Behaviour of Three Phase Fluidized Bed with Regular Particles

Abstract

Fluidized beds have got a great application in the industries. So it is very important to understand aspects like type of distributor, particle shape and size, type of fluid etc. for the proper functioning of the fluidized beds. In the present work, hydrodynamics of the fluidized bed with regular particles was studied. The hydrodynamic behaviour like pressure drop, minimum liquid fluidization velocity and bed expansion ratio of a co-current three-phase fluidized bed have been determined.
Experiments were carried out using raschig ring of 3.3 mm and 5.9 mm as solid particles, water as liquid and compressed air as gas .Variation of pressure drop with liquid velocity at constant gas velocity and variation of bed expansion ratio with liquid velocity at constant gas velocity and minimum liquid fluidization velocity with gas velocity was investigated. It has been observed that the minimum liquid fluidization velocity decreases with the increase in superficial gas velocity. The mass of the bed particles does not affect the minimum liquid fluidization velocity. The results obtained have been compared with other correlations and have been found to agree well.