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Fluidization
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article includes a list of references[1], but its sources remain unclear
because it has insufficient inline citations. Please help to improve[2] this
article by introducing[3] more precise citations. (March 2014)

[4]

Schematic drawing of a fluidized bed reactor

Fluidization (or fluidisation) is a process similar to liquefaction[5] whereby a granular
material[6] is converted from a static solid[7]-like state to a dynamic fluid[8]-like state.
This process occurs when a fluid (liquid[9] or gas[10]) is passed up through the granular
material.
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When a gas flow is introduced through the bottom of a bed of solid particles, it will move
upwards through the bed via the empty spaces between the particles. At low gas
velocities, aerodynamic drag[11] on each particle is also low, and thus the bed remains in
a fixed state. Increasing the velocity, the aerodynamic drag forces will begin to
counteract the gravitational forces, causing the bed to expand in volume as the particles
move away from each other. Further increasing the velocity, it will reach a critical value
at which the upward drag forces will exactly equal the downward gravitational forces,
causing the particles to become suspended within the fluid. At this critical value, the bed
is said to be fluidized and will exhibit fluidic behavior. By further increasing gas velocity,
the bulk density of the bed will continue to decrease, and its fluidization becomes more
violent, until the particles no longer form a bed and are conveyed upwards by the gas
flow.
When fluidized, a bed of solid particles will behave as a fluid, like a liquid or gas. Like
water[12] in a bucket[13]: the bed will conform to the volume of the chamber, its surface
remaining perpendicular to gravity[14]; objects with a lower density than the bed density
will float on its surface, bobbing up and down if pushed downwards, while objects with a
higher density sink to the bottom of the bed. The fluidic behavior allows the particles to
be transported like a fluid, channeled through pipes[15], not requiring mechanical
transport (e.g. conveyor belt[16]).
A simplified every-day-life example of a gas-solid fluidized bed[17] would be a hot-air
popcorn popper[18]. The popcorn kernels[19], all being fairly uniform in size and shape,
are suspended in the hot air rising from the bottom chamber. Because of the intense
mixing of the particles, akin to that of a boiling liquid, this allows for a uniform
temperature of the kernels throughout the chamber, minimizing the amount of burnt
popcorn. After popping, the now larger popcorn particles encounter increased
aerodynamic drag which pushes them out of the chamber and into a bowl.
The process is also key in the formation of a sand volcano[20] and fluid escape structures
in sediments[21] and sedimentary rocks[22].

Applications
Most of the fluidization applications use one or more of three important characteristics
of fluidized beds: 1) Fluidized solids can be easily transferred between reactors. 2) The
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intense mixing within a fluidized bed means that its temperature is uniform. 3) There is
excellent heat transfer between a fluidized bed and heat exchangers immersed in the
bed.
In 1920s, the Winkler process was developed to gasify coal in a fluidized bed, using
oxygen. It was not commercially successful.
The first large scale commercial implementation, in the early 1940s, was the fluid
catalytic cracking (FCC)[23] process, which converted heavier petroleum[24] cuts into
gasoline[25]. Carbon-rich "coke[26]" deposits on the catalyst[27] particles and deactivates
the catalyst in less than 1 second[28]. The fluidized catalyst particles are shuttled
between the fluidized bed reactor and a fluidized bed burner where the coke deposits are
burned off, generating heat for the endothermic[29] cracking reaction.
By the 1950s fluidized bed technology was being applied to mineral and metallurgical
processes such as drying, calcining[30], and sulfide roasting[31].
In the 1960s, several fluidized bed processes dramatically reduced the cost of some
important monomers[32]. Examples are the Sohio process for acrylonitrile[33] and the
oxychlorination process for vinyl chloride[34]. These chemical reactions are highly
exothermic and fluidization ensures a uniform temperature, minimizing unwanted side
reactions, and efficient heat transfer to cooling tubes, ensuring a high productivity.
In the late 1970s, a fluidized bed process for the synthesis of polyethylene[35]
dramatically reduced the cost of this important polymer[36], making its use economical in
many new applications. The polymerization reaction generates heat and the intense
mixing associated with fluidization prevents hot spots where the polyethylene particles
would melt. A similar process is used for the synthesis of polypropylene[37].
Currently, most of the processes that are being developed for the industrial production of
carbon nanotubes[38] use a fluidized bed.1
A new potential application of fluidization technology is chemical looping
combustion[39], which has not yet been commercialized. One solution to reducing the
potential effect of carbon dioxide[40] generated by fuel combustion[41] (e.g. in power
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stations[42]) on global warming[43] is carbon dioxide sequestration[44]. Regular

combustion[45] with air[46] produces a gas that is mostly nitrogen[47] (as it is air's main
component at about 80% by volume), which prevents economical sequestration.
Chemical looping uses a metal[48] oxide[49] as a solid oxygen[50] carrier. These metal
oxide particles replace air (specifically oxygen[51] in the air) in a combustion reaction
with a solid, liquid or gaseous fuel in a fluidized bed, producing solid metal particles from
the reduction[52] of the metal oxides and a mixture of carbon dioxide and water vapor[53],
the major products of any combustion reaction. The water[54] vapor is condensed,
leaving pure carbon dioxide which can be sequestered. The solid metal particles are
circulated to another fluidized bed where they react with air (and again, specifically
oxygen in the air), producing heat and oxidizing[55] the metal particles to metal oxide
particles that are recirculated to the fluidized bed combustor.
Fluidization has many applications with the use of ion exchange[56] particles for the
purification and processing of many industrial liquid streams. Industries such as food &
beverage, hydrometallurgical, water softening, catalysis, bio-based chemical etc. use ion
exchange as a critical step in processing. Conventionally ion exchange has been used in a
packed bed where a pre-clarified liquid passes downward through a column. Much work
has been done at the University of Western Ontario in London Ontario, Canada on the
use of a continuous fluidized ion exchange system, named "Liquid-solid circulating
fluidized bed" (LSCFB), recently being called "Circulating fluidized ion exchange" (CFIX).
This system has widespread applications extending the use of traditional ion exchange
systems because it can handle feed streams with large amounts of suspended solids due
to the use of fluidization.23

External links
Notes
1. Jump up ^ International Journal of Chemical Reactor Engineering[57]
2. Jump up ^ Prince; A. Bassi; C. Haas (2012). Biotechnology Progress 28 (1). Missing or
empty |title= (help)
3. Jump up ^ Mazumder; Zhu, Ray (April 2010). "Optimal design of liquid-solid
circulating fluidized bed for continuous protein recovery". Powder Technology 199 (1):
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3247. doi[58]:10.1016/j.powtec.2009.07.009[59].

Links
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citing_sources
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Fact_and_Reference_Check
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:When_to_cite
4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Fluidized_Bed_Reactor_Graphic.svg
5. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquefaction
6. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Granular_material
7. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solid
8. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluid
9. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquid
10. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gas
11. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drag_(physics)
12. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water
13. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bucket
14. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravity
15. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_pipe
16. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conveyor_belt
17. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluidized_bed
18. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popcorn_maker
19. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popcorn
20. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sand_volcano
21. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sediment
22. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sedimentary_rock
23. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluid_catalytic_cracking
24. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petroleum
25. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gasoline
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26. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coke_(fuel)
27. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catalyst
28. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second
29. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endothermic
30. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calcination
31. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roasting_(metallurgy)
32. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monomers
33. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acrylonitrile
34. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vinyl_chloride
35. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyethylene
36. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polymer
37. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polypropylene
38. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_nanotubes
39. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemical_looping_combustion
40. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_dioxide
41. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combustion
42. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_station
43. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_warming
44. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_sequestration
45. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combustion
46. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air
47. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitrogen
48. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metal
49. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxide
50. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxygen
51. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxygen
52. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redox
53. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_vapor
54. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water
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55. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redox
56. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ion_exchange
57. http://www.bepress.com/ijcre/vol3/R3/
58. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_object_identifier
59. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016%2Fj.powtec.2009.07.009

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