Fluidization behavior of sand particles with a size distribution
Abstract
Fluidization technology has a wide range of applications in industries due to its unique ability to transport solid particles and for uniform heat transfer. But this technology is dependent on the properties of bed material. It is essential to determine the hydrodynamics behavior such as minimum fluidization velocity of bed material. During operation, particles with low mechanical strength experienced attrition. Particle attrition increases operating cost, instability, and decreases reactor or bed performance. Also, due to attrition minimum fluidization velocity will change.
The core aim of this study is to understand how minimum fluidization velocity will alter if particle size distribution changes due to particle attrition. In this work, a literature study about the minimum fluidization velocity of poly-dispersed particles, and developed correlations was conducted. Minimum fluidization velocity was determined from the experimental data of different-size particle samples. The minimum fluidization velocity of the original sample was compared with other samples.
The results show that minimum fluidization velocity decreases with the reduction of the size of particles. The presence of a considerable number of small particles can alter the minimum fluidization velocity of the sample. At packed bed condition, pressure drops show linear relation with gas velocity. The results also show that minimum fluidization velocity can be the same for different mean diameters. Finally, some correlations can predict the minimum fluidization velocity of particles with good accuracy.