Fluidization

• Fluidization refers to those fluid-solid

FLUIDIZATION system in which the solid phase is
transformed to a fluid-like state by an
upward flow of fluid stream through the bed
of solid particles at a sufficient velocity to
locally suspend the particles, but not too
great for the fluid velocity to transport all
the particles out of the bed.

UST Chemical Engineering

Department

Fluidization Uses of Fluidization

• Gas-solid system
– 1926 with Winkler's coal gasifier, which transformed coal into carbon
monoxide
– Fluid catalytic cracking (FCC). FCC operations were introduced to
transform kerosene and gas oil into the higher octane fuels that were
needed for aviation gasoline in World War II.
– Metallurgical ore roasting, limestone calcinations, petrochemical
production, silicon production for semiconductors
– Cultivation of microorganisms in what has come to be called
"biofluidization“
• Liquid-fluidized system
– Fluidized bed bioreactors which are usually characterized by the
catalytic use of enzymes or microbial cells that are immobilized by
attachment, entrapment, encapsulation or self-aggregation

UST Chemical Engineering UST Chemical Engineering

Department Department

FBR (Fluidized Bed Reactor) Advantages/ disadvantages

• Fluidized Catalytic
Cracking Unit (FCCU) in • Ease of handling, nearly isothermal
the petroleum refining behavior due to excellent solids mixing,
industry.
• This reactor system uses
and high heat and mass transfer rates.
a fluidized catalyst to • Non-uniform residence times due to
"crack" large gas oil
molecules into smaller mixing, erosion from abrasive particles,
molecules. and very complicated hydrodynamic
• The system breaks apart behavior
larger C14 molecules into
C4 and C8 molecules or
into C5 and C7 molecules.
UST Chemical Engineering UST Chemical Engineering
Department Department

1
 Fluidization regime
• Consider a fluidization vessel in which a vertical bed of
solid particles subjected to an upward flow of a fluid.

Solids return

Solids return
Lmf

Gas or Liquid Gas or Liquid Gas or Liquid Gas Gas Gas Gas Gas or Liquid
Packed Bed Minimum Particulate Free Bubbling Slug Flow Turbulent Fast Pneumatic
Fluidization Regime Regime Regime Regime Fluidization Conveying

Aggregative Fluidization

Increasing fluid superficial velocity

UST Chemical Engineering UST Chemical Engineering
Department Department

Superficial Velocity Fluidization Regime

• Superficial or Approach Velocity, v s of the fluid based on
the empty column • Minimum Fluidization vmf:
– velocity at which the bed just begins to fluidize
Q
vs   vie – Also known as incipient velocity
Ac • At superficial velocity exceeding that minimum fluidization velocity,
– where Q refers to the volumetric flow rate of the fluid vs>vmf
– Ac refers to the cross-sectional area of the column – the bed behaves differently depending upon the density difference
– vi refers to interstitial velocity
between the solid and fluid, the particle size, and the fluid velocity.
– Particulate fluidization : for the small density differences, the bed
– and e is the bed porosity or fraction of void in the bed. appears to expand smoothly
• Although interstitial velocity is the more important • Also referred to as homogeneous, uniform, smooth or non-bubbling
fluidization regime.
parameter from the theoretical standpoint, the superficial • the bed is commonly referred to as quiescent bed
velocity is generally more useful to fluidization from a • This fluidization regime is observed for most liquid-fluidized beds except
those involving very dense particles.
practical standpoint. • Gases at high pressure when flowing through beds of fine particles

UST Chemical Engineering UST Chemical Engineering

Department Department

Fluidization Regime Fluidization Regime

• Free Bubbling Regime
– For large density differences typically associated with gas-fluidized
• Slug Flow Regime
system – A further increase of the gas velocity will result in slug flow in
which the size of the bubble increases until they span the column
– the bed tends to separate into two phases namely the dilute bubble diameter, and appear as slug that move up the column.
phase and the dense particulate phase
• Turbulent fluidization
– The bed exhibits further instabilities as the gas (superficial) velocity – If the gas velocity is increased continuously, it will eventually
increases and the gas starts bypassing the rest of the bed in the form become sufficiently rapid to carry the some of the particles upward
of bubbles. out of the bed leading to turbulent fluidization.
– This is the onset of the free bubbling fluidization and the – When this begins to happen, the bubbling and agitation of the
corresponding superficial velocity is called the minimum bubbling solids are still present.
velocity (vmb). – The turbulent regime extends to the operating velocity known as
– These bubbles grow in size as they rise up the column the transport velocity.
– The solids in the bed begin moving upward, downward, and around • Fast Fluidization
in a highly agitated manner, appearing as a boiling frothing mixture. – A further increase of the gas velocity will result to fast fluidization
– In general, this fluidization regime is referred to as aggregative, non- and the bed is referred to as a fast-fluidized bed where significant
particulate, heterogeneous, or bubbling fluidization. carryover of particles is observed.
UST Chemical Engineering UST Chemical Engineering
Department Department

2
 • Initially, when there is no flow, the
pressure drop is zero, and the bed
Fluidization Regime DP
•
has a certain height.
As the superficial velocity increases,
the pressure drop gradually increases
L
while the bed height remains fixed
due to a drag exerted on the solid
• Pneumatic Conveying particles by the fluid
• When the point B is reached, the bed
– Occurs at sufficiently very high velocities Fluid
Superficial Velocity starts to expand in height while the
– Particles (lean phase) are well apart and are carried along with Experimental Setup pressure drop levels off to point C and
no longer increases as the superficial
the fluid (either gas or liquid) stream B
velocity increases. This condition is
– The bed is referred to as transported or entrained bed. D F the onset of fluidization or usually
C
G
termed as incipient fluidization. This
– Under this condition, lean (or dilute) phase fluidization and is when the drag force exerted by the
Pressure A E fluid on the particles is sufficient to
pneumatic transport occurs. Drop balance the net weight of the bed,
– In general, the superficial velocity that will exceed the terminal
Fluidized Bed
and the particles begin to separate
from each other and suspend in the
velocity of the particle may result to carryover or entrainment of O fluid.
Superficial velocity
that particle • The characteristic hump at point B
may be due to the initial compaction
– A cyclone is commonly installed in a gas-fluidized system, where of the bed or the tendency of particles
entrained particle are recovered and returned to the bed to F to interlock. The pressure drop at
prevent the bed from becoming depleted as the fluid superficial point B, which is in excess of the
Bed
theoretical value at incipient
velocity continues to increase. Height fluidization, is the extra pressure
E required to unlock the particles from
A B
C the pattern of packing.
UST Chemical Engineering UST Chemical Engineering
Department Department
Superficial velocity

• As the velocity is increased further, the

fluidized bed continues to expand, but the
pressure drop stays constant as shown in
curve CDF. However, the pressure drop
Evaluation of minimum fluidization
decreases at the condition of entrainment
L
DP because the entrained particle offers little
resistance to flow.
velocity, vmf
• Past the point of incipient fluidization, i.e., at
point F, gradually decreasing the fluid • Known Bed Porosity at incipient fluidization. emf
velocity to zero, the pressure drop stays
Fluid
Superficial Velocity fixed while the bed settles back down, – Ergun Equation:
(FDCEO) and then, the pressure drop

 g (  p   )d pe mf 3 
Experimental Setup
 150 (1  e mf ) 
begins to decrease when the point C is
reached. The bed height then becomes
vmf   vmf   0
2

B constant while the pressure drop follows the

 1.75  d   
D F curve CEO.
1.75 
C
• The observed hysteresis as described by
   
G

Pressure E
curved FDCEO may be due to the tendency p
A of particles in the bed to loosen up from
Drop
initial compaction when subjected to
– Bed Porosity
Fluidized Bed
fluidization. After fluidization, the particles
settle back into a more loosely packed state
O Superficial velocity which may result to a larger constant bed • Experimental(based on weight of the bed, wB’
height on the return loop compared to that
of the bed height in the initial state. wB'
e mf  1 
Lmf Ac   s   
• The superficial velocity at point C refers to ,
F the minimum fluidization velocity or incipient
fluidization velocity. The bed porosity,, at
minimum fluidization is the maximum • For Special solids
– dp – Volume Surface mean diameter
Bed porosity of the loosely packed bed.
Height
E • For a bed consisting of wide particle size
1
A B
C range, the superficial velocity at point D
refers to the velocity of complete d p  d sv  UST Chemical Engineering
UST Chemical Engineering xi
Superficial velocity
Department fluidization.
d Department
pi

Typical values of bed porosity at Evaluation of minimum fluidization

incipient fluidization
(a) Soft brick;
(b) absorption carbon
(c) broken Raschig rings
(d) coal and glass powder
(e) silicone carbide;
velocity, vmf
• Unknown Bed Porosity at incipient fluidization. emf
– Leva (1959) as cited from Perry ChE HB, 6th ed (1984):
0.00930     s     d v1.82
0.94

(f) Sand Gmf  vmf  

(g) rough sand, sphericity =  0.88
0.86;
(h) sharp sand, sphericity = – Baeyens’ equation (for dp < 100 microns):
0.67;
(i) Fischer-Tropsch catalyst, 9.4 x104 (  p   )0.934 g 0.934 d 1.8
vmf 
p
sphericity = 0.58;
 0.87  0.066
(j) anthracite coal, sphericity =
0.63;
(k) mixed round sand, – dv – Volume mean diameter
sphericity = 0.86;

d sv  s dv
(l) Coke
(m) silicon carbide.
(Adapted from Figure 5-69,
Sect. 5-55 of Perry’s ChE
Handbook 6th ed) UST Chemical Engineering
UST Chemical Engineering
Department
Department

3
 Particulate Fluidization
• For all flow regimes:
• In a non-bubbling bed beyond vmf , the particle separation increases – The following general correlation can be used to relate bed porosity to superficial
velocity: n
with increasing fluid superficial velocity while pressure loss across  v2   e 2 
the bed remains constant. Consequently, the bed porosity increases v e n
  
as the bed expands uniformly with increasing fluid superficial  v1   e1 
– Note that subscript 1 and 2 refer to condition 1 and 2 with the following operating
velocity. range: v  v  v and .
• For small dp and laminar flow between the particles, i.e., NRep<10: mf t e mf  e  1
• Assuming that the Blake-Kozeny equation which applies to fixed bed – It is assumed that at the upper bound of the fluidized bed condition is the point of a
may be expected to hold true for slightly expanded bed: fully expanded bed when v approaches the terminal velocity v t of the particle, the
bed porosity approaches 1 as if the bed has ceased to exist and each particle is
moving as an isolated individual.
– According to McCabe et al (2001), the correlation v  e has been verified from
n
e3  150  150
 k
 g (    )d 2 
v various experimental data in which the plot of log v against log approximates a
1 e g (  p   )d p2 straight line over a full range of bed expansion. Thus, n can be estimated from the
 p 
e mf3
p
slope of such plot.
At incipient fluidization:  kvmf – Data from many investigations show that the n is a function of N Re p , i.e., n varies

e3  v  e 3
 1  e mf about 4.5 in the laminar region to 2.5 at high Reynolds number as indicated by the
correlation given by Leva (1959). Using Figure 7.13 MSH, n can be estimated at
  
mf incipient fluidization condition, ( N ), thus:
1  e  vmf  1  e n
 v   e 
Re p mf
 mf 
    
UST Chemical Engineering
Department
UST Chemical Engineering vmf
Department
   e mf 

Bed Porosity and Expansion of a

Fluidized Bed
• Design of a fluidization vessel:
– Requires the weight of the bed (W B) in its expanded fluidized state because this
parameter plus the freeboard dictate the actual height of the fluidization vessel.
– Total mass balance on solids around a fluidized bed, assuming negligible solids
are entrained and carried out of the bed

n WB   B Ac L   p (1  e ) Ac L
– At a different operating (superficial) velocity, the bed porosity and expanded bed
height L varies

1  e 2  L2  1  e1  L1
N Re p
– where condition 1 refers to that of incipient fluidization, the height of the
Fig. 7.13/178 MSH expanded bed at a given operating fluid velocity can be expressed as:

L 
1  e  L
mf

UST Chemical Engineering 1  e  mf

UST Chemical Engineering
Department
Department

Problem Problem
• Ex. 7.3/177 MSH
A bed of ion exchange beads 8 ft deep is to be • Mixed round sand 0.05 mm in diameter
backwashed with water to remove dirt. The are to be fluidized with 45000 kg/h of air at
particles have a density of 1.24 g/cm3 and an 1 atm and 80 oC in a vertical cylindrical
average size of 1.1 mm. What is the minimum
fluidization velocity using water at 20 oC, and vessel. The density of the catalyst
what velocity is required to expand the bed by particles is 960 kg/m3; sphericity is 0.86. If
25%. Beads are spherical and porosity at the air velocity is just sufficient to fluidize
insipient fluidization is 0.40 the solids, what is the vessel diameter

UST Chemical Engineering UST Chemical Engineering

Department Department

4
 Evaluation of minimum bubbling
Problem
velocity, vmb
• Experimental procedure:
• Coal powder with a diameter of 2 mm are Deaeration test as cited from
Geldart and Abrahamsen (1980) to
evaluate .
to be fluidized at the rate of 5000 kg/h in a • The material to be tested is
Fully expanded height

vertical cylindrical vessel of diameter 10 fluidized vigorously and the gas is bubbles coming out
then turned off. The bed level is Lmb
cm. The density of the coal is 850 kg/m3; recorded as a function of time
• The bed level first drops quickly
sphericity is 0.9. the bed expands by 30% reflecting the flow of bubbles dense phase deaerating

Bed Height
leaving the bed.
of the minimum, find the height of the bed. • An inflection point is then reached
as remainder of the gas leaving the
bed is flowing through the
interstices. The vmb can then be
estimated from the slope of the
second line. The intercept of that Time
line corresponds to Lmb. Sample deaeration curve for Group A
particle
UST Chemical Engineering UST Chemical Engineering
Department Department

Evaluation of minimum bubbling Classification of solid particles

based on their fluidization properties at ambient air condition
velocity, vmb • Group A powders:
– size range of 30 –100 microns
– exhibit a transition from non-
• The following correlation of Abrahamsen and Geldart (1980) can be used bubbling (particulate regime) to
to estimate the for Group A solids bubbling behavior at superficial
velocity in excess of the minimum
d p  0.06 fluidization velocity.
vmb  2.07 exp(0.716 F ) • Group B powders:
 0.347 – up to 1mm depending on the
particle density)
– fluidize in a progressively more
– where the term F refers to the fraction of solids which are less than 45 microns unstable manner where bubbles
which is the same as a 325 mesh screen. start to form at or only slightly
above the minimum fluidization
velocity.
• Group C powders
– smallest (typically less than 30 m
– difficult to fluidize because particles
tend to stick together.
• Group D powders
– largest (in excess of about 1 mm)
– generally of lower density
– difficult to fluidize evenly and tend
to form a spouted bed.
– A spouted bed is a variation on the
fluidized bed in which the flow of
(Adapted from Figure 17-1 (Sect.17-2), Perry’s Chemical fluid is localized along the center
UST Chemical Engineering
Engineering Handbook, 7th ed) UST Chemical Engineering axis and the solids move downward
Department along the vessel walls.
Department

Bed expansion in Free Bubbling

Fluid Mechanics for Fluidized Beds
Fluidization
• Based on the two-phase theory of fluidization proposed by Toomey • To better understand fluidization of a particle bed, it is
and Johnstone (1952) and developed by Davidson and Harrison necessary to determine what range of flow rates allow
(1963), the simplest description of the expansion of a bubbling
fluidization, and also, what flow rates will begin to carry
UST Chemical Engineering

fluidized bed can be evaluated. The two-phase theory considers the

bubbling fluidized bed to be composed of the following (Clift 1986). the particles out the top of the particle chamber. We wish
to determine a minimum flow rate allowing the particles
Department

– a particulate (also known as emulsion or dense) phase in which the

flowrate is equal to the flowrate for incipient fluidization
– a bubble (also known as dilute or lean) phase which carries the additional
flow of the fluidizing fluid
• The theory assumes that all gas flow in excess of that required for
incipient fluidization flows through the bed in the form of bubbles.
Thus in bubbling fluidization, bed expansion at velocities above the
minimum bubbling velocity is due to the presence of bubbles.
• The visible gas flowrate that passes through the bed as bubbles (Qb)
can be expressed by the following equation:
Qb  Q  Qmf   v  vmf  Ac
• where Q=vAc is the actual total gas flowrate that passes through the
bed and Qmf=vmfAc is the gas flowrate that passes through the
particulate phase .
to become fluidized, the minimum fluidization velocity
(um), and the flow rate which carries the first particle out
of the chamber, the terminal velocity (ut).
• We used the Ergun equation on the packed bed page
to describe the drag exerted on a particle bed by the
fluid flow. By setting this equation equal to the
gravitational force of the particle bed, we can
determine the minimum fluidization velocity (um). In
this case, the equation is rearranged:
UST Chemical Engineering
Department

5
Ergun Equation
• The next step is to determine ut.
• The ut is the velocity that is large enough to lift a single
particle and carry it out of the fluidized bed. Then the
equations are those for drag past a sphere. There are
three equations for the drag coefficient corresponding to
the three flow regimes:
• The above equation • laminar, where Re < 1 ,
is a quadratic in u, • transition from laminar to turbulent, where 1 < Re <
500 and
where u now stands
• turbulent, where 500 < Re < 200,000. This implies
for um, the minimum there are three different equations for ut
fluidization velocity. corresponding to these flow regimes. The image
below contains the ut equations for the three flow
regimes.
UST Chemical Engineering
UST Chemical Engineering
Department
Department

UST Chemical Engineering

Department