Effect of magnetic field orientation on fluidized beds of magnetic particles： Theory and experiment

Geldart-A fluidized beds of fine particles experience a jamming transition between a fluid-like state and a solid-like state at a certain superficial gas velocity, that depends on the relative strength of interparticle attractive forces with respect to particle weight, lnterparticle forces provide the bed with a certain tensile strength in the jammed state. In the work presented here we analyze the behavior of a fluidized bed of magnetic particles subjected to an externally applied magnetic field, which contributes to enhance interparticle forces. The importance of the magnetic contribution to interparticle forces is measured by the changes in the tensile strength and the superficial gas velocity at the jamming transition. The link of the field orientation with the microstructure of the bed is discussed,     

Effect of structure parameters on forces acting on baffles used in gas–solids fluidized beds

Effects of some important structural parameters, i.e. slat pitch, and layout position, on dynamic forces acting on the baffles were examined in the fluidized bed of FCC particles operating under different superficial gas velocities. The experimental baffles were made of multiple inclined slats. We found that the forces acting on the baffles decreased significantly with reducing pitch between the slats. For the baffles with a small slat pitch, the forces acting on the baffles increased slightly and then decreased with increasing superficial gas velocity, which is very different from the measured results of a single slat or tube immersed in fluidized beds. The different results are greatly related to the appearance of the “gas cushion” beneath the baffles, whose height increases with increasing superficial gas velocity. On the other hand, a region with stronger particle circulation induced by the inclined slat array was observed in the experiments. The slat near the wall and located below the region of downward-flowing particles was found to be subjected to the severest forces. Therefore, the slats located in similar locations of industrial baffles are suggested to be reinforced to increase their structural strength.     

INTERPARTICLE FORCES IN HIGH TEMPERATURE FLUIDIZATION OF GELDART A PARTICLES

Previous reports and current studies show that fluidization of some Geldart A particles is enhanced by in-creasing bed temperature.Both the averaged local particle concentration and the particle concentration in the dense phase decrease with increasing bed temperature,at constant superficial gas velocities.However,conventional models fail to predict these changes,because the role of interparticle forces is usually neglected at different bed temperatures.Here.the temperature increases,the interparticle attractive forces decrease while the interparticle repulsive forces increase.Consequently.fluidization behaviors of some Geldart A particles seem to increasingly shift from typical Geldart A towards B with increasing temperature.     

L-S mass transfer in G-L-S countercurrent magnetically stabilized bed with amorphous alloy SRNA-4 catalyst

Liquid-solid （L-S） mass transfer coefficients （Ks） were characterized in a gas-liquid-solid （G-L-S） three-phase countercurrent magnetically stabilized bed （MSB） using amorphous alloy SRNA-4 as the solid phase. Effects of superficial liquid velocity, superficial gas velocity, magnetic field strength, liquid viscosity and surface tension were investigated. Experimental results indicated that the external magnetic field increased Ks in three-phase MSB, as compared to those in conventional G-L-S fluidized beds; that Ks increased with magnetic field strength, superficial gas and liquid velocities and decreased with liquid viscosity and surface tension; and that Ks showed uniform axial and radial distributions except for small increases close to the wall. Dimensionless correlations were established to estimate Ks of the G-L-S countercurrent MSB using SRNA-4 catalyst, with an average error of 3.6%.     

Effects of magnetic fields on improving mass transfer in flue gas desulfurization using a fluidized bed

The effects of magnetic fields on improving the mass transfer in flue gas desulfurization using a fluidized bed are investigated in the paper. In this research, the magnetically fluidized bed (MFB) is used as the reactor in which ferromagnetic particles are fluidized with simulated flue gas under the influence of an external magnetic field. Lime slurry is continuously sprayed into the reactor. As a consequence, the desulfurization reaction and the slurry drying process take place simultaneously in the MFB. In this paper, the effects of ferromagnetic particles and external magnetic fields on the desulphurization efficiency are studied and compared with that of quartz particles as the fluidized particles. Experimental results show that the ferromagnetic particles not only act as a platform for lime slurry to precipitate on like quartz particles, but also take part in the desulfurization reaction. The results also show that the specific surface area of ferromagnetic particles after reaction is enlarged as the magnetic intensity increases, and the external magnetic field promotes the oxidation of S(IV), improving the mass transfer between sulphur and its sorbent. Hence, the efficiency of desulphurization under the effects of external magnetic fields is higher than that in general fluidized beds.     

Behavior of mixed ZnO and SiO2 nano-particles in magnetic field assisted fluidization

The fluidization behavior of ZnO nano-particles in magnetic fluidized bed （MFB） by adding coarse magnetic particles was investigated, followed by the co-fluidization of mixtures of ZnO and SiO2 nano-particles. For such co-fluidization, bed expansion was found to change smoothly with gas velocity through a range of stable operation. By measuring the bed expansion ratio and pressure drop, a stability diagram for the mixture in MFB was obtained. Within this stable operation range, with increasing gas velocity the pressure drop hardly changes as the bed expands, up to an expansion ratio of more than 4.     

Sedimentation acceleration of remanent iron oxide by magnetic flocculation

Sedimentation based processes are widely used in industry to separate particles from a liquid phase. Since the advent of the ＂Nanoworld＂ the demand for effective separation technologies has rapidly risen, calling for the development of new separation concepts, one of which lies in hybrid separation using the superposition of a magnetic field for magnetic particles. Possible product portfolio of such separation consists of pigment production, nanomagnetics production for electronics and bio separation, A promising step in that direction is magnetic field enhanced cake filtration, which has by now progressed from batch to continuous ooeration. In sedimentation processes in a mass force field the settling behaviour of particles strongly depends on physico-chemical properties, concentration and size distribution of the particles. By adjusting the pH, the interparticle forces, in particular the electrostatic repulsion, can be manipulated. For remanent magnetic particles such as magnetite, pre-treatment in a magnetic field could lead to a change of interparticle interactions. By magnetizing the particles apart from van der Waals attraction and electrostatic repulsion, an additional potential is induced, the magnetic attraction, which could easily dominate the other potentials and result in agglomeration in the primary minimum. By sedimentation analysis, a wide spectrum of parameters like pH, magnetic field strength and concentration have been investigated. The results show a strong increase of sedimentation velocity by magnetic flocculation of the raw suspension. This leads to a rise in throughput due to the acceleration of sedimentation kinetics by imparting a non-chemical interaction to the physico-chemical properties in the feed stream of the separation apparatus.     

Statistical and frequency analysis of the pressure fluctuation in a fluidized bed of non-spherical particles

In this paper, the pressure fluctuation in a fluidized bed was measured and processed via standard devia- tion and power spectrum analysis to investigate the dynamic behavior of the transition from the bubbling to turbulent regime. Two types （Geldart B and D） of non-spherical particles, screened from real bed materials, and their mixture were used as the bed materials. The experiments were conducted in a semi- industrial testing apparatus. The experimental results indicated that the fluidization characteristics of the non-spherical Geldart D particles differed from that of the spherical particles at gas velocities beyond the transition velocity Uo The standard deviation of the pressure fluctuation measured in the bed increased with the gas velocity, while that measured in the plenum remained constant. Compared to the coarse particles, the fine particles exerted a stronger influence on the dynamic behavior of the fluidized bed and promoted the fluidization regime transition from bubbling toward turbulent. The power spectrum of the pressure fluctuation was calculated using the auto-regressive （AR） model; the hydrodynamics of the flu- idized bed were characterized by the major frequency of the power spectrum of the pressure fluctuation. By combining the standard deviation analysis, a new method was proposed to determine the transition velocity Uk via the analysis of the change in the major frequency. The first major frequency was observed to vary within the range of 1.5 to 3 Hz.     

Hydrodynamics of a bubble-induced inverse fluidized bed reactor with a nanobubble tray

This paper reports on the hydrodynamics of a bubble-induced inverse fluidized bed reactor, using a nanobubble tray gas distributor, where solid particles are fluidized only by an upward gas flow. Increasing the gas velocity, the fixed layer of particles initially packed at the top of the liquid starts to move downwards, due to the rise of bubbles in this system, and then gradually expands downwards until fully suspended. The axial local pressure drops and standard deviation were examined to delineate the flow regime comprehensively under different superficial gas velocities. Four flow regimes (fixed bed regime, initial fluidization regime, expanded regime, and post-homogeneous regime) were observed and three transitional gas velocities (the initial fluidization velocity, minimum fluidization velocity, and homogeneous fluidization velocity) were identified to demarcate the flow regime. Three correlations were developed for the three transitional velocities. As the fine bubbles generated from the nanobubble tray gas distributor are well distributed in the entire column, the bed expansion process of the particles is relatively steady.     

Removal of dust from flue gas in magnetically stabilized fluidized bed

A magnetically stabilized fluidized bed (MSFB, φ 500mm x 2100mm) was designed to study dust removal from flue gas. Based on the mechanism of dust removal in a fixed bed, the effects on collection efficiency of magnetic field intensity, ratio of flue gas velocity to minimum fluidization velocity, bed height, and particle average diameter, were investigated. Then feasible methods for MSFB to better remove dust were proposed. Over 95% of dust removal with MSFB can be achieved, when stable fluidization is maintained and when magnetic particles are frequently renewed.     

Multi-fluid modeling of density segregation in a dense binary fluidized bed

This paper presents simulation results of the density segregation in a dense binary gas fluidized bed using a multi-fluid model from Chao et al. (2011). The segregation behavior of two types of particles with approximately same particle diameters and different particle densities was studied and validated using the experimental data from Formisani et al. (2008). Some detailed information regarding the gas, particle velocity profiles, the distributions of the particle volume fractions and the flotsam-to-total particle volume fraction ratios is presented. The simulation results show that the simulated axial average flotsam-to-total particle volume fraction ratio distribution agrees reasonably with the experimental data of Formisani et al. (2008). The binary particle velocities are closely coupled though the segregation exists. The segregation behavior and the particle velocity profiles are superficial gas velocity dependent. The number and distribution of particle velocity vortices change dramatically with superficial gas velocity: at a comparatively low superficial gas velocity, the particles mainly segregate axially, and at a comparatively high superficial gas velocity, the particles segregate both axially and radially.     

Statistical and frequency analysis of the pressure fluctuation in a fluidized bed of non-spherical particles

In this paper, the pressure fluctuation in a fluidized bed was measured and processed via standard deviation and power spectrum analysis to investigate the dynamic behavior of the transition from the bubbling to turbulent regime. Two types (Geldart B and D) of non-spherical particles, screened from real bed materials, and their mixture were used as the bed materials. The experiments were conducted in a semi-industrial testing apparatus. The experimental results indicated that the fluidization characteristics of the non-spherical Geldart D particles differed from that of the spherical particles at gas velocities beyond the transition velocity U_c. The standard deviation of the pressure fluctuation measured in the bed increased with the gas velocity, while that measured in the plenum remained constant. Compared to the coarse particles, the fine particles exerted a stronger influence on the dynamic behavior of the fluidized bed and promoted the fluidization regime transition from bubbling toward turbulent. The power spectrum of the pressure fluctuation was calculated using the auto-regressive (AR) model; the hydrodynamics of the fluidized bed were characterized by the major frequency of the power spectrum of the pressure fluctuation. By combining the standard deviation analysis, a new method was proposed to determine the transition velocity U_k via the analysis of the change in the major frequency. The first major frequency was observed to vary within the range of 1.5 to 3 Hz.     

Magnetic field assisted fluidization： A modified Richardson-Zaki equation

Magnetic particles can be uniformly fluidized by coupling the gas flow with an externally imposed magnetic field. Interparticle forces generated by the magnetic field cause aggregation of the particles in chain-like structures preferentially oriented along the magnetic field lines. In the present paper, we study the implications of the formation of these special types of aggregates on the empirical Richardson-Zaki （RZ） equation, originally proposed to describe the expansion of fluidized beds of non-aggregated particles. We have addressed two important issues, namely the flow regime, which is a function of the size of the aggregates, and the effect of shape and orientation of the chain-like aggregates with respect to gas flow on fluid drag. We propose a modified RZ equation （MRZE） in which the velocity scale, given by the terminal settling velocity of the individual aggregates, and the RZ exponent are predetermined as a function of the chain length. The chain length depends on the ratio of the magnetic energy to gravitational energy, and is estimated from the magnetic field intensity, and particle magnetization, size and density. Predictions of the MRZE are successfully compared with published results in the literature on the expansion of magnetic particles in the presence of externally applied magnetic fields.     

MULTI-SCALE AGGREGATION OF PARTICLES IN GAS-SOLIDS FLUIDIZED BEDS

The multi-scale characteristics of clusters in a fast fluidized bed and of agglomerates in a fluidized bed of cohesive particles are discussed on the basis of large amounts of experiments.The cluster size and concentration are dominated by the local voidage of the bed.A cluster consists of many sub-clusters with different sizes and discrete par-ticles,and the sub-cluster size probability density distribution appears as a negative exponential function.The agglom-erates in a fluidized bed of cohesive particles also possess the multi-scale nature.The large agglomerates form a fixed bed at the bottom,the medium agglomerates are fluidized in the middle,and the small agglomerates and discrete parti-cles become the dilute-phase region in the upper part of the bed.The agglomerate size is mainly affected by cohesive forces and gas velocity.The present models for prediction the size of clusters and agglomerates can not tackle the in-trinsic mechanism of the multi-scale aggregation,and a challenging problem for establishing mechanistic model is put forward.     

Experimental analysis of volatile liquid injection into a fluidized bed

Experiments were conducted on a lab-scale fluidized bed to study the distribution of liquid ethanol injected into fluidized catalyst particles. Electrical capacitance measurements were used to study the liquid distribution inside the bed, and a new method was developed to determine the liquid content inside fluidized beds of fluid catalytic cracking particles. The results shed light on the complex liquid injection region and reveal the strong effect of superficial gas velocity on liquid distribution inside the fluidized bed, which is also affected by the imbibition of liquid inside particle pores. Particle internal porosity was found to play a major role when the changing mass of liquid in the bed was monitored. The results also showed that the duration of liquid injection affected liquid–solid contact inside the bed and that liquid–solid mixing was not homogeneous during the limited liquid injection time.     

Characterization of gas–solid fluidized bed hydrodynamics by vibration signature analysis

Vibration measurement, as a non-intrusive technique, was used to characterize the hydrodynamics of fluidized beds. A series of experiments were performed in a lab-scale fluidized bed using two accelerometers for measuring the vibration of the bed and a pressure probe for measuring pressure fluctuations. The output signals were analyzed by statistical methods. The results show that the vibration technique can predict transition velocities at high velocities and indicate that analyzing the vibration signals can be an effective non-intrusive technique to characterize the hydrodynamics of fluidized beds. It was shown that transition from bubbling to turbulent velocity can be determined from the variation of standard deviation and kurtosis of vibration signals against superficial gas velocity of the bed. However, this point could be determined only from standard deviation of pressure fluctuations, and not from skewness or kurtosis of pressure fluctuations.     

Flow structure and bubble dynamics in supercritical water fluidized bed and gas fluidized bed: A comparative study

Supercritical water (SCW) fluidized bed is a new reactor concept for hydrogen production from biomass or coal gasification. In this paper, a comparative study on flow structure and bubble dynamics in a supercritical water fluidized bed and a gas fluidized bed was carried out using the discrete element method (DEM). The results show that supercritical water condition reduces the incipient fluidization velocity, changes regime transitions, i.e. a homogeneous fluidization was observed when the superficial velocity is in the range of the minimum fluidization velocity and minimum bubbling velocity even the solids behave as Geldart B powders in the gas fluidized bed. Bubbling fluidization in the supercritical water fluidized bed was formed after superficial velocity exceeds the minimum bubbling velocity, as in the gas fluidized bed. Bubble is one of the most important features in fluidized bed, which is also the emphasis in this paper. Bubble growth was effectively suppressed in the supercritical water fluidized bed, which resulted in a more uniform flow structure. By analyzing a large number of bubbles, bubble dynamic characteristics such as diameter distribution, frequency, rising path and so on, were obtained. It is found that bubble dynamic characteristics in the supercritical water fluidized bed differ a lot from that in the gas fluidized bed, and there is a better fluidization quality induced by the bubble dynamics in the supercritical water fluidized bed.     

Vibration time series analysis of bubbling and turbulent fluidization

A non-intrusive vibration monitoring technique was used to study the hydrodynamics of a gas–solid fluidized bed. Experiments were carried out in a 15 cm diameter fluidized bed using 226, 470 and 700 μm sand particles at various gas velocities, covering both bubbling and turbulent regimes. Auto correlation function, mutual information function, Hurst exponent analysis and power spectral density function were used to analyze the fluidized bed hydrodynamics near the transition point from bubbling to turbulent fluidization regimes. The first pass of the autocorrelation function from one half and the time delay at which it becomes zero, and also the first minimum of the mutual information, occur at a higher time delay in comparison to stochastic systems, and the values of time delays were maximum at the bubbling to turbulent transition gas velocity. The maximum value of Hurst exponent of macro structure occurred at the onset of regime transition from bubbling to turbulent. Further increase in gas velocity after that regime transition velocity causes a decrease in the Hurst exponent of macro structure because of breakage of large bubbles to small ones. The results showed these methods are capable of detecting the regime transition from bubbling to turbulent fluidization conditions using vibration signals.     

Removal of dust from flue gas in magnetically stabilized fluidized bed

A magnetically stabilized fluidized bed （MSFB,Ф 500mm×2100mm） was designed to study dust removal from flue gas. Based on the mechanism of dust removal in a fixed bed, the effects on collection efficiency of magnetic field intensity, ratio of flue gas velocity to minimum fluidization velocity, bed height, and particle average diameter, were investigated. Then feasible methods for MSFB to better remove dust were proposed. Over 95 % of dust removal with MSFB can be achieved, when stable fluidization is maintained and when magnetic particles are frequently renewed.     

Fluidization and bubbling behavior of potash particles in a deep fluidized bed

Most existing models for predicting bubble size and bubble frequency have been developed for freely bubbling fluidized beds. Accurate prediction of bubbling behavior in deep fluidized beds, however, has been a challenge due to the higher degree of bubble coalescence and break up, high probability of the slugging regime, partial fluidization, and chaotic behavior in the bubbling regime. In this work, the bubbling and fluidization behavior of potash particles was investigated in a deep fluidized bed employing a twin-plane electrical capacitance tomography (ECT) system. Solid volume fraction, average bubble velocity, average bubble diameter, and bubble frequency in both bubbling and slugging regimes were measured at two different bed height ratios (H/D = 3.5 and H/D = 3.78). This work is the first to illustrate a sequential view of bubbles at different superficial gas velocities in a fluidized bed. The results show that both the bubble diameter and rising velocity increased with increasing the superficial gas velocity for the two bed heights, with larger values observed in the deeper bed compared to the shallower one. Predicted values for bubble diameter, bubble rise velocity and bubble frequency from different models are compared with the experimental data obtained from the ECT system in this work. Good agreement has been achieved between the values predicted by the previous models and the experimental data for the bubble diameter and bubble rise velocity with an average absolute deviation of 16% and 15% for the bed height of 49 cm and 13% and 8% for the bed height of 53 cm, respectively.