CHP 302

Mass transfer and Fluid Particles Mechanics Laboratory

Experiment- Fluidization


Session No. - 9
Experiment No. - 8

Experiment was done: In Turn on 16/10/12









Instructor Name Prof. Shantanu Roy
Student name Nidhi Chouhan (2010CH10097)
Group number & Day - 1 and Tuesday
Sub group 6



THEORY:
This experiment is about fluidization of a bed of solid by passing a fluid. Fluidization or fluidizing,
converts a bed of solid particles into an expanded mass that has many properties of a liquid.
Pressure loss due to frictional resistance increases as fluid flow through the bed of particles
increases. At a point, whereby the upward drag force exerted by the fluid on the particle equal to
apparent weight of particles in the bed, fluidization occurs.
The upward velocity of the fluid flowing through the empty vessel is referred to as the superficial
velocity. As the velocity of flow increases, the particles rearrange themselves to offer less resistance
to the fluid flow and the bed will tend to expand. The expansion continues until a stage is reached
where the drag force exerted on the particles will be sufficient to support the weight of the particles
in the bed.
The velocity at which the particles first appear to be fluidized is called minimum fluidization velocity.
Ergun equation is given by:

()

()

Now, for fluidizing condition,
( )(

()

()

PROCEDURE:
- Measure the average particle size of the glass beads being used
- Fill the bed with water.
- Increase the flow rate of water into the assembly when steady state is reached measure the
pressure drop in the manometer
- Measure the flow rate of water using the measuring cylinder.
- Repeat step-3 and 4 until the bed is in the fluidized state
- Continue to increase till particle reach elutriation condition.
- Now slowly decrease the flow rate and the record the manometer difference for every
reading.
- Continue until the flow rate is reduced to the minimum, which corresponds to the packed
bed state.

- Observations and Calculations:
Diameter of the column: 2.54 cm
Diameter of the glass beads: 2.43 mm
Density of water: 1000kg/m
3

Density of solid: 2404 kg/m
3

Viscosity of water: 10
-5
Pa-s


Increasing flow rate




Decreasing flow rate
S.no H(cm) P(mm of water) flow rate(ml/sec) superficial velocity(cm/s)
1 40.5 254.3 52.21932115 10.310842
2 29 234.7 32.599837 6.436923364
3 28 229 31.64556962 6.248500766
4 22.6 213.9 21.78649237 4.301800092
5 22.1 170.8 19.66568338 4.833601572
6 21.5 141.5 15.89825119 3.139151418
7 20.5 86.4 8.413967186 1.661359901
8 20.2 0 7.561436673
1.4930255



GRAPHS
S.no H(cm) P(mm of water) flow rate(ml/sec) superficial velocity(cm/s)
1 20.5 0 0 0
2 20.5 147.2 15.27883881 3.016846817
3 20.5 157.8 15.73564123 3.107043654
4 20.5 169.2 16.09010459 3.177033374
5 20.5 195.5 16.62510391 3.282670394
6 22.5 210.2 22.62443439 4.467253941
7 26.8 220.5 28.98550725 5.72326447
8 32 234.7 37.59398496 7.423030985
9 39.5 250.8 47.61904762 9.402505915
10 51.5 273.3 63.29113924 12.49700153



P vs H


P vs superficial velocity






0
50
100
150
200
250
300
0 20 40 60
decreasing flow rate
increasing flow rate
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
0 5 10 15
increasing flow rate
decreasing flow rate
Bed height vs superficial velocity

- Calculations:
( )
2
1650
s
mf
Dp g
V

=

Substituting D
p
, density of particles, density of liquid and viscosity of liquid
V
mf
(theoretical) = 3.762 cm/sec

For Bed Porosity:
( )
( )
( )( )
2 2
2 2 3 3
1.75 1
150 1
1
mf mf
s
s p s p
V
V
g
D D
c
c
c
| c | c

+ =

Substituting:
V
mf
(theoretical) = 3.762 cm/sec
Viscosity = 8.9 * 10
-4
Pa.Sec
D
p
= 2.48 mm
Liquid density = 1000 kg/m
3

Particles Density = 2404 kg/m
3

Therefore, Porosity of bed = 0.308
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
0 5 10 15
bed height vs superficial velocity
decreasing flow rate
increasing flow rate
From Graph:
1. Minimum fluidization velocity: 3.2826 cm/sec at 195.5 mm water pressure drop.
Bed Height of Fluidization: 20 cm from the bottom of the bed.

RESULT:
1. V
mf
(theoretical) = 3.762 cm/sec.
2. Minimum fluidization velocity: 3.2826 cm/sec at 195.5 mm water pressure drop.
3. Bed Height of Fluidization: 20 cm from the bottom of the bed.
4. Porosity of bed = 0.308

- Just after the minimum fluidization velocity is reached, the fluid-particle system behaves
more like a hydrodynamic system, and thus the pressure difference becomes constant.
- The behavior of change in pressure drop with velocity is seen to be dependent not only on
its current behavior, but also its past track. Hence, hysteresis loss is observed in this case.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION:
Fluidization is a process when a fluid is passed upward through a bed of particles. The pressure loss
in the fluid due to the frictional resistance increases with increasing fluid flow. A point is reached
when the upward drag force exerted by the fluid on the particles is equal to the apparent weight of
particles in the bed.
At this point the particles are lifted by the fluid, the separation of the particle increases, and the bed
becomes fluidized. The superficial fluid velocity at which the packed bed becomes a fluidized bed is
known as the minimum fluidization velocity. This velocity increases with particle size and particle
density and is affected by fluid properties.

SOURCES OF ERROR:
- Errors might be there as we were using ruler because the dimensions were not marked
properly along the length of the tube
- Some error due to manual measurement might be present in the volumetric flow rate
calculation.
- Steady state might not be achieved as the flow might be unsteady.
- The pressure measured showed significant variation in very short interval of time. So a mean
value was taken.

PRECAUTIONS:
- Since the experiment is performed in presence of large amount of water, the water circuit
should be seen that it is complete.
- Water drainage should be properly seen so that the outlet water does not spill out.
- Proper care should be taken while changing flow rate so that sudden pressure drop or
increase does not occur.
- Flow rate should not be too high else elutriation of particles will take place
- Measurements should be made at steady state.

RECOMMENDATIONS:
- The apparatus can be designed in such a way that taking out and putting in the particles is
made easy so that we can have different sized particles and study their properties in
comparison to others. For example,
- We can study the cohesion characteristics by observing the bed expansion for
different sized particles.
- We can also compare the bed porosities for different sets of particles.
- The device should have meter scale markings on it so that accurate height measurements
can be taken.

APPLICATIONS OF REACTIONS IN FBR:
- Gasification of coal
- Fluid catalytic cracking process.
- Oxy-chlorination of vinyl chlorides.
- In Carbon Nano tubes
- Reduction of NO by carbonaceous in fluidized bed reactor
- Polymer production
- Calcination of gypsum