Hydrodynamics of particles in liquid–solid packed fluidized bed

Abstract

Hydrodynamic properties of different particles in unary liquid–solid fluidized bed were well studied and are reported in literature. However, till date the same in liquid–solid binary packed fluidized bed has not been studied and no information is available in literature. Presently, it is well known that particles behave differently in a gas–solid packed fluidized bed; than in a unary gas–solid fluidized bed. A series of experiments were conducted to investigate the hydrodynamic characteristics of particles in liquid–solid packed fluidized bed as a function of particle size, fraction of interstitial void volume filled by particles and bed wall temperature. It was found that, like in gas–solid packed fluidized bed; the minimum fluidization velocity of particles in liquid–solid packed fluidized bed is lower than that of particles in conventional unary liquid–solid fluidized bed, but unlike gas–solid system, the minimum fluidization velocity increases with an increase in bed wall temperature. Experimental details and results are discussed in this paper.