Experimental Investigation of Various Solid Particle Materials on the. Steady State Gas-Solid Fluidized Bed System.

The present study provides a comprehensive experimental work about fluidized bed gas-solid system characteristics by using different solid particles. Naphthalene, silica gel and sand (197 µm diameter) are utilized as solid particles while air is used for fluidization. An experimental rig is built to test the various solid particles and to establish a good description of flow and heat transfer patterns for the fluidized bed gas-solid system. Based on the experimental tests, it is found that the solid particle type has a significant influence on the gas-solid flow dynamics. The experimental tests are performed for various fluidized bed velocities (0.8, 1.2 and 1.6 m/sec) and when the heat fluxes are varied as 80, 120 and 160 W respectively. Experimental measurements are carried out under steady state situation. Depending on the experimental results, it can be concluded that sand solid particles are better than silica gel and naphthalene solid particles for heat transfer enhancement. Also, it can found for naphthalene, silica gel and sand solid particles that as the fluidized bed velocity and heat flux increase the temperature distribution along the fluidization column increases. Moreover, an empirical equation based on the experimental measurements which linking between Nusselt number (Nu), Froude number (Fr) and Reynolds number (Re) is suggested. Comparisons with previously published works on gas-solid fluidized bed system are performed and good agreements between the results are observed.