies of the pulsed fluid bed (PFB) with lengthwise pulsation are reported in the article. The pulsed fluid bed with lengthwise pulsation is a modification of the classical PFB. In the PFB dryer with lengthwise pulsation, the disk gas distributor cyclically relocates the gas stream to each pressure chamber situated under the grid, parallel to the lengthwise axis of the main chamber. Such structure of a dryer is more compact than the previous ones. The operation range, pressure drops, and bed structure of a new system with lengthwise pulsation have been shown.     

Hydrodynamics of the Pulsed Fluid Bed with Cyclically Relocated Gas Stream with Lengthwise Pulsation

The hydrodynamics studies of the pulsed fluid bed (PFB) with lengthwise pulsation are reported in the article. The pulsed fluid bed with lengthwise pulsation is a modification of the classical PFB. In the PFB dryer with lengthwise pulsation, the disk gas distributor cyclically relocates the gas stream to each pressure chamber situated under the grid, parallel to the lengthwise axis of the main chamber. Such structure of a dryer is more compact than the previous ones. The operation range, pressure drops, and bed structure of a new system with lengthwise pulsation have been shown.     

大差异双组分混合颗粒的最小流化特性

在一套f260 mm′2000 mm的有机玻璃实验装置中,对大差异双组分混合颗粒的最小流化特性进行了实验研究,得到了混合颗粒的流化曲线,由此给出了其起始流化速度、最小流化速度、临界分离速度、完全流化速度等特征速度. 实验结果表明,流化过程可分为4个阶段,即完全流化、大小颗粒分离、大颗粒静止小颗粒流化、固定床阶段,对应混合颗粒的3个状态：完全混合、部分混合部分分离、完全分离状态;混合颗粒的特征速度随小颗粒质量分率的增加而减小,且在小颗粒质量分率达到0.4~0.5后其减小的趋势减缓;混合颗粒的固定床阶段和完全流化阶段的床层空隙率及混合颗粒的体积收缩比在小颗粒质量分率为0.4时达到极值.     

压力脉动法预测硅粉颗粒最小流化速度的实验

应用压力传感器研究了不同筛分粒径的硅粉的流化性质，证实流化床层的压力脉动标准方差σp随着表观气速的增加而线性增大, 根据σp=0的条件即可确定流化床的初始流化气速Umf. 此Umf与传统压降变化法得到的实验结果基本一致. 对测得的不同筛分粒级的硅粉的Umf进行拟合，得到了Umf与相应粒级平均粒径的关联式Umf=0.014e10(d–0.28)–0.012e–10(d–0.28)+0.065. 对双粒级复配混合颗粒体系的σp进行的实验研究发现，其σp介于相关单粒级体系的σp之间，并且粗颗粒组份的比例对σp的影响较大.     

石英砂二元混合颗粒初始流化过程的研究

在一套Φ300 mm×3000 mm的有机玻璃冷模流化床实验装置上,考察了石英砂二元混合颗粒的初始流化特性。所有二元混合颗粒均由颗粒密度相同但粒径不同的A、B、C、D四类颗粒组分两两按照一定质量分数混合而成。采用FXC-Ⅱ/32型压力巡检仪测得了不同轴向位置床层的压降曲线,得到了不同二元混合颗粒的起始流化过程特性曲线和起始流化速度。实验结果表明,两种颗粒组分平均粒径大小和差异及其组分质量分率对二元混合颗粒的起始流化特性具有显著影响。A类颗粒加入可显著改善B、C和D类颗粒的流化质量;C类颗粒加入量过大会使混合颗粒在流化过程中出现严重的沟流现象;当浮升组分(小颗粒)质量分数为0.4时,组分粒径差异较大的二元混合颗粒在流化过程中最容易发生完全分级现象;对于粒径差别较大的二元颗粒组分,床层最小流化速度随小颗粒组分的增多而下降,而对于具有较强颗粒间作用力组分的二元颗粒组分,床层最小流化速度则随小颗粒组分的增多而增大。根据实验数据对等密度BD二元混合颗粒的起始流化速度预测公式进行了修正,发现实验值与计算值吻合较好。     

粘附性颗粒流化床内构件的选型

研究了多孔板式内构件和桨叶式内构件对粘附性颗粒流态化的影响. 实验表明,多孔板式内构件对流化质量的改善不好,桨叶式内构件的效果良好但仍然存在缺陷. 通过结合二者优点开发的孔桨式内构件克服了桨叶式内构件的缺点,显著地改善了粘附性颗粒的流化质量.     

A comparative hydrodynamic study of two types of spouted bed reactor designs

In order to properly design and scale up spouted beds, one needs to predict the minimum spouting velocity of specific systems having different bed dimensions, and properties of particle and spouting gas. Because of inherent complexity of predicting minimum spouting velocity, the prevailing approach has been to use empirical correlations, a number of which are available in the literature. Central jet distributors are commonly used in the experimental studies reported in the literature. Circular slit distributor is a new concept in which air is supplied to the bed of particles through a circular slit. This paper presents results of an experimental study on the hydrodynamics of central jet and circular slit distributors. In this paper a fully connected feed-forward neural network model was used to predict the minimum spouting velocity of central jet and circular slit spouted beds. A neural network model was also developed to predict minimum fluidization velocity. The actual experimental data obtained from published literature and from the experiments carried out in this study were used for training and validating the models. The minimum spouting and fluidization velocities predicted using the neural network models developed in this study show a better approximation to the actual experimental values than those obtained from correlations available in the open literature. The position of flow regime of circular slit spouted bed was also established relative to the flow regimes of central jet spouted bed and fluidized bed.     

Pressure and temperature effects on the hydrodynamic characteristics of ebullated-bed systems

Experiments were performed to study the hydrodynamic characteristics of ebullate-bed systems operated under conditions of high pressure and temperature. The effects of these variables on bed porosity and the liquid minimum fluidization velocity were determined and a correlation has been proposed as a criteria for determining flow regime transitions between the dispersed and coalesced bubble flow regimes. The bed porosity has been described with the pseudo-fluid model. The minimum fluidization velocity data were contrasted with predictions from empirical correlations reported in the literature.     

高温鼓泡流化床流体动力学特性

流化床催化反应过程、煤的流化床燃烧与气化等多种流化床工业应用都涉及高温操作。文中结合研究结果 ,综述了温度对最小流化速度、最小流化空隙率、床层膨胀比和气泡直径的影响。在前人研究的基础上 ,对今后高温流化床的基础研究提出了建议     

Mechanism of Local Fluidization in Converging Packed Beds

The velocity profile on the bed surface of two‐dimensional linear‐converging beds with 15° and 30° wall angles was measured at different superficial velocities using hot‐wire anemometry. The results of the velocity measurements indicate that local fluidization in the corners is caused by the geometry‐induced maldistribution of fluid flow, and it occurs when the velocity in the corners exceeds the minimum fluidization velocity of particles. The results of pressure measurements within the bed show the same trend as the velocity profile, providing a qualitative verification of the velocity profile measurement. It is shown that the variation of measured pressure drop over the bed with velocity does not agree with the Ergun equation at high superficial velocities due to the severe maldistribution of fluid flow.     

Effects of acoustic vibration on nano and sub-micron powders fluidization

Fluidization of nano and sub-micron powders with and without acoustic vibration was investigated. The effects of sound pressure level and frequency were studied. Loudspeakers located under the distributor plate were used as the sound source to disintegrate larger agglomerates concentrated at the bottom of the bed. Nanoparticles showed fluid-like behavior similar to Geldart's A group and application of sound vibration improved their fluidization quality. Submicron particles were hard to fluidize and their fluidization quality was partially improved by sound excitation. Bed compaction, caused by rearranging of the agglomerates, was observed for submicron particles at low gas velocities while the bed was fixed. Nanoparticles did not experience any bed compaction. Sound vibration led to a decrease in minimum fluidization velocity and an increase in bed pressure drop and bed expansion for both types of particles. The fluidization quality of both particles increased at low frequencies, while the reverse was observed at higher frequencies. Fluidization of these particles was improved by increasing sound pressure level. There was a critical sound pressure level of 110 dB, below which the effect of sound vibration was insignificant. A novel technique was employed to find the apparent minimum fluidization velocity from pressure drop signals.     

Prediction of minimum bubbling velocity, fluidization index and range of particulate fluidization for gas-solid fluidization in cylindrical and non-cylindrical beds

A uniform fluidization exists between minimum fluidization velocity and minimum bubbling velocity. Experimental investigations have been carried out for determination of minimum bubbling velocity and fluidization index for non-spherical particles in cylindrical and non-cylindrical beds. In the present paper equations have been developed for the prediction of minimum bubbling velocity for gas-solid fluidization in cylindrical and non-cylindrical (viz. semi-cylindrical, hexagonal and square) beds for non-spherical particles fluidized by air at ambient conditions. A fairly good agreement has been obtained between calculated and experimental values. Based on the experimental data it is concluded that under similar operating conditions minimum bubbling velocity and the fluidization index are maximum in case of either semi-cylindrical conduit or hexagonal conduit for most of the operating conditions and minimum in case of square one. It is further observed that the range of uniform (particulate) fluidization is maximum in case of semi-cylindrical bed for identical operating conditions.