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Particuology
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/partic

A solids mixing rate correlation for small scale uidized beds

S. Gorji-Kandi a , S.M. Alavi-Amleshi a , N. Mostou b,
a
b

Department of Chemical Engineering, Iran University of Science and Technology, Tehran, Iran
School of Chemical Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Received 16 July 2014
Received in revised form
18 September 2014
Accepted 6 October 2014
Keywords:
Fluidized bed
Solids mixing
Tracer
Digital image processing
Mixing index
Mixing rate

a b s t r a c t
A new rst degree solids mixing rate is proposed to evaluate the mixing of solids in small scale uidized beds. Particle mixing experiments were carried out in a 2D uidized bed with a cross-section of
0.02 m 0.2 m and a height of 1 m. White and black particles with average diameters of 850 and 450 m
were used in our experiments. Image processing was used to measure the concentration of the tracers at
different times. The effects of four representative operating parameters (supercial gas velocity, ratio of
tracer particles to bed particles, tracer particle position, and particle size) on mixing are discussed with
reference to the mixing index. We found that the Lacey index depends on the concentration of the tracers. The position of the tracers affects the initial mixing rate but not the nal degree of mixing. However,
the new mixing rate equation does not depend on the initial conguration of the particles because this
situation is considered to be the initial condition. Using the data obtained in this work and that found
in literature, an empirical correlation is proposed to evaluate the mixing rate constant as a function of
dimensionless numbers (Archimedes, Reynolds, and Froude) in small scale uidized beds. This correlation
allows for an estimation of the mixing rate under different operating conditions and for the detection of
the end point and/or the time of mixing.
2014 Chinese Society of Particuology and Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of
Sciences. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Introduction
Fluidized bed technology is widely applied in the chemical,
mineral, petroleum, energy, environment, pharmaceutical, and
biochemical industries (Kunii & Levenspiel, 1991; Yang, Luo, Fang,
Fan, & Cen, 2014). The high specic surface area of the solids in
uidized beds benets many operations such as those requiring
gassolid reactions, cooling, and drying (Godlieb, Deen, & Kuipers,
2007). The mixing of particles inuences the rates of heat and
mass transfer in uidized beds and enables the nal conversion
of the chemical reactions carried out in these beds to be controlled
(Mostou & Chaouki, 2000, 2001). In many cases, the proper mixing
of particles is crucial in ensuring uniform cooling, reaction, or the
drying of particles and it also prevents the formation of hot spots
(Bokkers, van Sint Annaland, & Kuipers, 2004; Zhang, Jin, & Zhong,
2008).
Recently, some experimental and numerical investigations
into uidized beds have been undertaken with the focus on
solids mixing (Deen, Willem, Sander, & Kuipers, 2010; Derksen,

Corresponding author. Tel.: +98 21 6696 7797; fax: +98 21 6696 7781.
E-mail address: mostou@ut.ac.ir (N. Mostou).

2008; Di Renzo, Di Maio, Girimonte, & Formisani, 2008; Huang,

Wang, & Wei, 2008; Lu & Hsiau, 2005; Norouzi, Mostou,
Mansourpour, Sotudeh-Gharebagh, & Chaouki, 2011; Norouzi,
Mostou, & Sotudeh-Gharebagh, 2012; Westphalen & Glicksman,
1995; Wu & Zhan, 2007; Wu, Men, & Chen, 2011). Shen and Zhang
(1998) studied the effect of particle size on the mixing of particles in
a 2D uidized bed. They observed that uctuations of concentration
in both the vertical and horizontal axes increased as a result of particle growth. Hull, Chen, and Agarwal (2000) investigated the mixing
of solids in a 2D uidized bed by analyzing videos. They concluded
that the speed of mixing is higher for tracer particles that enter
the middle of bed compared with those below and above the bed
particles. Pallares and Johnsson (2006) studied the mixing mechanisms of solids in 2D uidized beds. They showed that a reduction
in the size of the tracer particles results in a more homogeneous
concentration distribution and an increase in vertical dispersion
whereas horizontal dispersion remains nearly unaffected. Wirsum,
Fett, Iwanowa, and Lukjanow (2001) indicated that smaller and
denser otsams in general improve vertical mixing at high supercial velocity. Rhodes, Wang, Nguyen, Stewart, and Liffman (2001)
studied the effects of gas velocity and particle properties on mixing based on a DEM simulation. Their results indicated that the
time required for mixing decreases upon an increase in the gas

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.partic.2014.10.003
1674-2001/ 2014 Chinese Society of Particuology and Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Please cite this article in press as: Gorji-Kandi, S., et al. A solids mixing rate correlation for small scale uidized beds. Particuology (2014),
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.partic.2014.10.003

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2
Table 1
Properties of the solid particles.

Table 2
Experimental conditions and particle positions in the 2D bed.

Particles

dp (m)

p (kg/m3 )

Umf (m/s)

Ut (m/s)

Glass bead
Glass bead
Glass bead

850
780
450

2600
2600
2600

0.44
0.39
0.153

6.41
6.05
3.95

velocity and the degree of mixing decreases with an increase in

particle size.
Solids mixing is important in small scale uidized beds which
are used in many industries including the food and pharmaceutical industries, and in processes involving physical and chemical
changes. A quantitative assessment of solids mixing is required to
improve product quality in applications such as the coating of particles, the drying of powders, and in granulation (Kulah & Kaya,
2011; Liu & Chen, 2012; Smith, 2007; Yang et al., 2014). Moreover,
a sufcient understanding of the mixing behavior of powders is
vital for the mechanical design of uidized bed accessories such as
the position and the number of solids feed and solids withdrawal
points (Mostou & Chaouki, 2000, 2001). A signicant parameter
of solids mixing is the time required to reach the desired level of
homogeneity in a uidized bed. This time is related to the mixing
rate, which can be used to scale up a particular process. The prediction of mixing rate under various operating conditions is thus
necessary. In this work, an image processing method was used to
investigate the mixing behavior of spherical particles in a 2D uidized bed. The effects of four fundamental operating parameters
(supercial gas velocity, ratio of tracer particles to bed particles,
tracer particle position, and particle size) were investigated with
regard to solids mixing by assessing the mixing index. The rate and
degree of mixing was evaluated by comparing the mixing index
against time. An empirical correlation is proposed to estimate the
mixing rate in a small scale (lumped) uidized bed.
Materials and methods
Experimental apparatus
All experiments were carried out in a 2D uidized bed. This bed
is schematically shown in Fig. 1. The column was made of glass
with a cross-section of 0.2 m 0.02 m and a height of 1 m. A distributor was placed symmetrically at the bottom of the bed. Air at
room temperature was supplied to the bed by a compressor. The air
ow rate was adjusted in the range 12000 L/min by a mass ow
controller (MFC).
Particle characterization
The solid particles used in the experiments were glass beads
with mean diameters of 850 and 450 m. The properties of the
particles are given in Table 1. The tracers were beads that were dyed
black with ink and dried in an oven at 150 C for approximately
2 h. Therefore, the tracer particles had the same physical properties
(shape, size, density) as the bed material.
Experimental procedure
A photographic method was used to study mixing in the 2D uidized bed in this work. Gray cardboard was placed behind the bed
as a background. Two halogen lamps were used for uniform lighting, each located on opposite sides of the bed, as shown in Fig. 1.
Pictures of the column were taken with a Canon PowerShot SX260
HS at a resolution of 12.1 megapixels. This digital camera included
a consecutive shooting mode of up to 2.4 frames/s in JPEG format.

No. Type of particles (size

in m)
1

Height (m) Initial loading pattern

White (850)

0.1

Black (850)

0.1

Initially, the bed is lled with white

particles, then the black particles
are located on them

White (850)
Black (850)

0.18
0.02

As
above

White (850)

0.1

First, 50% of white particles are fed

in the bed, then black particles
followed by the remaining 50% of
white particles
As
in
No.
1

Black (850)

0.1

White (90% 85010%

450)
Black (90% 85010%
450)

0.1
0.1

Each experiment was carried out following the procedure: the particles were initially packed into two individual layers. The order of
the particles, the ratio of tracer particles to the bed particles, and
the particle composition are shown in Table 2. Air was introduced
into the bed by tuning the MFC. Photos were then captured by the
digital camera.
Image analysis
An image processing method was used to determine the concentration of the tracer particles for each gure captured by the digital
camera. In this method, each image was divided into 36 (6 6)
cells of the same size as shown in Fig. 2. A code was developed
in which the gray scale image was quantized into three intensity levels: black, white, and gray. White, black, and gray pixels
represented white particles, tracer particles, and bubbles, respectively. Distinguishing between black, white, and the background
was achieved using a histogram of the image. The image was quantized into a three intensity level image. The black particles, white
particles, and background were identied according to their intensities using two threshold points. The fraction of black particles in
each of these parts was evaluated by counting the number of black,
white, and gray pixels. Computation details are described in the
next session.
Mixing characterization
Various mixing indexes can be used to describe the effectiveness
of different mixers in processing industries. Most of these indexes
have been developed based on statistical analysis and especially
on the denition of standard deviation (Lacey, 1954; Rhodes et al.,
2001; Zhang, Jin, & Zhong, 2009). To quantify the quality of mixing
in the binary mixture the well-known Lacey index was used in this
work.
In this work, the concentration of the tracer particles was calculated as follows:
n
ci = i ,
(1)
nit
where ni and nit are the number of tracer particles in a given sampling cell and the total number of particles in each sampling cell
(including the tracer and bed particles), respectively. The variance,
 2 , of the concentration of tracer particles in each cell is dened as:

N

2 =

i=1

(ci cm )2
N

(2)

where cm is the average concentration of black particles in the bed

(Deen et al., 2010; Zhang et al., 2009). The standard deviation is

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Fig. 1. Schematic of the experimental setup.

Fig. 2. Division of the 2D bed image into equal cells. White, black, and gray pixels correspond to white particles, tracers, and bubbles, respectively.

equal to the square root of the variance. The Lacy index, M( 2 ), is
dened as:
M( 2 ) =

02  2
02 R2

(3)

where
02 = cm (1 cm ),

(4)

cm (1 cm )
.
n

(5)

R2 =

In this equation, n is the average particle number in all the

sampling cells (Peng, Doroodchi, Alghamdi, & Moghtaderi, 2013),
i.e.,
1
nit .
N
N

n=

i=1

(6)

Note that 02 is the variance of the unmixed bed (completely

segregated) and R2 is the variance of the fully mixed bed (randomly mixed) (Lacey, 1954). In practical terms, the mixing index
is the ratio of the achieved level of mixing to the ultimate possible
level of mixing. A zero mixing index represents complete segregation and unity represents a completely mixed situation (Masuda,
Higashitani, & Yoshida, 2006).
Results and discussion
Illustration of the mixing process
The ow pattern of the particles was visualized to understand
the mixing process. Fig. 3 shows an illustrative example of the mixing process over time for particles with a density of 2600 kg/m3 and
of 850 m in diameter. The supercial gas velocity was 0.88 m/s.
The particles at the top were black and the rest were white.

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Fig. 3. Snapshots of the particle mixing process versus time (dp = 850 m, U/Umf = 2, L/D = 1).

Obviously, the black and white particles were completely segregated at the start when t = 0 s. As the mixing proceeded this
completely segregated state gradually converted into a state in
which particles of different color were partially mixed. A dynamic
equilibrium was established after about 20 s of mixing.
Effect of supercial gas velocity
The mixing index versus time trend at various supercial gas
velocities is shown in Fig. 4. From this gure the mixing index gradually increases until equilibrium is reached. Fig. 4 also shows that
increasing the supercial gas velocity accelerates the mixing process and the mixing index reaches its nal value in a shorter period.
In other words, by increasing the supercial gas velocity, the mixing process becomes faster and the bed reaches the steady state
condition sooner. The nal mixing index value is very close to 1

Fig. 4. Variation of the mixing index versus time (dp = 850 m, 50% white, 50%
black).

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Fig. 5. Effect of supercial gas velocity on the bubble size (dp = 850 m): (a) U/Umf = 2.0 and (b) U/Umf = 2.8. White, black and gray pixels correspond to white particles, tracers
and bubbles, respectively.

regardless of the gas velocity. This suggests that the average rate of
mixing increases with an increase in the gas velocity under the conditions examined. This trend agrees with the general trend reported
by Rhodes et al. (2001), Peng et al. (2013), Wu and Baeyens (1998),
and Fang, Luo, Yang, Zhang, and Fan (2013).
An analysis of Fig. 5(a)(b) indicates that an increase in the
gas velocity leads to the formation of larger bubbles in the bed.
The average size of the bubbles in Fig. 5(a) was about three
times smaller than that in Fig. 5(b). The main reason for solids
mixing in the uidized beds is the total circulation of particles because of the bubbles rising. In a bubbling uidized bed
the excess gas (i.e., U Umf ) passes through the bed in the form
of bubbles. Considering that the size of the bubbles and their
rising velocity are directly affected by the excess gas velocity, increasing the excess gas velocity speeds up the mixing
process.

in comparative investigations into the effect of operating situations. Wu and Baeyens (1998) and Rhodes et al. (2001) also noted
that the concentration of the tracer particles certainly affects the
results.

Effect of tracer to bed particle ratio

Fig. 6(a)(b) illustrates the evolution of the mixing index at
various tracer particle to bed particle ratios. These gures show
that changes in the mixing index for the 0.10.9 ratio was faster
than that of the 0.50.5 ratio. At t = 0 s (completely segregated),
the mixing index for the 0.1/0.9 ratio is 0.44 while it is zero for
0.5/0.5. Since no mixing occurs in the system at t = 0 s, the mixing index is zero. Therefore, using a tracer particle to bed particle
ratio of 0.10.9 results in a faster variation in the mixing index
compared with the 0.50.5 ratio. This trend is expected since the
Lacey index depends on the concentration of the tracers. Therefore, it is important that the same concentration of tracers is used

Fig. 6. Effect of tracer particle to bed particle ratio on the mixing index
(dp = 850 m): (a) U/Umf = 2.0 and (b) U/Umf = 2.8.

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Fig. 7. Snapshot of the particle mixing process versus time. Tracers are located in between the bed particles (dp = 850 m, U/Umf = 2, L/D = 1).

Effect of tracer position

Fig. 7 shows how mixing progresses for the middle loading pattern in which the tracer particles are located between the bed
particles. Under this condition the tracer particle to bed particle
ratio was 0.50.5. Fig. 8(a)(b) shows variations in the mixing index
against time for the process shown in Fig. 7. According to this gure,
the position of the tracer particles affects the changes in the mixing
index, and the rate of increase in the mixing index is higher when
the tracers are located in between two layers of the bed particles.
Therefore, the initial loading pattern affects the mixing speed. The
mixing process is more rapid when the tracer particles are located
in between the bed particles compared with the condition in which
the tracers are placed on top of the bed particles.
The effect of tracer position on the mixing process can be
explained as follows. Mostou and Chaouki (2001) demonstrated
that axial mixing is faster than the radial mixing of particles. This

comes from the effective contribution of convective mixing in favor

of axial mixing because of the axial motion of bubbles. A rapid
convective transport of particles from the middle to the top of the
bed occurs when the tracers are located in between the two layers of bed particles while this transport is slow when the tracers
are placed on top of the bed particles. Therefore, a stable state is
reached faster for the middle loading pattern. This trend is evident
when comparing Figs. 3 and 7. It should also be mentioned that
the position of the tracers has no effect on the ultimate value of
the index. The degree of mixing achieved at the end of the process
does not change with the initial particle loading pattern. Fang et al.
(2013) showed that the tracer position affects the results.
Effect of particle size
The inuence of particle size was studied by decreasing the
average particle size from 850 to 780 m while retaining the same

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Fig. 8. Variations of the mixing index against time for different tracer loading patterns (dp = 850 m): (a) U/Umf = 2.0 and (b) U/Umf = 2.8.

Fig. 9. Variations of the mixing index versus time for different particles sizes.

Fig. 10. Effect of particle size on bubble size.

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particle density. Under this condition, the ratio of tracer particles

to bed particles was 0.50.5. The bed and tracer particles consist of
10% small particles with a diameter of 450 m and 90% large particles with a diameter of 850 m. Results of these experiments are
shown in Fig. 9(a)(b). From this gure the mixing index for this
particle size composition is higher than that of the rst condition
where the particle diameter was 850 m. In other words, the system reaches a dynamic equilibrium faster and the mixing process
is quicker when smaller particles are present in the system. This
trend can be attributed to the better activity of bubbles under this
condition compared with the rst condition. From these gures
the mixing index increased faster than that of the rst condition.
Additionally, the time required for the mixing index to increase
from 0 to 1 decreased as the particle diameter decreased from 850
to 780 m. Decreasing the mean particle size led to a decrease in
the minimum uidization velocity. Therefore, the speed of mixing
increases as a result of the decrease in mean particle size. In a bubbling uidized bed, all the excess gas (i.e., U Umf ) passes through
the bed in the form of bubbles. Considering that the size of the
bubbles and their rising velocity are directly affected by the excess
gas velocity, increasing the excess gas velocity accelerates the mixing process. This agrees with the general trend reported by Rhodes
et al. (2001).
Fig. 10 shows the effect of particle size on the size of the bubbles. Smaller particles produce larger bubbles in the bed, which
increases the speed of mixing and reduces the time required for
complete mixing. The average size of the bubbles in Fig. 10(a) is
about three times that in Fig. 10(b), and in Fig. 10(c) it is about two
times that in Fig. 10(d). The experimental observations of Zarghami
(2009) have also shown that the bubble size can decrease with an
increase in the particle size.

Considering the initial state of the particles for which the

standard deviation is  0 , Eq. (7) can be integrated to give:
 = 0 exp(kt).

(8)

The mixing rate constant, k, in these equations is a function of

the operating conditions as well as the properties of the gas and
solids:
k = f (U, db , dp , p , g , ).

(9)

Rewriting Eq. (9) as a function of dimensionless numbers, the

following general equation is obtained:
kdp
= aAr b Rec Fr d ,
U

Solids mixing rate

In an extensive investigation of previous experimental and theoretical work, no report on the prediction of mixing speed by
correlation was found. Existing solids mixing models are based on
diffusion (Kunii & Levenspiel, 1991), convection (Lefebvre, Guy, &
Chaouki, 2007), and convective-diffusion (Shen, Zhang, & Xu, 1995)
equations. These are complicated and include axial and/or lateral
coordinates in the model. However, in a small scale uidized bed
the solids can be treated as lumped because of fast solids mixing
within the bed. It is only necessary to evaluate the evolution of
solids mixing against time. Small scale uidized beds are widely
used in drying (Daud, 2008; Mujumdar, 2006; Ozahi & Demir,
2014) and in pharmaceutical processes (Burggraeve, Monteyne,
Vervaet, Remon, & Beer, 2013; Levin, 2011; Srivastava & Mishra,
2010). Therefore, a simple lumped solids mixing model based
on the end point and/or time of mixing is of industrial interest.
When considering mixing graphs by either the mixing index or
by standard deviation, similarities exist with respect to the evolution of solids concentration during mixing process. Examples of the
evolution of the standard deviation of solids concentration against
time are shown in Fig. 11. This gure reveals that the rate of mixing
is higher in the initial stages of the process (when the solids are far
from the completely mixed state) and it decreases with time (when
the bed condition approaches the completely mixed state). Therefore, a rst degree mixing rate (which is dened here as the rate of
change in the standard deviation of the solids concentration) can
be described as follows:
d
= k.
dt

Fig. 11. Evolution of standard deviation over time.

(7)

(10)

where
Ar =

dp3 g (p g )g
2

Re =

g db U
,


and

Fr =

gdp
U2

Fig. 12. Comparison of the experimental and calculated mixing rate values.

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k values were determined for various operating conditions studied in this work as well as data obtained from literature (Atteya
Alhwaige, Masrinda Tasirin, & Daud, 2007; Gorji-Kandi, 2013;
Julian, Herguido, & Menendez, 2013; Oschmann, Hold, & KruggelEmden, 2014; Rhodes et al., 2001; Tian et al., 2007). As a result,
the constant k of Eq. (10) was calculated for 3300 < Ar < 8417300,
0.0033 < Fr < 0.0462 and 643 < Re < 30112, as follows:
kdp
= 1.04 106 Ar 0.32 Re0.05 Fr 0.18 .
U

(11)

The correlation coefcient for this equation is 0.98 and the corresponding parity plot is shown in Fig. 12, showing the validity of
the proposed correlation. The calculated standard deviations based
on Eq. (11) are shown in Fig. 11 as lines.
An estimated mixing time required for the solids system to reach
a perfect mixing state can thus be calculated with the following Eq.
(12) by assuming a standard deviation dropping to 0.01 0 while
reaching perfect mixing.
tmix = 4.42 106 Ar 0.32 Re0.05 Fr 0.18

U
.
dp

(12)

Conclusions
The mixing of particles in 2D uidized beds was studied experimentally. Digital image processing was applied to obtain the tracer
concentration during the mixing process. We show that an increase
in supercial gas velocity improves the mixing rate and decreases
the mixing time. Experiments also show that the evolution of the
Lacey index depends on the concentration of the particles. The position of the tracer particles in the bed also affects changes in the
mixing index. However, the initial location of the tracer particles
does not affect the ultimate value of the index. The mixing rate
decreases with an increase in particle size. A mixing rate equation
was proposed to describe the solids mixing process in small scale
uidized beds. This equation is not sensitive to the initial distribution of the particles. A correlation was developed to evaluate
the mixing rate constant as a function of dimensionless numbers
(Archimedes, Reynolds, and Froude) and this provides a reliable
estimation of the mixing rate and mixing time in small scale uidized beds.
Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful to Dr. Saeideh Gorji and Dr. Reza
Zarghami for their help during the experiments.
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