Flow of Fluids through

Fluidised Bed

 6.1.2. Effect of fluid velocity on

pressure gradient and pressure drop
When a fluid flows slowly upwards through a
bed of very fine particles the flow is
streamline and a linear relation exists
between pressure gradient and flowrate.
If the pressure gradient (P/l) is plotted
against the superficial velocity (uc) using
logarithmic co-ordinates a straight line of
unit slope is obtained, as shown in Figure
6.1.

uc > terminal velocity

(transport or elutriation or
entrainment or carryover)
Hindered settling
Uc,t = terminal velocity.
Incipient transport of
particles

buoyancy effect starts

to work. Incipient
fluidised bed

frictional wall effect on the

vessel or container is
working in transport bed

P is due to s - from incipient fluidisation until incipient

transport of particles. During fluidisation, particles can be treated
as hindered settling. Transport of particles starts at terminal
velocity of free settling

 As the superficial velocity approaches the

minimum fluidising velocity (umf ), the bed
starts to expand and when the particles are
no longer in physical contact with one
another the bed is fluidised. The pressure
gradient then becomes lower because of the
increased voidage and, consequently, the
weight of particles per unit height of bed is
smaller (due to buoyancy effect).

 This fall continues until the velocity is high

enough for transport of the material to take
place, and the pressure gradient then starts to
increase again because the frictional drag of
the fluid at the walls of the tube starts to
become significant.
When the bed is composed of large particles,
the flow will be laminar only at very low
velocities and the slope of the curve may not
be constant, particularly if there is a
progressive change in flow regime as the
velocity increases.

 If the pressure across the whole bed instead

of the pressure gradient is plotted against
velocity, also using logarithmic coordinates
as shown in Figure 6.2, a linear relation is
again obtained up to the point where
expansion of the bed starts to take place (A),
although the slope of the curve then
gradually diminishes as the bed expands and
its porosity increases.
As the velocity is further increased, -P
passes through a maximum value (B) and
then falls slightly and attains an

Particles are just resting

on one another
frictional forces between
particles are less after
bed expansion

Minimum
fluidising vel.

P is due to s -
frictional forces inter
particles are less due to
loose physical contacts,
bed porosity is larger
frictional forces between
particles work to all
particles when uc is
increased until point B

frictional forces inter

particles decrease
more and more until
none at C

 If the fluid velocity is reduced again, the

bed contracts until it reaches the condition
where the particles are just resting on one
another (E).
The porosity then has the maximum stable
value which can occur for a fixed bed of the
particles.
If the velocity is further decreased, the
structure of the bed then remains unaffected
provided that the bed is not subjected to
vibration.

 If the velocity is now increased again, it might

be expected that the curve (FE) would be
retraced and that the slope would suddenly
change from 1 to 0 at the fluidising point.
This condition is difficult to reproduce,
however, because the bed tends to become
consolidated again unless it is completely
free from vibration.
In the absence of channelling, it is the shape
and size of the particles that determine both
the maximum porosity and the pressure drop
across a given height of fluidised bed of a

 In an ideal fluidised bed -P corresponding to

ECD is equal to the buoyant weight of
particles per unit area.
In practice, it may deviate appreciably from
this value as a result of channelling and the
effect of particle-wall friction.
Point B lies above CD because the frictional
forces between the particles have to be
overcome before bed rearrangement can
take place.

 The minimum fluidising velocity, umf , may be

determined experimentally by measuring -P
across the bed for both increasing and
decreasing velocities and plotting the results as
shown in Figure 6.2.
The two best straight lines are then drawn
through the experimental points and the
velocity at their point of intersection (E) is taken
as the minimum fluidising velocity.
Linear rather than logarithmic plots are
generally used, although it is necessary to use
logarithmic plots if the plot of pressure gradient
against velocity in the fixed bed is not linear.

 The theoretical value of the minimum

fluidising velocity may be calculated from the
equations given in Chapter 4 for the relation
between pressure drop and velocity in a fixed
packed bed, with the pressure drop through
the bed = the effective weight of particles
due to s - per unit area, and the
porosity set at the maximum value that can be
attained in the fixed bed.
In a fluidised bed, the total frictional force on
the particles under condition, which is similar
to hindered settling = the effective weight

 Thus, in a bed of unit cross-sectional area, depth

l, and porosity e, the additional pressure drop
across the bed attributable to the layout weight
of the particles is given by: (general force
balance for fluidised bed)
.
where: g is the acceleration due to gravity and
s and are the densities of the particles and
the fluid respectively.
P is applied to overcome friction on the particle
surfaces in hindered settling until terminal
velocity (drag force at u < u0 = gravity force
bouyancy force).

 There may be some discrepancy between the

calculated and measured minimum velocities
for fluidisation.
This may be attributable to channelling, as a
result of which the drag force acting on the bed
is reduced, or to the action of electrostatic
forces in case of gaseous fluidisation
particularly important in the case of sands, or to
agglomeration which is often considerable with
small particles, or to friction between the fluid
and the walls of the containing vessel

 If flow conditions within the bed are

streamline, the relation between fluid velocity
uc, pressure drop (P) and voidage e is given,
for a fixed bed of spherical particles of
diameter d, by the Carman-Kozeny equation
(4.12a) which takes the form:
.
Substituting for P from equation 6.1 into
equation 6.2 gives: (fixed bed = minimum
fluidisation)

 6.1.3. Minimum fluidising velocity

As the upward velocity of flow of fluid through
a packed bed of uniform spheres is increased,
the point of incipient fluidisation is
reached when the particles are just
supported in the fluid.
The corresponding value of the minimum
fluidising velocity (umf ) is then obtained by
substituting emf into equation 6.3 to give:
Eq. 6.4 using umf is derived from Eq. 6.3 using uc, so it is
based on cross-sectional area of the column

 Since equation 6.4 is based on the Carman

Kozeny equation, it applies only to conditions
of laminar flow, and hence to low values of
the Reynolds number for flow in the bed.
In practice, this restricts its application to fine
particles. The value of emf is a function of the
shape, size distribution and surface
properties of the particles.
Substituting a typical value of 0.4 for emf in
equation 6.4 gives:

Ergun eq. for

ring packing

When the flow regime at the point of

incipient fluidisation is outside the range
over which the Carman-Kozeny equation
is applicable, it is necessary to use one of
the more general equations for the pressure
gradient in the bed such as the Ergun
equation as:

where d is the diameter of the sphere

Ergun equation is to correlate between P
and uc (fixed bed = minimum velocity

Substituting e = emf at the incipient fluidisation

point and for P from equation 6.1, equation 6.6 is
then applicable at the minimum fluidisation velocity
umf, and gives:

Works on fixed bed =

minimum velocity
fluidised bed

Works on fluidised
bed (general force
eq)
By definition, Remf is is
based on bed crosssectional area (umf =
uc)

 where Remf is the Reynolds number at the

minimum fluidising velocity and equation
6.8 then becomes:

 Expansion of fludised bed

Beyond umf the particle separation increases with
increasing fluid superficial velocity whilst the pressure
loss across the bed remains constant.
This increase in bed voidage with fluidizing velocity is
referred to as bed expansion.
Richardson and Zaki (1954) found uc is the function f(e)
which applied to hindered settling. In general uc = ucT n
where ucT is the terminal velocity of superficial velocity
(umf < uc < ucT).
For Re<0.3 (Stokes law), uc = ucT 4.65
For Re>500 (Newtons law), uc = ucT 2.4

 Khan and Richardson (1989) recommend the

use of the following correlation for the value of
exponent n over the transitional range of
Reynolds numbers:

where Ar is the Archimedes number = Galileo

number (dp3f(p- f)g/2) and dp is the particle
diameter and D is the vessel diameter.

 Estimation of the bed voidage can be

determined by following calculation:

 Example 6.2
Oil, of density 900 kg/m3 and viscosity 3
mNs/m2, is passed vertically upwards
through a bed of catalyst consisting of
approximately spherical particles of diameter
0.1 mm and density 2600 kg/m3.
At approximately what mass rate of flow per
unit area of bed will (a) fluidisation, and (b)
transport of particles start to occur?

 Solution (assumption of laminar flow

(Stokes law))

In this problem, s = 2600 kg/m3, = 900

kg/m3, = 3.0 103 Ns/m2 and d = 0.1 mm =
1.0 104 m.
As no value of the voidage is available or can
be estimated, e will be estimated by
considering eight closely packed spheres of

Assumption at minimum
fluidisation for unknown
bed size and mass of
the bed

Particles in bed are treated as independent particles, then Ga

can be applied

Trial and
error

Density of oil

2/3*Galileo
numer