i n t e r c o m p a n y m e m o r a n d u m-ou（我n t e r c o m p n y m e m o r n d u m-ou）.doc

INTERCOMPANY MEMORANDUM CAL CHEM CORPORATION To: CHE Sophomore Date: Fall Quarter File: CHE 322L From: CHE faculty Laboratory Managers Subject: Fluidized Bed Characteristics Our pilot plant group wishes to insert a fluidized bed reactor in one of the tail gas streams from their new pilot plant. We have such a reactor in our laboratory, which could be used to study the operating characteristics of the bed. Please investigate the relationship between superficial vapor velocity, pressure drop across the bed, and bed height. Obtain data in the flow regions usually associated with fluidized beds. Be sure to record the minimum fluidizing velocity and to compare this value to the value predicted by theoretical correlations. Fluidized Bed Characteristics The upward flow of fluid through a bed of solid particles is an important process occurring in nature and in industrial operations. The apparatus in our lab was designed to allow the study of the characteristics of flow through both fixed and fluidized beds of solid particles. At low velocities, the pressure drop increases with the fluid velocity according to the Ergun equation = 150 + 1.75 (1) where (P = pressure drop through the packed bed h = bed height Dp = particle diameter (f = fluid density vs = superficial velocity at a density averaged between inlet and outlet conditions ( = bed porosity NRe = average Reynolds number based upon superficial velocity When the packing has a shape different from spherical, an effective particle diameter is defined Dp = = (2) where As = interfacial area of packing per unit of packing volume, ft2/ft3 or m2/m3 The effective particle diameter Dp in Eq. (1) can be replaced by (sDp where Dp now represents the particle size of a sphere having the same volume as the particle and (s the shape factor. The bed porosity, (, which is the fraction of total volume that is void is defined as ( ( = (3) where R =