Fluidization Terms

Aeration. Any supplemental gas (air, steam, nitrogen, etc.) that increases fluidity of the catalyst. 

Angle of Internal Friction—a. Angle of internal friction, or angle of shear, is the angle of solid against solid. It is the angle at which a catalyst will flow on itself in the nonfluidized state. For an FCC catalyst, this is about 80°. 

Angle of Repose—p. The angle that the slope of a poured catalyst will make with the horizontal. For an FCC catalyst, this is typically 30°. 

Apparent Bulk Density—ABD. The density of the catalyst at which it is shipped either in bulk volume or bags. It is density of the catalyst at minimum fluidization velocity. 

Bed Density—p. The average density of a fluidized bed of solid particles and gas. Bed density is mainly a function of gas velocity and, to a lesser extent, the temperature. 

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To illustrate the application of the above principals, the role of each major component of the circuit is discussed in the following sections, followed by an actual case study. As a reference. Appendix 8 contains fluidization terms and definitions commonly used in the FCC. 

The basic concepts of a gas-fluidized bed are illustrated in Figure 1. Gas velocity in fluidized beds is normally expressed as a superficial velocity, U, the gas velocity through the vessel assuming that the vessel is empty. At a low gas velocity, the soHds do not move. This constitutes a packed bed. As the gas velocity is increased, the pressure drop increases until the drag plus the buoyancy forces on the particle overcome its weight and any interparticle forces. At this point, the bed is said to be minimally fluidized, and this gas velocity is termed the minimum fluidization velocity, The bed expands slightly at this condition, and the particles are free to move about (Fig. lb). As the velocity is increased further, bubbles can form. The soHds movement is more turbulent, and the bed expands to accommodate the volume of the bubbles. 

Pressure Drop. The pressure drop across a two-phase suspension is composed of various terms, such as static head, acceleration, and friction losses for both gas and soflds. For most dense fluid-bed appHcations, outside of entrance or exit regimes where the acceleration pressure drop is appreciable, the pressure drop simply results from the static head of soflds. Therefore, the weight of soflds ia the bed divided by the height of soflds gives the apparent density of the fluidized bed, ie... 

The term three-phase fluidization requires some explanation, as it can be used to describe a variety of rather different operations. The three phases are gas, liquid and particulate solids, although other variations such as two immiscible liquids and particulate solids may exist in special applications. As in the case of a fixed-bed operation, both co-current and counter- current gas-liquid flow are permissible and, for each of these, both bubble flow, in which the liquid is the continuous phase and the gas dispersed, and trickle flow, in which the gas forms a continuous phase and the liquid is more or less dispersed, takes place. A well established device for countercurrent trickle flow, in which low-density solid spheres are fluidized by an upward current of gas and irrigated by a downward flow of liquid, is variously known as the turbulent bed, mobile bed and fluidized packing contactor, or the turbulent contact absorber when it is specifically used for gas absorption and/or dust removal. Still another variation is a three-phase spouted bed contactor. 

Since the catalyst is so important to the cracking operation, its activity, selectivity, and other important properties should be measured. A variety of fixed or fluidized bed tests have been used, in which standard feedstocks are cracked over plant catalysts and the results compared with those for standard samples. Activity is expressed as conversion, yield of gasoline, or as relative activity. Selectivity is expressed in terms of carbon producing factor (CPF) and gas producing factor (GPF). These may be related to catalyst addition rates, surface area, and metals contamination from feedstocks. 

The fraction q can be expressed in terms of the expanded bed height H and minimum fluidization height H , and terms may be substituted for U -... 

The drawback is that the precipitation chemistry results in suspended solids that must be fluidized and removed from the boiler by BD, so a polymeric sludge conditioner (dispersant, deposit control agent) product and additional BD is required. The higher the FW hardness, the more BD is required because of the buildup of suspended solids, so there is a trade-off in terms of operating with lower quality FW and the resulting reduced efficiency. 

Equation (15) is derived under the assumption that the amount of adsorbed component transferred by flow or diffusion of the solid phase may be neglected. This assumption is clearly justified in cases of fixed-bed operation, and it is believed to be permissible in many cases of slurries or fluidized beds, since the absolute amount of adsorbed component will probably be quite low due to its low diffusivity in the interior of the catalyst pellet. The assumption can, however, be waived by including in Eq. (15) the appropriate diffusive and convective terms. 

The bubble size at formation varied with particle characteristics. It was further observed that the bubble size decreased with increasing fluidization intensity (i.e., with increasing liquid velocity). The rate of coalescence likewise decreased with increasing fluidization intensity the net rate of coalescence had a positive value at distances from 1 to 2 ft above the orifice, whereas at larger distances from the orifice the rate approached zero. The bubble rise-velocity increased steadily with bubble size in a manner similar to that observed for viscous fluids, but different to that observed for water. An attempt was made to explain the dependence of the rate of coalescence on fluidization intensity in terms of a relatively high viscosity of the liquid fluidized bed. 

Of these, fixed-bed adiabatic reactors are the cheapest in terms of capital cost. Tubular reactors are more expensive than fixed-bed adiabatic reactors, with the highest capital costs associated with moving and fluidized beds. The choice of reactor configuration for reactions involving a solid supported catalyst is often dominated by the deactivation characteristics of the catalyst. 

Experimental data on heat transfer in fixed and fluidized bed reactors are correlated in terms of a j factor for heat transfer. 

The first term in the list multiplied by the third term has been shown by Glicksman (1988) to be equivalent to the ratio of superficial and minimum fluidization velocities in the viscous limit. The controlling parameters can therefore be written as... 

Vertical jet penetration in fluidized beds increases significantly with system pressure as shown in Fig. 18. Vertical jets fluctuate in the vertical direction between a minimum and a maximum value. Most jet penetration correlations are given in terms of the maximum jet penetration length which is designated Lmax (Hirsan et al. 1980). Over a pressure range of 1 to 50 bar with jet nozzles up to 3.8 cm in diameter, Hirsan et al. (1980) developed the following empirical correlation for the maximum jet penetration. 

The second approach assigns thermal resistance to a gaseous boundary layer at the heat transfer surface. The enhancement of heat transfer found in fluidized beds is then attributed to the scouring action of solid particles on the gas film, decreasing the effective film thickness. The early works of Leva et al. (1949), Dow and Jacob (1951), and Levenspiel and Walton (1954) utilized this approach. Models following this approach generally attempt to correlate a heat transfer Nusselt number in terms of the fluid Prandtl number and a modified Reynolds number with either the particle diameter or the tube diameter as the characteristic length scale. Examples are ... 

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. 

Attrition of particulate materials occurs wherever solids are handled and processed. In contrast to the term comminution, which describes the intentional particle degradation, the term attrition condenses all phenomena of unwanted particle degradation which may lead to a lot of different problems. The present chapter focuses on two particular process types where attrition is of special relevance, namely fluidized beds and pneumatic conveying lines. The problems caused by attrition can be divided into two broad categories. On the one hand, there is the generation of fines. In the case of fluidized bed catalytic reactors, this will lead to a loss of valuable catalyst material. Moreover, attrition may cause dust problems like explosion hazards or additional burden on the filtration systems. On the other hand, attrition causes changes in physical properties of the material such as particle size distribution or surface area. This can result in a reduction of product quality or in difficulties with operation of the plant. 

The term three-phase fluidization, in this chapter, is taken as a system consisting of a gas, liquid, and solid phase, wherein the solid phase is in a non-stationary state, and includes three-phase slurry bubble columns, three-phase fluidized beds, and three-phase flotation columns, but excludes three-phase fixed bed systems. The individual phases in three-phase fluidization systems can be reactants, products, catalysts, or inert. For example, in the hydrotreating of light gas oils, the solid phase is catalyst, and the liquid and gas phases are either reactants or products in the bleaching of paper pulp, the solid phase is both reactant and product, and the gas phase is a reactant while the liquid phase is inert in anaerobic fermentation, the gas phase results from the biological activity, the liquid phase is product, and the solid is either a biological carrier or the microorganism itself. 

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