Advanced Powder Technology, Vol.27, No.5, 2102-2111, 2016
Improvement on particulate mixing through inclined slotted swirling distributor in a fluidized bed: An experimental study
Previous studies show that excellent particulate mixing in a fluidized bed can reduce the operating cost during fluidization. Therefore, this paper investigates enhancement of particulate mixing in a fluidized bed by using novel inclined slotted swirling distributor. To reduce the cost of pumping power, small size, low pressure blower is used in the study. Moreover, Geldart group B bed materials with different bed aspect ratios and distributor designs viz., perforated plate, circular edged slots (90) and novel swirling (45) distributors are used. The novel distributor with 45 inclined slots was found to be effective at enhancing the circulation rate. Swirling flow pattern of the bed materials in a clock-wise direction is obvious in shallow bed, and two-layer transversal-lateral circulation motions are observed in deep bed. It can be concluded from the study that excellent particulate mixing as per rotated distributors is made possible by novel swirling-type distributor without the implementation of electric motor and mechanical rotation. (C) 2016 The Society of Powder Technology Japan. Published by Elsevier B.V. and The Society of Powder Technology Japan. All rights reserved.
Keywords:Swirling fluidized bed;Slotted distributor;Swirling distributor;Swirling flow;Transversal mixing;Lateral mixing