Circulating fluidization

Sasol produces synthetic fuels and chemicals from coal-derived synthesis gas. Two significant variations of this technology have been commercialized, and new process variations are continually under development. Sasol One used both the fixed-bed (Arge) process, operated at about 240°C, as weU as a circulating fluidized-bed (Synthol) system operating at 340°C. Each ET reactor type has a characteristic product distribution that includes coproducts isolated for use in the chemical industry. Paraffin wax is one of the principal coproducts of the low temperature Arge process. Alcohols, ketones, and lower paraffins are among the valuable coproducts obtained from the Synthol process. 

Fig. 7. Axial density profiles in the (—) bubbling, (------) turbulent, and (----) fast and ( ) riser circulating fluidization regimes. Typical gas velocities for...

Circulating fluidized beds (CFBs) are high velocity fluidized beds operating well above the terminal velocity of all the particles or clusters of particles. A very large cyclone and seal leg return system are needed to recycle sohds in order to maintain a bed inventory. There is a gradual transition from turbulent fluidization to a truly circulating, or fast-fluidized bed, as the gas velocity is increased (Fig. 6), and the exact transition point is rather arbitrary. The sohds are returned to the bed through a conduit called a standpipe. The return of the sohds can be controUed by either a mechanical or a nonmechanical valve. 

The bed level is not weU defined in a circulating fluidized bed, and bed density usually declines with height. Axial density profiles for different CFB operating regimes show that the vessel does not necessarily contain clearly defined bed and freeboard regimes. The sohds may occupy only between 5 and 20% of the total bed volume. 

The heavy vacuum bottoms stream is fed to a Flexicoking unit. This is a commercial (125,126) petroleum process that employs circulating fluidized beds at low (0.3 MPa (50 psi)) pressures and intermediate temperatures, ie, 480—650°C in the coker and 815—980°C in the gasifier, to produce high yields of hquids or gases from organic material present in the feed. Residual carbon is rejected with the ash from the gasifier fluidized bed. The total Hquid product is a blend of streams from Hquefaction and the Flexicoker. 

Fig. 11. Typical circulating fluidized-bed (CFB) steam generator. FBHE = Fluidized bed, high efficiency...

A circulating fluidized-bed boiler, using raw shale oil as a feedstock, is being used to supply process heat for the phosphate operations and to operate a 100-MW power plant. Scale-up in the 1990s should increase the electric power generation to 1000 MW (71). 

In the 1970s commercial fluidized-bed combustors were limited to the atmospheric, bubbling-bed system, called the atmospheric fluidized-bed combustor (AFBC). In the late 1970s the circulating fluidized combustor (CFG) was introduced commercially, and in the 1980s the new commercial unit was the pressurized fluidized-bed combustor (PFBC). 

Fig. 8. (a) A bubbling fluidized bed (b) a circulating fluidized bed. Reproduced by permission of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, 1990 (42). 

Circulating fluidized-beds do not contain any in-bed tube bundle heating surface. The furnace enclosure and internal division wall-type surfaces provide the required heat removal. This is possible because of the large quantity of soflds that are recycled internally and externally around the furnace. The bed temperature remains uniform, because the mass flow rate of the recycled soflds is many times the mass flow rate of the combustion gas. Operating temperatures for circulating beds are in the range of 816 to 871°C. Superficial gas velocities in some commercially available beds are about 6 m/s at full loads. The size of the soflds in the bed is usually smaller than 590 p.m, with the mean particle size in the 150—200 p.m range (81). 

The calcination of A1(0H),3 to AI2O3 in a circulating fluidized process produces a high-grade product. The process combines the use of circulating, bubbling, and transport beds to achieve high thermal efficiency. See Fig. 17-28. 

Corrective Action Application Circulating fluidized bed incinerators are ready for full-scale testing under the EPA SITE Program. A unit is now in the RCRA permitting process. 

A new process for the partial oxidation of n-butane to maleic anhydride was developed by DuPont. The important feature of this process is the use of a circulating fluidized bed-reactor. Solids flux in the rizer-reactor is high and the superficial gas velocities are also high, which encounters short residence times usually in seconds. The developed catalyst for this process is based on vanadium phosphorous oxides... 

The process essentially involves passing air through a bottom furnace distributor plate and a fixed bed of sand. As air flow rates increase, the fixed bed becomes more unstable and bubbles of air appear (minimum fluidized condition). Above this minimum level, higher air flow rates produce—depending on design—either bubbling fluidized beds or circulating fluidized beds, and the fuel is introduced onto these beds. 

FIGURE 6.9 Flexicoking is a commercial process for refining petroleum that has been applied to heavy oil and tar sand fractions. The process employs circulating fluidized beds and operates at moderate temperatures and pressures. The reactor produces liquid fuels and excess coke. The latter is allowed to react with a gas-air mixture in the gasifier fluidized bed to provide a low-value heating gas that can be desulfurized and used as a plant fuel. Courtesy, Exxon Research and Engineering Company. 

Recent research development of hydrodynamics and heat and mass transfer in inverse and circulating three-phase fluidized beds for waste water treatment is summarized. The three-phase (gas-liquid-solid) fluidized bed can be utilized for catalytic and photo-catalytic gas-liquid reactions such as chemical, biochemical, biofilm and electrode reactions. For the more effective treatment of wastewater, recently, new processing modes such as the inverse and circulation fluidization have been developed and adopted to circumvent the conventional three-phase fluidized bed reactors [1-6]. 

Gasification of tire scrap and sewage sludge in a circulating fluidized bed with a draft tube... 

Y.W. Jang, Steam Gasification of Bituminous Coal in a Bench-Scale Internally Circulating Fluidized Bed, MS Thesis, Kunsan National University, Korea, 2002. 

J.M. Lee, Non-catalytic and Catalytic Coal Gasification in an Internally Circulating Fluidized... 

S.K. Jeon, Coal Gasification Characteristics in a Circulating Fluidized Bed with Draft Tube, MS Thesis, KAIST, Korea, 1994. 

Youchu Li and Xuyi Zhang, Circulating Fluidized Bed Combustion... 

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