Mechanism of the Impact of Particle Size Distribution to Bed-Inventory Overturn for Pant-Leg Circulating Fluidized Bed

Abstract

An improved two particle sizes numerical model based on a uniform size model was established to investigate the influence of the average particle size on bed-inventory overturn inside a pant-leg circulating fluidized bed (CFB). The new model successfully simulated the dynamic performance of a pant-leg CFB that as average particle size shrank, the pant-leg CFB tended to overturn, while the uniform size model showed a contradicted trend. The success was attributed to the difference of the flow pattern with different particle size. The smaller particles tend to stay the upper furnace after fluidized by the primary air flow while the larger particles tend to fall back to the bottom soon after being carried to upper furnace by the primary air flow and smaller particles. As pointed out in our previous work, the lateral mass transfer resulted in a lateral pressure difference at the upper finance and inhibited further lateral mass transfer, which was regarded as a self-balancing process. The quick fall down of the large particles somehow weaken the lateral pressure different built-up at the upper furnace. Therefore, as the average particle size shrink, the weaken effect of the large particles on self-balancing ability of the pant-leg CFB increase, resulting a more tendency for bed-inventory overturn. It was such a characteristic behavior of the large particles, which was neglected in the uniform particle size model, caused the difference between the results of the two models described above.