Advances in vibrated gas-fluidized beds

Abstract

As one of the most successful modifications to conventional fluidized beds to intensify their operations, vibrated gas-fluidized beds (VGFBs) have been used extensively in industry. Here, we review the hydrodynamics within VGFBs and their applications to improve fluidization quality of particles that are difficult to fluidize based on gas flow alone, to control segregation and mixing among different particle types, and to enhance heat and mass transfer. Further, recent progress in creating structured flow patterns in VGFBs to facilitate the scale-up of fluidized beds and development of methods for numerical modeling of vibration in VGFBs are discussed. Finally, perspectives on the areas for future work on VGFBs are given.