Experimental study of the gas flow behavior in the inlet of a granular bed filter

Abstract

The Moving Granular Bed Filter (MGBF) is an important apparatus being developed for filtration of the hot gas. Our research group demonstrated a good solution to diminish stagnant zones in MGBF during the filtration process. However, there still remain some systematic problems that have to be worked out prior to commercializing a whole facility. The design of the gas inlet component of the granular bed filter is important for achieving a uniform gas distribution and higher usage rate of the filter media. Non-uniformity may lead to a lower usage rate. The new gas inlet component design uses baffle devices in order to achieve a more uniform gas velocity distribution. Fixed bed and moving bed conditions were studied. The uniformity of the gas velocity distribution can be characterized by the standard deviation definitions and the differences in the mean velocities between the two filtration surfaces. The baffle lengths and angles affected the uniformity of gas velocity in inlet and filtration surfaces. The optimal experimental parameters were found by using different baffle lengths, angles and mass flow rate of filter media. The uniform gas velocity distributions were obtained by a series experiments. Furthermore, the results give important information about IGCC system that will be helpful for designing better models of moving granular bed filters in the future.