GAS COMBUSTION IN SHALLOW FLUIDISED BEDS

J. BROUGHTON

Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Aston in Birmingham, Gosta Green, Birmingham B4 7ET (Great Britain)

SUMMARY

Combustion of premixed gas and air in shallow fluidised beds is described and some of the limits set by gas velocity and particle size are discussed. There is a lower limit of gas velocity below which heat transfer back to the distributor plate causes excessive preheat leading to pre-ignition and to temperatures well above the equilibrium level. This condition can cause particle sintering and, at worst, distributor failure. A graph showing a solution of the problem is presented. It is shown that there is a lower limit to particle size, which depends upon the particle density, below which stable combustion will not occur. This limit is set when enough of the gas~air mixture bypasses the bed without burning to prevent the bed from reaching combustion temperatures. The experimental observations are explained in terms of the two-phase theory of fluidisation by postulating that the fuel which passes through the dense phase of the fluidisation is totally burnt, while that passing up through the bed in bubbles either does not react or reacts too late for its combustion heat to be transferred to the bed. A quantitative model based upon these two ad-hoc assumptions is shown to provide reasonable agreement with the observed results and possible refinements of the simplified theory, to make it more rigorously based, are indicated.

NOM ENCLATURE

Cp C~ Dn dr F

Specific heat Mean specific heat over a temperature range Bubble diameter Particle diameter Radiation view factor 61

kJ/kg K kJ/kg K m /~m

Applied Energy (1) (1975)-- Applied Science Publishers Ltd, England, 1975
Printed in Great Britain

62

J. BROUGHTON Fraction of fuel unburnt Heat transfer coefficient Bed depth Bed depth at Uml Volumetric bubble dense phase exchange Heat flux to distributor surface Bed temperature Fuel ignition temperature Initial gas temperature Distributor surface temperature Bubble velocity Superficial gas velocity Critical gas velocity for flashback Minimum fluidising velocity Bubble volume Exchange factor Bubble hold-up Gas density at T o Stefan-Boltzmann constant

fu ho
L L,,~ Q Qs Tn Tig To Ts U8 u uc uml V8 X ~B Po

W/m K m m m3/s

W/m z
K K K K m/s m/s m/s m/s m3

kg/m 3 W/m2K 4

1N T R O D U C T I O N

The last decade has seen a large development effort in the field of coal combustion in fluidised beds, both on power station and package boiler scales. ~,2 Significant developments have come from Britain, 3 the USA, 4 France, 5 Germany, 6 Czechoslovakia, 7 the USSR 8 and Australia. 9 A large number of coal types have been burned with little pretreatment other than some crushing, and sulphur retention by the addition of limestone to the combustion beds has been successfully demonstrated. The developments have been rapid and have often outstripped the science offluidisation. For example, fuel movement away from injection points has only recently been adequately solved 1, and the mechanisms determining coal combustion have only recently been studied in detail. ~ This emphasis on coal combustion has tended to overshadow the many other possible engineering applications of fluid bed combustion, the combustion of gases and oils having been largely neglected. The interest in oil combustion has centred around gasification and Moss has described a process in which oil is simultaneously desulphurised and gasified, lz Elliott has discussed some of the actual and possible applications of gas-fired combustors on a small scale, 13 such as controlled atmosphere metallurgical furnaces, domestic central heating units, radiant gas fires and in gas turbine cycles.

GAS COMBUSTION IN S H A L L O W FLUIDISED BEDS

63

There have also been a number of developments in waste incineration in fluidised beds. 14 This process is now well established as a means of disposal for otherwise difficult to process materials although very few of the designs to date have incorporated heat recovery. 15 Tamalet has described a non-premixed gas-fired combustor in whicb the distributor plate is designed in such a way as to overcome the problem of poor gas mixing in fluidised beds. 16 This design removes the mixing problem reported by Zabrodsky and Antonishin who found that bed depths of almost 150 mm were needed for combustion in a test burner where the gases were not premixed, while less than 40 m m sufficed when the gases were premixed. 17 Howard reports some limits of combustion for propane/oxygen/nitrogen mixtures in fluidised beds 18 and Baskakov et al. report on the use of catalysts to increase the rich limit, as is needed in carburising furnaces. 19 The work described in this paper concerns premixed gaseous combustion in shallow fluidised beds and was considered important both on theoretical and practical grounds. Theoretically because it is interesting to speculate how shallow can a fluidised bed combustor be, what is the combustion mechanism, and what are its limitations? Practically because the economics of fluidised bed combustion indicate that shallow beds should be used wherever possible to minimise pumping costs, this being a major consideration for all scales of equipment 13. The bed depth required can be set by combustion efficiency or by particular process needs, such as covering the object under treatment as in a metallurgical furnace or covering the tubes in the fluidised bed boiler. The latter consideration was certainly a factor in early coal-fired fluidised bed boiler designs but may no longer hold if finned tubes are used and could well be eliminated entirely by using the solids circulation techniques described by Elliott. 13

GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS

There is a wide range of variables to be considered during the design of fluidised bed boilers. For example, particle size and type, bed depth, gas flows and the design of distributor, freeboard and windbox can all have important effects on the efficiency, the start-up characteristics and the reliability of the final design. Less common variables are the operating pressure and, when using centrifugal force opposed beds, the number of gravities acting. This present work concerns the effects of particle size, gas velocity and distributor design, as these factors usually determine the minimum bed depth required for combustion and the size and cost of the system. While the combustion processes in fluidised bed combustion are quite different from those in simple gas burners, there is a qualitative similarity between the processes. In the distributor and in the fluidised zone just above the distributor

64

J. BROUGttTON

plate, there is a region of preheat. The length of this zone depends on a number of factors such as particle size, gas distributor design, gas velocity, bed temperature, the gross circulation of solids in the bed and the fuel properties. The preheat zone, which ends when the gas/air mixture reaches combustion temperature, is followed by the reaction zone which is usually quite short. The final post-combustion region is usually characterised by isothermal conditions. If the length of the reaction zone plus the preheat zone approaches a value equal to the bed diameter, the reaction may be controlled by the slugging properties of the bed and should the bubble diameter exceed one-third of the bed diameter, the results must be treated with great circumspection. As combustion of gas/air mixtures was known to be complete within 50 mm above the distributor plate, the bed diameter of 100 m m used in most of the experimental work reported herein was sufficiently large for slugging to be impossible.

D I S T R I B U T O R PLATES

Two types of problem occur in the design of distributor plates for fluidised bed combustors. Firstly, gas maldistribution can have serious consequences such as gross overheating and sintering of the particles in the bed. This problem can be overcome by the usual method of employing a pressure drop through the distributor which is comparable with the pressure drop through the bed, thus ensuring that the distributor is homogeneous. The second problem is that of heat transfer back to the distributor by radiation from the bed to the plate, coupled with solids/plate heat transfer which causes the temperature of the distributor to rise. This is particularly evident in experiments where attempts are made to run with low mass throughputs of near-stoichiometric mixtures. In these cases, especially when porous distributor plates are used, the plates can heat up to such a level that combustion starts to occur within the plates--which then are subject to gross overheating--and plate failure is inevitable. Thus, there is a lower critical value of flow below which it is impossible to operate. This critical value can best be determined experimentally. Distributor overheating can also occur in an otherwise acceptable design if, as mentioned above, a portion of the distributor has a lower than normal flow. This then causes local overheating, sintering and failure. The above two problems are fairly easily overcome in laboratory apparatus where high pressure air from the laboratory compressed air supply is used and can be regulated to give constant mass flow of air, but a much more severe problem occurs when using a low pressure blower to supply the air. This is because the pressure drop/flow characteristics of the distributor plate will vary with the temperature of the bed due to the heat transfer back to the plate causing the gas/air

GAS COMBUSTION IN SHALLOW FLUIDISED BEDS

65

mixture volume flow to increase. Thus, unless the pressure drop/flow characteristics of the distributor are matched to those of the blower, progressive deterioration of conditions will occur. By careful attention to design, these problems can be overcome even when using distributor pressure drops of less than 200 N/m 2.13 When using pierced plate distributors, the heat soak-back problem is less evident because the non-fluidised areas between the individual holes act as heat insulation, but flash-back through the holes themselves can occur. It has been found that such conditions do not occur provided a free area of less than 4 per cent is used. 2

EXPERIMENTAL WORK

Apparatus
The apparatus used is shown diagrammatically in Fig. 1. The fuel gas, usually methane, is mixed with air before a flame-trap and passed into the windbox of the reactor. The reactor used in most experiments was a 100 mm inside diameter mild

OAS SAMPL,.O L..E

TEMPERATUREMEASUREMENT

1 I l

COOLER

AIR
FUEL Fig. 1.

ROTAM TERS

MA"OMETERS

Flow diagram of the experimental equipment.

steel tube 300 mm in length, although many other designs and sizes have been used in other tests. ~3 The outside of the tube was lagged with Trimor ceramic blanket. The bed temperature was measured by a movable chromel/alumel thermocouple and the temperature was controlled by an annular cooling tube whose area of immersion in tile bed could be easily varied to give fine control of the heat removal rate.

66

J. BROUGttTON

The flue gases were analysed using a Fison's mini half-gas chromatograph. The sampling device used was an expansion nozzle, from which the gases were passed through a drying tube to collecting loops for subsequent analysis. The chromatograph contained a silica gel and a molecular sieve column which, by using helium as the carrier gas, enabled H2, N2, 02, CO, CO2 and CH 4 to be separated. The maximum error in analysis was estimated by using calibrated samples to be less than 10 per cent for any of these constituents. Oxides (NO + NO2) to be estimated to 4- 5 ppm. The pressure drop across the bed and that across the distributor plate were measured by water manometers. Two types of distributor plate were used, porous ceramic tiles and pierced plates of free area less than 4 per cent.

Particles A wide range of particle sizes and types have been used in the tests: silica sand, quartz sand, alumina, magnesia, zirconia, limestone and coal ash of various sizes between 90 and 1500 itm. Provided that the ratio air supplied/stoichiometric air (~)

TABLE 1 PARTICLES USED AND THEIR PROPERTIES

Particle
Silica sand

Density Kg/m3
2560

Mean size ~tm

310 386 420 547 777 1 I0 195

umy NTP m/s

0.121 0.194 0.220 0.670 0.84 0.031 0.085

u,,y T > 1000 K

0.039 0-060 0-071 0.12 I 0.245 0.010 0.033

Zirconia

6000

is greater than 0.8, catalysis appears to be unimportant: therefore untreated sand and zirconia were used in the majority of tests. The properties of these particles are given in Table I.

EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE

Particles were poured into the reactor to the desired bed depth, combustion was instigated as described by Elliott and Virr, 21 and the bed temperature was controlled at a selected value by altering the area of cooling surface immersed in the bed. The bed depths used ranged from 20 mm to 100 mm and the temperatures from 1000 K to 1400 K. The lower temperature limit was set by combustion stability as the methane and propane used in the experiments do not react well below about 1000 K.

GAS COMBUSTION IN SHALLOW FLUIDISED BEDS

67

T h e u p p e r limit was i m p o s e d by the steel wall b u t it was extended as far as practicable b y r e m o v i n g p a r t o f the lagging at high t e m p e r a t u r e s in o r d e r that the wall could cool itself mainly by r a d i a t i o n .

GENERAL OBSERVATIONS By v a r y i n g the bed d e p t h at c o n s t a n t values o f e a n d gas velocity, it was d e m o n s t r a t e d t h a t p r o v i d e d ~ lay within the range 0-8 < ~ < 2, the reaction was n o t d e p e n d e n t u p o n a n y o f the rates o f reaction. W h e n the bed t e m p e r a t u r e was less t h a n 1100 K the c o m b u s t i o n t e n d e d to be a c c o m p a n i e d by a r a p i d series o f

.2-

t
w'l

20

I'0

1-4
I (I'

1.8
I

Fig. 2. Flue gas analysis at different air to fuel ratios (~). The lines represent the theoretical equilibrium composition at 1273 K.

68

J. BROUGHTON

small detonations and small flashes of gas-phase combustion could be observed below the bed surface. This effect was also strongly dependent upon particle size, being much less pronounced when the mean particle size was greater than 600 #m than with smaller particles. Stable combustion, even with bed depths of 100 ram, could not be attained when using silica sand particles smaller than 300 Itm. However, with zirconia combustion was obtained with particles of mean diameter 110 pm. The oxides of nitrogen levels obtained were always less than 10 ppm, 5 ppm being common. Analysis of gas samples taken from the bed indicated that combustion was substantially complete above 20 mm above the distributor plate when particles larger than 600/~m and the porous plate type of distributor were used. When pierced-plate distributors were used the bed depth required for complete combustion was about 50 mm. The flue gases were analysed using a bed depth of 80 mm and 777 pm sand to test the approach to thermodynamic equilibrium over the range of~ at a bed temperature of 1273 K for superficial gas velocities of 0.2, 0.4 and 0.6 m/s. That equilibrium was obtained is apparent from Fig. 2.

THE T H E R M A L ENTRY ZONE

The thermal entry zone is defined here as being that height of bed above the distributor plate at which the temperature reaches the main bed temperature. This zone can be illustrated by reference to Fig. 3 where the entry zone can be seen to consist of a preheating zone and a reaction zone where the temperature-can exceed the bulk bed temperature. The thermal entry zone depends upon many parameters, so only general comments are possible at this time. As shown in Fig. 4, the temperature fluctuations were low in the preheat zone but became very apparent at the height where the temperature approached that of the bed. This suggests that little reaction occurs in the preheat zone. The length of the latter appeared to depend mainly on the bed temperature and the gas velocity when porous distributors were used, since these parameters tend to determine how much heat is transferred back to the plate and hence how much preheat could be supplied to the gases before entry to the bed. In the case of the pierced plate distributors, the preheat process is much influenced by the orifice spacing and consequently it is less easy to generalise about the effects of gas velocity and bed temperature. 2o, 22 When the excess gas velocity was low, i.e. u - u,,z < 0.20 m/s, the temperature maximum usually occurred in the entry zone, probably as a consequence of the reduced solids mixing which occurs at these low bubbling rates. A further effect of lower velocities was that combustion tended to spread back into the plate which could lead to the plate sintering as described previously.

GAS COMBUSTION IN SHALLOW FLUIDISED BEDS

69

o~ =1.1

12cx>-

I--

IOOO-

'

~o

'

4b

'

6'0

HEIGHT ABOVE DISTRIBUTOR mm

Fig. 3.

Typical vertical-plane temperature profiles.

1140~

I IOC

IO8C

O RADIAL DISTANCE mm

40

Fig. 4.

Typical radial-plane temperature profiles showing flucttlations at various heights above a pierced plate distributor.

70

J. BROUGHTON

Burning back
As plate stability is a crucial consideration and burn-back into the plates leads to their failure, some criteria for stable plate operation were needed. Burn-back could be easily detected by observing the pressure drop across the distributor plate for, when combustion spreads into the plate, the plate temperature rises and consequently the pressure drop rises rapidly. Also, the bed temperature tends to rise suddenly and any combustion noise ceases. The procedure used in investigating burn-back was to select a bed temperature with the bed bubbling vigorously, then to note the distributor's approximate surface temperature by a thermocouple resting on the surface. Sand of mean size 420/am was used. The air was reduced by a small amount and the fuel flow altered to maintain the bed temperature at the desired value, then the surface temperature was noted. The pressure drop across the plate was also monitored. When both measurements became steady the bed was fully in equilibrium. The time required for equilibrium to be obtained was of the order of ten minutes. This procedure of reducing the total flow was continued until either the plates' pressure drop increased suddenly or the surface temperature exceeded the bed temperature as each of these

7
05

/
0
I I l

II00

12OO BED TEMPERATURE K

13OO

Fig. 5. Critical gas velocities for flashback into a p o r o u s plate distributor. A: eqn. (4) for T~ ~ T~o; B: eqn. (4) for T, 1000 K; C: eqn. (6) T, T,,; D: eqn. (6) T~ ~ 1000 K.

GAS COMBUSTION IN SHALLOW FLUIDISED BEDS

71

implied t h a t c o m b u s t i o n h a d s p r e a d b a c k into the plate. A t this p o i n t the fuel was i m m e d i a t e l y shut off in o r d e r n o t to d e s t r o y the plate. The highest plate surface t e m p e r a t u r e m e a s u r e d w i t h o u t flashback occurring was 650C. However, true surface t e m p e r a t u r e c o u l d n o t be estimated readily as the t h e r m o c o u p l e interfered with local flows. These values are o f little i m p o r t a n c e since w h a t is required is the value o f gas velocity at which flashback occurs for a given bed temperature. The d a t a o b t a i n e d for five bed t e m p e r a t u r e s is shown in Fig. 5, a n d it is clear t h a t burnback only occurs at low superficial gas velocities. This o b s e r v a t i o n is o f great i m p o r t a n c e when a t t e m p t i n g to design a r a d i a n t fluidised bed for r o o m heating having a m a x i m u m r a d i a n t o u t p u t o f a b o u t 100 k W / m 2, as a h o t gas velocity o f 0.25 m/sec is used for the m a x i m u m o u t p u t and this has to be r e d u c e d to turn the o u t p u t d o w n , e.g. at 40 k W / m 2 a h o t gas velocity o f a b o u t 0-08 m/s w o u l d be desired at a t e m p e r a t u r e o f 1000 K a n d flashback w o u l d be anticipated. Indeed, this p r o b l e m o f flashback at low velocities imposes limitations on all c o m b u s t o r designs.

THE EFFECT OF PARTICLE SIZE The effect o f particle size was e x a m i n e d by experiments in which the bed t e m p e r a t u r e was c o n t r o l l e d at 1100 K by v a r y i n g the a m o u n t o f cooling surface i m m e r s e d in the bed a n d m e a s u r i n g the fraction o f the fuel gas which by-passed the bed. As the m e a n particle d i a m e t e r was reduced m o r e fuel by-passed the bed w i t h o u t being burned, resulting finally in a limiting particle size below which c o m b u s t i o n was not stable. T h r e e bed depths, three values o f the gas velocity a n d four particle sizes were used a n d the results are given in Table 2. This technique h a d a n u m b e r o f TABLE 2
FUEL BY-PASS RESULTS

Particle

Dp

u-u,,y

Static bed depth

40 0.36 0.21 0.28 0.16 0.10 0-19 0.08 0.03 O-I0 0-00 0.02 0.04 0.38 0.36

60 0.24 0.29 0.3 0.16 0.15 0.22 0.04 0.00 0-02 0.00 0-00 0.02 0-38 0.22

Mean

Ftm Silica 310 386 420 547 Zirconia 110 195

m/s 0.10 0.20 0.30 0.10 0.20 0.30 0-10 0-20 0-30 0-10 0-20 0-30 0-10 0.10

(ram) 20 0.17 0.28 0-36 0.21 0.14 0-26 0-01 0.11 0.09 0.02 0.01 0-00 0.42 0.34 0.277 0.177 0.053

0.393 0.307

72

J. BROUGHTON

shortcomings, especially with regard to the effect of the distributor plate at different gas velocities. In addition, reproducibility was far from satisfactory, variations as large as 10 per cent having been found in some cases. This variation appeared to be dependent upon the previous history of the bed, particularly whether the flow was increased or decreased from its previous value which indicates that transient phenomena may be important. The explanation of the fact that the steady-state values depend upon previous operating history could lie in the interaction between the bulk of the bed and the entry zone, in that the longer the preheat zone, the shorter must be the reaction zone at any velocity, hence the greater the fuel by-pass fraction. This effect is equivalent to altering the bed depth at any given flowrate and is more pronounced with small than with large particles. When the bed depth was greater than 80 mm, the bubble behaviour was more like slugging than free bubbling in that the mean bubble size exceeded 30 m m and the pressure drop tended to oscillate vigorously. When silica sand of mean particle size less than 246 pm was used, stable combustion could never be achieved in the bed (although stable combustion could exist on the surface). With zirconia this size was 95 pm.

DISCUSSION

The e n t r y zone

Figures 3 and 4 show that the bed is isothermal above the entry zone, apart from near the upper surface. In addition, temperature fluctuations and variations are very low above this zone. The absence of temperature gradients does not mean that all combustion has finished in the entry zone, only that there are no regions of high local combustion intensity. This is due to the bed's high particle circulation rates which make temperature gradients very uncommon. Indeed, reaction occurs throughout the bed in some cases, notably when using small particles. When the mean particle size exceeds 600/~m the reaction zone length tends to be small and the minimum bed depth is set mainly by the preheat length. Thus, it is convenient to think of the entry zone as being a region of preheat and ignition, although at present the prediction of this length must remain empirical because of the number of parameters which influence it, especially the interaction between the bed and the distributor plate. Further studies of the entry zone are required as this zone can be a determining factor in bed design and influences burning back into the distributor plate which sets a limit on the practical range of operation. It is interesting to note that Baskakov et al. have exploited this burn-back effect in a packed fluidised bed type of distributor, but in this case much higher temperatures will occur in the packed zone and the advantages of low oxides of nitrogen production are reduced.

GAS C O M B U S T I O N IN S H A L L O W F L U I D I S E D BEDS

73

Burn-back A simple ad hoc relationship between the bed temperature and the gas velocity at which flashback occurs can be predicted by assuming that burn-back occurs once the pliate-surface temperature exceeds the fuel-gases ignition temperature. Assuming that the gas at the distributor surface is at the surface temperature, a simpl.e heat balance gives: pouc

f'
0

Cp d T = Q~

(1) (2)

poucCp (Ts - To) = Qs

where Qs, the heat transferred back from the bed to the plate, must be estimated. There are two estimation approaches, the first assuming purely radiative heating, the second assuming heat transfer as to surfaces in the bed. The radiative solution gives : Q~ = r a ( T B 4 - - Ts 4) (3)
F (T~ 4 uc
Ts 4)

(4)

p o C p ( T ~ - To)

For radiation to immersed surfaces, a range of emissivity values between 0.59 and 0.95 have been obtained. The value of the bed emissivity in the distributor zone must be attenuated by the cooler particles immediately above the plate (i.e. the plate cannot 'see' the particles in the bulk of the bed apart from at bubble formation points) so the lower value is taken as more representative of this case. The emissivity of the plate used is approximately 0.4, so that the geometrical view-factor, F, becomes 0.24. The conductive solution gives:
Qs = ho (TB -- Ts) W/m z

(5)

For heat transfer at an immersed surface using particles of the size used here: z
ho -- 200

W/m/K (6)

F r o m eqn. (2):
uc ho (Tu -- L ) p o C p ( T s - To)

For burn-back, the surface temperature must exceed the ignition temperature of the gas. Thus, for the methane/air system, T s > 925 K. Putting Ts = Tio we get the theoretical lines shown on Fig. 5 and it is clear that the critical velocities are significantly lower than those predicted by the theory and agreement with Ts = 1000 K is much better. This is to be expected as when T~ = Tio, the plate below the surface is cooler so that any tendency to flashback will be quenched. The data fall between the values predicted by the two simple

74

J. BROUGHTON

models for Ts = 1000 K and this simple approach appears to be adequate, although not rigorously checked, for design purposes. More rigorous theoretical analyses of the problem have been developed, but no precise theoretical solution can be expected to account for the interaction between the plate and the bed, which ultimately determines Q~, until more is known about initial bubble formation and motion.

A P P L I C A T I O N OF T H E T W O - P H A S E T H E O R Y OF F L U I D I S A T I O N

It is the reaction which takes place in the isothermal bed section above the entry zone which determines both the minimum bed depth required for complete combustion and the effect of particle size on the combustion. In order to deal with this isothermal zone, it is instructive to consider one of the theories of fluidised bed behaviour. The simple two-phase theory of fluidisation is the most commonly used approach and has been successfully applied to quite complicated reaction systems. The two-phase theory assumes that all of the gas in excess of that required to fluidise the bed passes through the bed in bubbles, and it is the exchange of gas between the bubble phase and the dense phase which determines the extent of reaction. 2 3 There are a variety of models based upon the two-phase theory which describe the interchange of gas between the phases and the motion of solids in the bed, but most of these models apply in systems in which the bubble coalescence zone occupies only a small portion of the bed with the remaining, much longer, zone of the bed being one of more or less steady bubbling. Hence, most deep bed processes can be described in this manner. However, to date, the two-phase theory has not been applied to shallow bed systems which consist almost entirely of a bubble coalescence zone, nor to kinetically fast reactions where most of the reaction takes place in the first few millimetres of bed. The application of the two-phase theory to shallow bed processes is severely limited by the lack of understanding of bubble formation in shallow beds, how bubble coalescence occurs in swarms and the velocity/diameter relationship for bubbles in swarms. Thus, the preliminary analyses of shallow bed processes must invoke many approximations. However, experimental observations show that free bubbling can be obtained in beds less than 5 mm deep on porous plates and even a greatly simplified analysis using the two-phase theory can explain many of the observations reported in the previous section. Following the analysis of Davidson and Harrison z4 for a very fast reaction occurring in the dense phase of a deep fluidised bed, it is assumed that combustion takes place only when the fuel is in the dense phase and thus the fraction of fuel passing through the bed unburned, fu, can be written:

G A S C O M B U S T I O N I N S H A L L O W FLUIDISED BEDS

75

f,,

(u -

u.:)
U

e -X

(7)

where X is a bubble phase to dense phase exchange factor defined by

x =

i oUBVe

L Q dL

(8)

Q is the volumetric gas exchange rate between a bubble and the dense phase, Ue is the velocity of a bubble of volume Vn. The assumption of dense phase reaction appears correct since otherwise there would be large temperature fluctuations as gas bubbles ignited, giving rise to much higher NO~ levels than observed and, moreover, the gas in the bubbles would have to ignite below the lean limit of combustion. The problem in using these equations lies mainly in obtaining reasonable values for Un and De as functions of height above the plate. Bubbles in swarms do not appear to obey the Davies-Taylor law of bubble motion, 14 so Un and Dn must be evaluated separately. In this first approximation fairly bold assumptions are required. (1) A mean bubble size is assumed. (2) The bubble velocity js taken from the work of Goddard and RichardsonZ 5 to be 0.35 m/s and independent of size. This value is selected as it is the only available experimental measurement. Thus: U. = 0-35 m/s (9)

(3) The effect of bubble coalescence on bubble phase to dense phase gas exchange is assumed to be negligible; that is, the only important effect of coalescence is that of increasing the bubble's diameter. (4) The volumetric exchange rate is taken to be the same as that from isolated, large bubbles with negligible bulk diffusion. Thus:
Q = ~rru,.:De 2 m3/s

(10)

Therefore:
X = ( L 9U,,: d L

) o 2UnDn
9 " u,.f L , , :
0"7"

Dn (1

~e)

= 12"86 u,,:" Lm:

(1 te) " De

(11)

The prediction of De is not feasible at present and a 'reasonable' experimental estimate is that the mean size is of the order of the bed height:

76 Therefore

J. BROUGHTON

,~"

12.86 u,~:
(1 -- ea)

(12)

The bubble hold-up reaches 0.4 at (u - u,.:) greater than 0.2 m/s. Therefore:
X = u,,: x 21.43

(13)

Thus, this simple model suggests that u,,: and (u - u,.:) should determine the gas by-passing. Shortcomings of this model are that the by-passing fraction is independent of height above the distributor--which is not the case in practice, but is a reasonable first approximation--and that the integral does not use the correct

'8

\
.i

ADIABATIC LIMIT

~CONIA

tY

Z -4.

-2

~'

200 dp pm

400

Fig. 6. Comparison of experimental fuel by-pass fractions with the theoretical values for u-u,,: between 0.1 and 0-3 m/s.

G A S C O M B U S T I O N IN S H A L L O W FLUIDISED BEDS

77

form of bubble size variation with height (as this is not known) in its evaluation. Alternative bubble growth hypotheses would provide different conclusions. However, the aim here is to explain the observed effect of particle diameter: this is achieved as shown by Fig. 6 where the theoretical results obtained from eqns. (7) and (13) are compared with the results of Table 2. This model also helps to explain the lack of consistency in the effects of bed depth and gas velocity in Table 2 as it is urns which primarily determines the fuel bypassing fraction. A much better agreement could be obtained by putting Dn = Lml - 2 in eqn. (12) and, by suitably 'adjusting' Ds, a method of predicting the fuel by-pass for particles other than those tested can be established. The model tending to overpredict could also be a result of combustion taking place in the lean phase region, or cloud, of particles above the bed which would lead to more complete combustion. An approximate value for the smallest particle size at which stable combustion at a temperature greater than 1000 K can be sustained is given by assuming that at least 37 per cent of the fuel must burn, which is the thermodynamically imposed minimum. This predicts that the smallest silica sand particle which can be used is 220/~m while for zirconia this~ size is 140/~m. These predictions are in reasonable agreement with the observations reported. Figure 2 shows that provided all the fuel is burned, the gases leaving the bed are at thermodynamic equilibrium at the bed temperature and this conclusion has been substantiated by Russian workers who used deeper beds in their tests. The compositions given in Fig. 2 have been converted to a wet-gas basis by use of atomic mass balances.
NOISE

The noise emission from a fluidised bed combustor can be treated qualitatively in terms of the two-phase theory, in that gas phase reaction would be expected if the exchange rates were low compared with the gas phase reaction rate. However, few data are available concerning the factors which infuence noise emissions, although it is reported that the combustion noise decreases once dense phase combustion becomes established. A small amount of bubble phase combustion could explain the observation that the nitric oxide levels are higher than should be formed at these temperatures as then the gas temperatures within the bubbles could locally attain a sufficiently high value for some nitrogen plus oxygen reaction to take place and this would be frozen in the dense phase.
CONCLUSIONS

(i) Gas combustion in shallow fluidised beds is of considerable practical interest since it can lead to high combustion intensities at relatively low, even and

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controlled temperatures. This ensures low oxides of nitrogen emission a n d has the a d v a n t a g e of exceptionally high convective a n d radiative heat transfer. (2) The c o m b u s t i o n of pre-mixed gas a n d air is safe provided that the gas velocity is high enough. This prevents the distributor plate becoming overheated, which could lead to a b u r n - b a c k condition. (3) The b u b b l i n g m e c h a n i s m in shallow fluidised beds gives rise to a gas by-pass m e c h a n i s m which, u n d e r some circumstances, leads to loss of c o m b u s t i o n within the bed. The m a j o r factor in this m e c h a n i s m is particle size a n d it is shown that for particles of the density of silica sand, there is a lower limit of size at a b o u t 250 m i c r o n s below which c o m b u s t i o n is unstable. F o r denser zircon sands, this lower size' limit reduces to a b o u t 110 microns. With large particles c o m b u s t i o n is excellent, even with dilute gas/air mixtures. (4) A simple variant of the two-phase theory of fluidisation has been developed to a c c o u n t for the effects of particle size on c o m b u s t i o n . The agreement with experimental data was q u a n t i t a t i v e l y reasonable a n d shows that the two-phase t h e o r y - - w h i c h is well established for deep b e d s - - c a n be usefully applied to shallow beds. (5) Other m a j o r design parameters such as particle size, bed depth, distributor design, gas velocity and bed temperature have been studied a n d a n u m b e r of the limitations of the process are discussed.

REFERENCES 1. D. F. WILLIAMSand J. MCLAREN,Combustion efficiency, sulphur retention and heat transfer in fluidized bed combustors, J. Inst. Fuel (August 1969), pp. 303-12. 2. S. J. WRIGHT,R. HICKMANand H. C. KETLEY,Heat transfer in fluidized beds of wide size spectrum and high temperatures. Br. Chem. Eng., 15 (12), (1970), pp. 1-7. 3. J. HIGHLEY(Ed.), Combustion o f coal influidized beds, Proc. Syrup. C.R.E. 23 May, 1968. 4. Third international symposium on fluidized bed combustion, Hueston Woods, Ohio, 1972. 5. A. A. GODEL.Fluidized bed combustion of coal, Revue Gkn. Therm., 5 (4) (1966), pp. 349-55. 6. L. REH. Fluidized bed combustion, Chemie-lng-Tech, 40(11) (1968), pp. 509-15. 7. P. NOVOTNV.Fluidized bed combustion of high ash coals, S.N.T.L. Tech. Dig., 7(12) (1965), pp. 883-91. 8. A. P. BASKAKOV, I. V. KIRNOSand V. 1. SVETLAKOV.The preparation of non-oxidisingatmospheres by fluidized bed combustion, Gazov. Prom. 13(1 l), (1968), pp. 25-9. 9. P. L. WATERSand K. Mc. G. BOWLING.Fuel processing in fluidized beds, Brit. Chem. Eng. 13 (8), (1968), pp. 1127-33. 10. J. HIGHLEY,E. A. ROGERSand R. DRYBURGH.The measurement of particle mixing rates in a five foot i.d. bed. Fluidized Combustion Section, C.R.E. 0969). Report No. 23. I I. M. A. AVEDESIAN,Combustion o f char in fluidized beds. PhD Thesis, Cambridge University,
1972.

12. G. Moss, J. W. T. CRAIG and D. TISDALL,The fluidized bed desulphurising gasifier, A. 1. Ch.E. Syrup. Set. No. 126, 68 (1972), pp. 277-82. 13. D. E. ELLIOTT, Exploiting fluidized bed combustion. Second Int. Syrup. on Fluidized Bed Combustion, Hueston Woods, Ohio, pp. 0/2/1--0/2/10, 1970. 14. G. G. COPLAND,Industrial waste disposal by fluid bed oxidation, ,4.1. Ch.E. Syrup. Set. No. 122, 68 (1972), pp. 63-72. 15. J. E. HANWAY,The use of fluidized bed technology in pollution control, A. 1. Ch.E. Symp. Set. No. 105, 66 (1970), lap. 253 62.

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16. M. TAMALET,Applications of fluidized bed heat transfer in the metallurgical industries. Syrup. Chem. Eng. in Iron and Steel Ind., I. Ch. E., Swansea, 1968, pp. 105-24. 17. S. S. ZABRODSKYand N. V. ANTONISHIN, The combustion of liquids and gases in fluidized beds, Inzh-Fiz-Zh. Nauk, B.S.S.R. 5(2), (1972), p. 10. 18. W. B. HOWARD, Flamability limits in fluidized bed combustion, Loss Fret,, 4 (1969), pp. 6-14. 19. A. P. BASKAKOV,V. I. KIRNOS and V. I. SVETLAKOV, Preparation of non-oxidising media by fluidized bed combustion, Gasov. Prom, 13(l 1), 0968), pp. 25-29. 20. J. BROUGHTON, Combustion in fluidized beds, PhD Thesis, The University of Newcastle upon Tyne, 1972. 21. D. E. ELLIOTT and M. J. VIRR, Small-scale applications of fluidized bed combustion and heat transfer, Third Int. Syrup. on Fluidized Bed Combustion, Hueston Woods, Ohio, 1972. 22. W. M. S. KASSlM, Flowback of solids through distributor plates of gas fluidized beds, PhD Thesis, University of Aston in Birmingham, 1972. 23. D. KUNII and O. LEVENSPIEL, Fluidization engineering, John Wiley & Sons, New York, 1969. 24. J. F. DAVIDSON and D. HARRISON, Fluidizedparticles, Cambridge University Press, 1963. 25. K. GODDARD and J. F. RICHARDSON, Bubble velocities and bed expansions in freely bubbling beds, Ch. Eng. Sci. 24 (1969), pp. 663-70.