Thermal analysis of a fluidized bed drying process for crops. Part I: Mathematical modeling

Abstract

Development of a comprehensive mathematical model to simulate the simultaneous heat and mass transfer processes in a bubbling fluidized bed is described. Although the model is applicable to a wide range of particles, wheat is chosen as an example. In the development of the model, the commonly used two-phase theory is not used because of its insensitivity to the particle group used in the bed. Instead, a new hydrodynamic model is developed for each specific particle group. The behaviour of bubbles in a bed of group D particles (wheat) is modelled with the consideration that they grow in size as they rise in the bed, but are of the same size at any height in the bed. The voidage of bubbles, particles and interstitial gas is modelled separately. A newly developed expression to determine the minimum fluidization velocity of wet particles is used. The model considers the presence of different phases inside the bed, and their physical variation along the bed. The interstitial gas phase, the bubble phase, and the solid phase are modelled separately. The drying mechanism for the solid phase is considered in two stages: the falling rate, and the constant rate, with appropriate temperature and moisture diffusion coefficients and wall effects. The simultaneous heat and mass transfer processes during the drying process including the internal and external effects are modelled for each phase. A set of coupled nonlinear partial differential equations is employed to accurately model the drying process without using any adjustable parameters. A numerical code is developed to solve the governing partial differential equations using a control volume-based discretization approach. Piecewise profiles expressing the variation of dependent variables between the grid points are used to evaluate the required integrals. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.