Oxidation of zinc sulphide concentrate in a fluidised bed reactor - Part 1: Characterisation of the fluid dynamics of the particle bed

Abstract

The oxidation kinetics of a blend of zinc sulphide concentrates in a bench-scale fluidised bed reactor operated in batch regime was studied. This work involves the fluid dynamics characterisation of the bed during the reaction. Its purpose is to determine bed behaviour and to assess the experimental conditions used in the roasting experiments. The characterisation is derived from both fluid dynamics maps and an analysis based on the dynamics of gas bubble growth in the bed. Bed behaviour under any experimental condition is evaluated with the fluid dynamics maps. The transitions fixed/fluidised bed, fluidised bed/pneumatic transport and between several fluidisation regimes are obtained from curves of dimensionless gas velocity versus dimensionless particle diameters. The possibility of fluidisation in the slugging regime is verified by the dynamics of gas bubble growth in the bed.