Effects of increase in gas volume on the fluidization properties in fluidized bed reactors

Abstract

There are many industrially useful reactions accompanied by the change of the gas volume due to the stoichiometry. Although it is important to consider the effects of the gas-volume changes for the accurate estimation of the reactor performance, the effects on the fluidization properties have not been experimentally studied. In this study, experimental simulation was carried out to study the effects of the increase in gas volume on the fluidization properties. The gas volume was increased by the evaporation of water impregnated in the pores of alumina particles at elevated temperature. The effects on the expansion of the emulsion phase, average bubble holdup, bubble size and pressure fluctuations were studied. The bubble growth, splitting and coalescence would become vigorous, whereas the emulsion phase expansion was not affected and the bubble size was slightly increased. © 2009 The Society of Chemical Engineers, Japan.