GAS–SOLIDS SYSTEMSGAS–SOLIDS SYSTEMS

General behaviour

In general, the behaviour of gas-fluidised systems is considerably more complex than that of liquid-fluidised systems which exhibit a gradual transition from fixed bed to fluidized bed followed by particle transport, without a series of transition regions, and with bed expansion and pressure drop conforming reasonably closely to values calculated for ideal systems.

Part of the complication with gas–solid systems arises from the fact that the purely hydrodynamic forces acting on the particles are relatively small compared with frictional forces between particles, electrostatic forces and surface forces which play a much more dominant role when the particles are very fine. As the gas velocity in a fluidised bed is increased, the system tends to go through various stages:

(a) Fixed bed in which the particles remain in contact with one another and the structure of the bed remains stable until the velocity is increased to the point where the pressure drop is equal to the weight per unit area of the particles.

(b) Particulate and regular predictable expansion over a limited range of gas velocities.

(c) A bubbling region characterised by a high proportion of the gas passing through the bed as bubbles which cause rapid mixing in the dense particulate phase.

(d) A turbulent chaotic region in which the gas bubbles tend to coalesce and lose their identity.

(e) A region where the dominant pattern is one of vertically upward transport of particles, essentially gas–solids transport or pneumatic conveying. This condition, sometimes referred to as fast fluidisation, lies outside the range of true fluidisation.

Particulate fluidisation

Although fine particles generally form fluidised beds more readily than coarse particles, surface-related forces tend to predominate with very fine particles. It is very difficult to fluidise some very fine particles as they tend to form large stable conglommerates that are almost entirely by-passed by the gas. In some extreme cases, particularly with small diameter beds, the whole of the particulate mass may be lifted as a solid ‘piston’. The uniformity of the fluidised bed is often critically influenced by the characteristics of the gas distributor or bed support. Fine mesh distributors are generally to be preferred to a series of nozzles at the base of the bed, although the former are generally more difficult to install in larger beds because they are less robust.

Good distribution of gas over the whole cross-section of the bed may often be difficult to achieve, although this is enhanced by ensuring that the pressure drop across the distributor is large compared with that across the bed of particles. In general, the quality of gas distribution improves with increased flowrate because the pressure drop across the bed when it is fluidised is, theoretically, independent of the flowrate. The pressure drop across the distributor will increase, however, approximately in proportion to the square of the flowrate, and therefore the fraction of the total pressure drop that occurs across the distributor increases rapidly as the flowrate increases.

Apart from the non-uniformities which characterise many gas–solid fluidised beds, it is in the low fluidising-velocity region that the behaviour of the gas–solid and liquid–solid

beds are most similar. At low gas rates the bed may exhibit a regular expansion as the flowrate increases, with the relation between fluidising velocity and voidage following the form of equation 6.31, although, in general, the values of the exponent n are higher than those for liquid-solids systems partly because particles have a tendency to form small agglomerates thereby increasing the effective particle size. The range of velocities over which particulate expansion occurs is, however, quite narrow in most cases.

Bubbling fluidisation

The region of particulate fluidisation usually comes to an abrupt end as the gas velocity is increased, with the formation of gas bubbles. These bubbles are usually responsible for the flow of almost all of the gas in excess of that flowing at the minimum fluidizing velocity. If bed expansion has occurred before bubbling commences, the excess gas will be transferred to the bubbles whilst the continuous phase reverts to its voidage at the minimum fluidising velocity and, in this way, it contracts. Thus, the expanded bed appears to be in a meta-stable condition which is analogous to that of a supersaturated solution reverting to its saturated concentration when fed with small seed crystals, with the excess solute being deposited on to the seed crystals which then increase in size as a result, as discussed in Chapter 15.

The upper limit of gas velocity for particulate expansion is termed the minimum bubbling velocity, umb. Determining this can present difficulties as its value may depend on the nature of the distributor, on the presence of even tiny obstructions in the bed, and even on the immediate pre-history of the bed. The ratio umb/umf , which gives a measure of the degree of expansion which may be effected, usually has a high value for fine light particles and a low value for large dense particles.

For cracker catalyst (d = 55 μm, density = 950 kg/m3) fluidised by air, values of umb/umf of up to 2.8 have been found by DAVIES and RICHARDSON(45). During the course of this work it was found that there is a minimum size of bubble which is stable. Small bubbles injected into a non-bubbling bed tend to become assimilated in the dense phase, whilst, on the other hand, larger bubbles tend to grow at the expense of the gas flow in the dense phase. If a bubble larger than the critical size is injected into an expanded bed, the bed will initially expand by an amount equal to the volume of the injected bubble.

When, however, the bubble breaks the surface, the bed will fall back below the level existing before injection and will therefore have acquired a reduced voidage. Thus, the bubbling region, which is an important feature of beds operating at gas velocities in excess of the minimum fluidising velocity, is usually characterised by two phases—a continuous emulsion phase with a voidage approximately equal to that of a bed at its minimum fluidising velocity, and a discontinous or bubble phase that accounts for most of the excess flow of gas. This is sometimes referred to as the two-phase theory of fluidisation.

The bubbles exert a very strong influence on the flow pattern in the bed and provide the mechanisim for the high degree of mixing of solids which occurs. The properties and

behaviour of the bubbles are describe later in this Section. When the gas flowrate is increased to a level at which the bubbles become very large and unstable, the bubbles tend to lose their identity and the flow pattern changes to a chaotic form without well-defined regions of high and low concentrations of particles. This is commonly described as the turbulent region which has, until fairly recently, been the subject of relatively few studies.

Categorisation of Solids

The ease with which a powder can be fluidised by a gas is highly dependent on the properties of the particles. Whilst it is not possible to forecast just how a given powder will fluidise without carrying out tests on a sample, it is possible to indicate some trends. In general, fine low density particles fluidise more evenly than large dense ones, provided that they are not so small that the London–van der Waals attractive forces are great enough for the particles to adhere together strongly. For very fine particles, these attractive forces can be three or more orders of magnitude greater than their weight. Generally, the more nearly spherical the particles then the better they will fluidise. In this respect, long needle-shaped particles are the most difficult to fluidise. Particles of mixed sizes will usually fluidise more evenly than those of a uniform size. Furthermore, the presence of a small proportion of fines will frequently aid the fluidisation of coarse particles by coating them with a ‘lubricating’ layer.

In classifying particles into four groups, GELDART(46) has used the following criteria:

(a) Whether or not, as the gas flowrate is increased, the fluidised bed will expand significantly before bubbling takes place. This property may be quantified by the ratio umb/umf, where umb is the minimum velocity at which bubbling occurs. This assessment can only be qualitative as the value of umb is very critically dependent on the conditions under which it is measured.

(b) Whether the rising velocity of the majority of the bubbles, is greater or less than the interstitial gas velocity. The significance of this factor is discussed in Section 6.3.5.

(c) Whether the adhesive forces between particles are so great that the bed tends to channel rather than to fluidise. Channelling depends on a number of factors, including the degree to which the bed has consolidated and the condition of the surface of the particles at the time. With powders that channel badly, it is sometimes possible to initiate fluidisation by mechanical stirring, as discussed in Section 6.3.4. The classes into which powders are grouped are given in Table 6.1, which is taken from the work of GELDART(46), and in Figure 6.13. In they are located approximately on a particle density–particle size chart.