Fast fluidization

A well-defined bed of particles does not exist in the fast-fluidization regime. Instead, the particles are distributed more or less uniformly throughout the reactor. The two-phase model does not apply. Typically, the cracking reactor is described with a pseudohomogeneous, axial dispersion model. The maximum contact time in such a reactor is quite limited because of the low catalyst densities and high gas velocities that prevail in a fast-fluidized or transport-line reactor. Thus, the reaction must be fast, or low conversions must be acceptable. Also, the catalyst must be quite robust to minimize particle attrition. 

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To escape aggregative fluidization and move to a circulating bed, the gas velocity is increased further. The fast-fluidization regime is reached where the soHds occupy only 5 to 20% of the bed volume. Gas velocities can easily be 100 times the terminal velocity of the bed particles. Increasing the gas velocity further results in a system so dilute that pneumatic conveying (qv), or dilute-phase transport, occurs. In this regime there is no actual bed in the column. 

Fig. 6. Schematics of commercially used beds, where the shaded area represents the soHds (a) vigorously bubbling, (b) turbulent, and (c) fast fluidized.

Eor turbulent and fast-fluidized beds, bubbles are not present as distinct entities. The following expression for bed voidage, bed occupied by gas, where U is in m/s, has been suggested (17) ... 

Bed-to-Surface Heat Transfer. Bed-to-surface heat-transfer coefficients in fluidized beds are high. In a fast-fluidized bed combustor containing mostly Group B limestone particles, the dense bed-to-boiling water heat-transfer coefficient is on the order of 250 W/(m -K). For an FCC catalyst cooler (Group A particles), this heat-transfer coefficient is around 600 W/(600 -K). 

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. 

CO2 capture characteristics of dry sorbents in a fast fluidized reactor... 

One of the advanced concepts for capturing CO2 is an absorption process that utilizes dry regenerable sorbents. Pure sodium bicarbonate from Dongyang Chemical Company and spray-dried sorbents were used to examine the characteristics of CO2 reaction in a flue gas environment. The chemical characteristics were investigated in a fast fluidized reactor of 0.025 m i.d., and the effects of several variables on sorbent activity, including gas velocity (1.5 to 3.5 m/s), temperature (40 to 70 °C), and solid concentration (15 to 25 kg/m /s)], were examined in a fast fluidized-bed. Spray-dried Sorb NX30 showed fast kinetics in the fluidized reactor. 

The fluidized reactor can be a bubbling fluidized type or a fast fluidized type, depending on the gas velocity and the reactivity of the sorbents. We adopted a fast fluidized bed type reactor for carbonation and regeneration reactions in order to identify the chemical characteristics of sorbents in a fast fluidized reactor of 0.025 m i.d. 

Reactivity of spray dried Sorb sorbents in a fast fluidized bed... 

The reactivities of spray-dried sorbents were examined in a fast fluidized bed. The reactor was operated at a carbonation temperature of 50 °C, and a gas velocity of 2 m/s with an initial sorbent inventory of 7 kg to compare CO2 concentration profiles in effluent gas for spray-dried Sorb NH series and NX30 sorbent. Figure 5 shows the comparison of CO2 concentration profiles in effluent gas of Sorb NHR, NHR5, and NX30 in a fast fluidized-bed reactor. The CO2 removals of Sorb NHR and NHR5 were initially maintained at a level of 100 % for a short period of time and quickly dropped to a 10 to 20 % removal level. 

Fig. 3, Effect of carbonation temperature on CO2 removal in a fast fluidized-bed reactor.

Hartge, E.-U., Li, Y., and Werther, J., Flow Structures in Fast Fluidized Beds, Fluidization V, Proc. 5th Eng. Foundation Conf. on Fluidization, Elsinore Denmark, p. 345 (1985)... 

Rowe, P. N., and Stapleton, W. M., The Behavior of 12-inch Diameter Fast Fluidized Beds, Trans. Instn. Chem. Engrs., 39 181 (1961)... 

Zhang, W., Tung, Y., and Johnsson, F., Radial Voidage Profiles in Fast Fluidized Beds of Different Diameters, Chem. Eng. Sci., 46(12) 3045 (1991)... 

The boundary between the turbulent and the fast fluidization regimes has been of some dispute in the fluidization field. However, the choking velocity (Uch) appears to be a practical lower-velocity boundary for this regime (Karri and Knowlton, 1991 Takeuchi et al., 1986). 

As noted earlier, increasing gas velocity for any given fluidized bed beyond the terminal velocity of bed particles leads to upward entrainment of particles out of the bed. To maintain solid concentration in the fluidized bed, an equal flux of solid particles must be injected at the bottom of the bed as makeup. Operation in this regime, with balanced injection of particles into the bed and entrainment of particles out of the bed, may be termed fast fluidization, FFB. Figure 10 presents an approximate map of this fast fluidization regime, in terms of a dimensionless gas velocity and dimensionless particle diameter. 

It is seen that for Geldart types A and B particles, fast fluidization requires superficial gas velocities approximately an order of magnitude greater than that for bubbling dense beds. In many applications of fast fluidization, the particles exiting top of the bed are captured by cyclones and recirculated for makeup injection at the bottom of the bed, hence this regime is also denoted as circulating fluidization, CFB. 

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