Progress in research of process intensification of spouted beds:A comprehensive review

The development of intensification technology for spouted beds has become a current research focus,and an effective way to improve the efficiency of spouted beds is to reform their structure.Although numerous studies have been conducted on conventional beds,there are few reviews on the comprehensive application of intensification technology for spouted beds.In this paper,we comprehensively review the role of intensification technology in spouted beds for use in hydrodynamics,drying,desulfurization,pyrolysis,coating,biomass and waste gasification,and biomass drying from the perspective of experiment and simulation.Finally,potential problems and challenges in current spouted-bed research are summarized.

Comparison of numerical simulations and experiments in conical gas–solid spouted bed

Flow behavior of gas and particles in conical spouted beds is experimentally studied and simulated using the twofluid gas-solid model with the kinetic theory of granular flow.The bed pressure drop and fountain height are measured in a conical spouted bed of 100 mm I.D.at different gas velocities.The simulation results are compared with measurements of bed pressure drop and fountain height.The comparison shows that the drag coefficient model used in cylindrical beds under-predicted bed pressure drop and fountain height in conical spouted beds due to the partial weight of particles supported by the inclined side walls.It is found that the numerical results using the drag coefficient model proposed based on the conical spouted bed in this study are in good agreement with experimental data.The present study provides a useful basis for further works on the CFD simulation of conical spouted bed.

Catalytic Partial Oxidation of Methane with Air to Syngas in a Pilot-Plant-Scale Spouted Bed Reactor

On the basis of hydrodynamic and scaling-up studies, a pilot-plant-scale thermal spouted bed reactor (50 mm in ID and 1500 mm in height) was designed and fabricated by scaling-down cold simulators. It was tested for making syngas via catalytic partial oxidation (CPO) of methane by air. The effects of various operating conditions such as operating pressure and temperature, feed composition, and gas flowrate etc. on the CPO process were investigated. CH4 conversion of 92.2% and selectivity of 92.3% and 83.3% to CO and H2, respectively, were achieved at the pressure of 2.1 MPa. It was found that when the spouted bed reactor was operated within the stable spouting flow regime, the temperature profiles along the bed axis were much more uniform than those operated within the fixed-bed regime. The CH4 conversion and syngas selectivity were found to be close to thermodynamic equilibrium limits. The results of the present investigation showed that spouted bed could be considered as a potential type of chemical reactor for the CPO process of methane.

Experiments and Modeling of the Preparation of Ultrafine Calcium Carbonate in Spouted Beds with Inert Particles

A novel reaction-drying process was carried out in a spouted bed reactor with inert particles and used to prepare ultrafine CaCO3 particles. Effects of concentrations of CO2 and Ca(OH)2, and reaction temperature on Ca(OH)2 conversion were experimentally investigated. The particle sizes and composition of CaCO3 produced were characterized with transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The results indicated that ultrafine CaCO3 particles with mean size of 80 nm could be obtained with this novel process.By modifying the Arrhenius Equation and considering the Ca(OH)2 state, a kinetic model was established to describe the process in the spouted bed. The model parameters estimated from the reaction-drying experiments were found to fit well the experimental data, indicating the applicability of the proposed kinetic model.

Gas Residence Time Distributions in a Spouted Bed

In a spouted bed of 80mm in ID and 1700mm in height, the gas residence time distributions at different radial positions in both spout and annular area were measured with five different kinds of particles as spouting material, air as spouting gas, and hydrogen as tracer. The effects of superficial gas velocity, operating pressure, particle size and its category on gas residence time distribution were discussed. It was found that the gas velocity profile in spout was more uniform than that in annulus. It could be concluded that the gas flow in the spout could be treated as a plug-flow, while that in the annulus inhibited a strong non-ideal flow behavior. Increasing the superficial gas velocity and decreasing the operating pressure, the particle density and its size gave rise to spouting disturbance, thus the measured tracer concentrations vs. time curves fluctuated. The variances of residence time distribution curves could be taken as a measure of the gas fluctuation degree.

CFD-DEM simulation of high density particles fluidization behaviors in 3D conical spouted beds

The spouted bed has been used in the coating process of high-density nuclear fuel particle.The particle fluidization behaviors in pseudo-2D and 3D spouted beds were simulated and validated.The effects of four independent variables(cone angle,particle density,inlet gas velocity,and particle loading)on particle fluidization behaviors in the 3D spouted bed were investigated systematically.The cone angle effect on fluidization mechanism was studied quantitatively first time.A new fluidization quality index was proposed based on the particle entrainment principle,and an extreme value was obtained when the cone angle was 60°,considered to be the optimum value for the 3D conical spouted bed.It was indicated the gas–solid contact efficiency can be kept up if the gas velocity was proportional to ρ_(p)^(0.65) and N_(p)^(0.78) when the particle density or loading was increased.These results will be useful for geometry and operation parameters design of the 3D conical spouted bed and helpful for developing the fluidization mechanism of high-density particles.

Numerical simulation of uranium tetrafluoride fluorination in a multistage spouted bed using the improved CFD-DEM chemical reaction model

A CFD-DEM reaction coupling model was established to simulate UF_(4) fluorination process,in which heat and mass transfer,heterogeneous chemical reaction,and particle shrinkage model were considered.The gas behavior was described by the conservation laws of mass,momentum,and energy.The solid phase is modeled with the discrete element method,considering the gas-solid interphase force,contact force,heat transfer,and chemical reaction models based on the discretized surface.Each particle can be individually tracked and associated with specific physical properties.The proposed CFD-DEM reaction coupling model based on particle shrinking reaction model with discretized surface was validated by the experimental and literature results at first.Then a multistage conical spouted bed was proposed and the process of UF_(4) fluoridation reaction in it was investigated.The fluidization characteristics and the con-centration distribution of gaseous products in the spouted bed with an extended gas velocity range were obtained and analyzed.In addition,the effects of different parameters,such as superficial gas velocity,temperature,fluorine concentration,on fluoridation rate and the fluorine conversion rate were inves-tigated based on the proposed CFD-DEM reaction coupling model.The results obtained in this work are beneficial for method development of the chemical reaction simulation research in particle scale using the CFD-DEM model,and useful for operation and equipment parameters design of the uranium tetra-fluoride fluorinate industrial process in the future.

Axial gas mixing in conical spouted beds with high density particles

Conical spouted beds operating with high-density particles(ρp>2500 kg/m^(3))have recently gained attention because of their potential use as nuclear fuel coaters for next-generation nuclear reactors.In the literature,the number of axial gas mixing studies in conical and conical-cylindrical spouted beds is very limited and all axial mixing studies were carried out with relatively light particles(ρp≤2500 kg/m^(3)).Therefore,the objective of this study was to generate experimental data that can be used to explain the gas axial mixing behavior in conical spouted beds operating with both low-and high-density particles.Experiments were conducted in two(γ=30°,60°)conical spouted beds with three different types of particles:zirconia(ρp=6050 kg/m^(3)),zirconia toughened alumina(ρp=3700 kg/m^(3))and glass beads(ρp=2460 kg/m^(3)).In order to be able to compare experimental data obtained at different conditions,a 1-D convection-diffusion gas mixing model originally developed by San Joséet al.(1995)was implemented to determine the axial dispersion coefficients.The results show that the axial dispersion coefficients range between m^(2)/s and m^(2)/s,increase with superficial gas velocity and are higher than the corresponding dispersion coefficients of fixed beds,lower than the dispersion coefficients of fluidized beds and in the same range with the cylindrical spouted beds reported in the literature.The corresponding Peclet numbers were in the range of 0.6–7.8 for all operating conditions and slightly higher Peclet numbers were obtained with glass beads indicating the relative importance of gas convective transport over gas dispersion for light particles compared to heavy particles.

Numerical Simulation of Pressurized Spouted Fluidized Bed for Coal Semi-Gasification

Numerical simulation study is conducted for a pressurized spouted fluidized bed coal carbonizer, in which hydrodynamics of pressurized spouted fluidized bed, chemical reactions and energy balance are taken into account. The effect of operating conditions such as bed pressure, air and steam mass flow ratio, temperature on product compositions in the bed is investigated. According to the calculated results, bed pressure and bed temperature have the key effects on coal semi gasification.

Flow regimes in wet conical spouted beds using glass bead mixtures

Using a high-viscosity Newtonian fluid, glycerol, an experimental investigation was carried out to evaluate the stable spouting regime in conical spouted beds using four particle mixtures： a reference （monoparticles）, a binary mixture, two ternary mixtures with flat and Gaussian distributions respectively. The mixtures were selected for particle diameters （dp） ranging from 1.09 to 4.98 mm and particle diameter ratios （dpL/dps） ranging from 1.98 to 4.0. Experimental data show that pressure fluctuation signals of the bed, as indicated by changes in their standard deviations, provide suitable information to identify the range of operational conditions for stable spouting. However, the analysis of skewness of curves of pressure fluctuation as a function of air velocity appears not sufficient to identify a particular flow regime. For glycerol in the spouting regime, the standard deviation is noted to increase with increasing glycerol concentration due to the growth of interparticle forces. The implications of these research findings on the drying of suspensions in conical spouted beds using glass bead mixtures are also discussed.

Particle shape effect on hydrodynamics and heat transfer in spouted bed:A CFD-DEM study

Spouted bed has drawn much attention due to its good heat and mass transfer efficiency in many chemical units.Investigating the flow patterns and heat and mass transfer inside a spouted bed can help optimize the spouting process.Therefore,in this study,the effects of particle shape on the hydrodynamics and heat transfer in a spouted bed are investigated.This is done by using a validated computational fluid dynamics-discrete element method(CFD-DEM)model,considering volume-equivalent spheres and oblate and prolate spheroids.The results are analysed in detail in terms of the flow pattern,microstruc-ture,and heat transfer characteristics.The numerical results show that the prolate spheroids(Ar=2.4)form the largest bubble from the beginning of the spouting process and rise the highest because the fluid drag forces can overcome the interlocking and particle-particle frictional forces.Compared with spherical particles,ellipsoidal spheroids have better mobility because of the stronger rotational kinetic energy resulting from the rough surfaces and nonuniform torques.In addition,the oblate spheroid system exhibits better heat transfer performance benefiting from the larger surface area,while prolate spheroids have poor heat transfer efficiency because of their orientation distribution.These findings can serve as a reference for optimizing the design and operation of complex spouted beds.

IMPROVED DEM-CFD MODEL AND VALIDATION:A CONICAL-BASE SPOUTED BED SIMULATION STUDY

An improved and efficient DEM-CFD approach is developed for spouted beds. A nonlinear Discrete Element Method （DEM）, with a concept of spring, dash-pot and friction slider, is used for tracing the movement of each individual particle. The gas flow is described by a set of reorganized governing equations. Two phases are coupled through contributions due to effects of porosity, viscosity and drag. All equations are solved with the commercial package Fluent with an implementation of User Defined Functions （UDF）. To validate the improved model, a two-dimensional conical-base spouted bed is chosen as a case study. An unstructured mesh system is adopted instead of regular grid system. The simulation also takes the Saffman force and Magnus effect into account. The calculation results show good agreement with the experimental observations which are taken from the literature.

Elutriation, attrition and segregation in a conical spouted bed with a fountain confiner

This study examined elutriation,attrition,and segregation in a conical spouted bed with a fountain confiner and incorporating an open sided draft tube.Fine silica sand with a wide particle size distribution was employed as a model material,operating in both the batch and continuous modes.The use of a fountain confiner is crucial when operating with fine particles,because otherwise the bed rapidly exhibits significant entrainment.The extent of attrition was quantified using a tracing technique based on differently-coloured sand fractions as well as monitoring size distributions by sieving.Particle breakage was found to be the primary attrition mechanism,and the fountain confiner was determined to limit the elutriation of fine particles resulting from breakage.Consequently,only a small fraction of the finest particles were entrained from the bed.The incorporation of a confiner increased operational stability while reducing segregation,especially in the upper half of the bed where the majority of segregation typically occurs.Thus,the bed was perfectly mixed apart from very minimal segregation close to the wall and at the bottom of the contactor.These results provide a basis for the design and operation of larger scale equipment for the continuous drying of materials.

NUMERICAL SIMULATIONS OF HYDRODYNAMIC BEHAVIORS IN CONICAL SPOUTED BEDS

The axial and radial distributions of static pressures and vertical particle velocities of conical spouted beds have been simulated and compared with experimental data. Simulation results show that, among all factors investigated, the Actual Pressure Gradient （the APG term） in conical spouted beds, introduced as the default gravity term plus an empirical axial solid phase source term, has the most significant influence on static pressure profiles, followed by the restitution coefficient and frictional viscosity, while other factors almost have no effect. Apart from the solid bulk viscosity, almost all other factors affect the radial distribution of the axial particle velocity, although the influence of the APG term is less significant. For complex systems such as conical spouted beds where a fluidized spout region and a defluidized annulus region co-exist, the new term introduced in this work can improve the CFD simulation. Furthermore, for other systems with the Actual Pressure Gradient different from either fluidized beds or packed beds, the new approach can also be applied.

Drying of suspensions and solutions on inert particle surface in mechanically spouted bed dryer

To eliminate some disadvantages of the conventional spouted bed dryers the mechanically spouted bed （MSB） system was developed. This dryer type is convenient to use inert particles providing an increased surface area for drying of materials of high-moisture content and heat sensitive materials. On three different drying tasks are demonstrated the experimental optimization of process parameters to obtain products of demanded quality. The main object was at drying of AIO（OH） suspension to preserve the particle size under 2.5μm and to obtain product with a moisture content of about 0.05 kg/kg （d.b.）. For this reason a very thin particle coating and intensive abrasion had to be assured. At drying of tomato concentrates the thermoplasticity makes the process very difficult. To jump over the deliquescent and sticky state developed at the critical temperature-moisture content values a very short drying time （8-10 s） must be provided. The third task was to form powder-like product from bovine serum albumin （BSA） solution having very low solid content （2-4%）. The selected process parameters given in this paper resulted in a mean particle size of less than 20 μm while the soluble oreserved orotein content was higher than 90%.

Mixing and segregation of solid particles in a conical spouted bed： Effect of particle size and density

In this work, the mixing and segregation of binary mixtures of particles with different sizes and densities in a pseudo-2D spouted bed were studied experimentally. A binary mixture of solid particles including sand, gypsum, and polyurethane was used. To determine the particles mass fraction, and their mixing and segregation in the bed, an image-processing technique was developed and used. Important hydrodynamic parameters, such as the axial and radial segregation profiles of the solid particles, were measured. The effects of air velocity, particle size, and particle mass fraction were also evaluated. The flow regime in the spouted bed and the time required for reaching the equilibrium state of the solid particles were discussed. The results showed that the segregation of solid particles and the time to equilibrium both decreased when the air velocity increased to much larger than the minimum spouting velocity. The axia! segregation increased with the diameter ratio of the particles. Upon completion of the test, coarse particles were concentrated mainly in the spout region, while fine particles were aggregated in the annulus region. Examination of the flow pattern in the spouted bed showed that the particles near the wall had longer flow paths, while those near the spout region had shorter flow paths.

Smart computing approach for design and scale-up of conical spouted beds with open-sided draft tubes

Open-sided draft tubes provide an optimal gas distribution through a cross flow pattern between the spout and the annulus in conical spouted beds.The design,optimization,control,and scale-up of the spouted beds require precise information on operating and peak pressure drops.In this study,a multi-layer perceptron(MLP)neural network was employed for accurate prediction of these hydrodynamic characteristics.A relatively huge number of experiments were accomplished and the most influential dimensionless groups were extracted using the Buckingham-pi theorem.Then,the dimensionless groups were used for developing the MLP model for simultaneous estimation of operating and peak pressure drops.The iterative constructive technique confirmed that 4-14-2 is the best structure for the MLP model in terms of absolute average relative deviation(AARD%),mean square error(MSE),and regression coefficient(R^(2)).The developed MLP approach has an excellent capacity to predict the transformed operating(MSE=0.00039,AARD%=1.30,and R^(2)=0.76099)and peak(MSE=0.22933,AARD%=11.88,and R2=0.89867)pressure drops.

Fluid-dynamics evaluation in a conical spouted bed and characterization of foxtail millet seeds

Foxtail millet （Setaria italica） is one of the most valuable species in economic terms in the genus Setaria and plays an important role in human nutrition, animal feed, and agriculture. The present study described chemical, physical, and quality aspects of seeds of foxtail millet. Furthermore, the fluid-dynamic behavior of the seeds was evaluated in a conical spouted bed, which has advantages in terms of promoting the cyclic and regular movement of the seed particles. Dynamic parameters of spouting （minimum spouting veloc- ity, stable and peak pressure drop） were determined and compared with those obtained from empirical correlations available in the literature. The results obtained from physical characterization showed that the seeds can be classified as belonging to Group D of Geldart, having a non-rough surface, mean diameter of 1.75 mm, and sphericity of 0.74. Fluid-dynamics analysis showed that the seeds are suitable for processing in a spouted bed, which is in agreement with the results of particle physical characterization.

Particle formulation of hydroalcoholic rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis L.) extracts using a spouted bed

In this study,spouted bed technology was applied to the protection and functionalization of polyphenolic rosemary extracts.First,solid-liquid extraction was performed at 25℃with ethanol-water.The ethanol-water ratio was chosen to obtain high phenolic acid and diterpene concentrations in the extract.The selected solvent composition gave liquid extracts that could be directly added to a coating mixture for feeding into a spouted bed apparatus.Thus,no preliminary solvent exchange or evaporation of the extraction solvent to dryness was required.Food grade Paselli MD 6 maltodextrin and HiCap 100 modified starch were used as inert core and shell materials in the spouted bed encapsulation process under mild operating conditions.The antioxidant activity of the fresh extract was retained during processing,which indicated that the active constituents were preserved and quantitatively transferred into the encapsulated formulations,which were readily soluble in water.The obtained powders were composed of nearly spherical particles.Their compositions,water solubilities,and particle morphologies make them a strong candidate for food and beverage applications as natural antioxidants,preservatives,or functional ingredients.