An analysis of process heat recovery in a gas-solid shallow fluidized bed

Abstract

This work presents an experimental study of a continuous gas-solid fluidized bed with an immersed horizontal tube. Silica sand (254mm diameter) was used as solid particles and air was used for fluidization in a 900mm long and 150mm wide heat exchanger. Measurements were made under steady state conditions for a solid particle mass flow rate from 14 to 95kg.h-1 and a number of baffles from 0 to 8. Results showed that the heat transfer coefficient increases with the solid particle mass flow rate and with the number of baffles, suggesting that these are important factors to be considered in the design of such equipment. An empirical correlation for the heat transfer coefficient is proposed as a function of solid particle and gas mass flow rate, number of baffles and gas velocity.