Correlation for predicting minimum fluidization velocity with different size distributions and bed inventories at elevated temperature in gas-solid fluidized bed

Abstract

This study presents extensive experimental details of the effects of the solid particle size distribution (PSD), bed inventory, and bed temperature on the minimum fluidization velocity (Umf). Silica sand with three average solid particle diameters and five PSDs was used. The results showed that the Umf values of the wide PSDs were lower than those of the narrow cut particles with the same average particle diameter. The standard deviation (SD) and skewness of the PSD also influenced Umf variation. Furthermore, the Umf decreased with increasing bed inventory and bed temperature. The influencing parameters were recast into a dimensionless group and included in a new correlation for predicting Umf. The proposed correlation estimated an average absolute deviation of 14.6% between the experimental data and predicted values. Furthermore, the new correlation was evaluated with a dataset from the literature and gave an average absolute deviation of 15.6%.