Interpreting Differential Pressure Signals for Particle Properties and Operating Conditions in a Pilot-Scale Circulating Fluidized Bed Riser

Abstract

Pressure taps are ubiquitous in fluidized bed reactors. Unfortunately, attention is typically paid only to the mean or standard deviation of the fluctuations in practical operations, which leads to a loss in the wealth of information contained therein. This effort is targeted at assessing the hydrodynamic characteristics that can be understood from a comprehensive data set of pressure signals via wavelet decomposition. Differential pressure (ΔP) signals were recorded at 11 axial positions along a pilot-scale CFB riser for five particle systems (namely, three monodisperse materials and two binary mixtures) and four operating conditions. The effects of material property, operating condition, and riser axial position on the differential pressure (ΔP) signals were evaluated by comparing the energy contained in the wavelet-decomposed signals (EDj). Results indicate the following: (i) whereas the averaged ΔP values and power spectra of the signals were largely invariant, EDj values tended to be sensitive to mat...