Trickle flow of dense particles through a fluidized bed of others

Dense (or large) particles fall through liquid fluidized beds of light (or small) particles. In this work, a flew contractor is described in which continuous, countercurrent transport of dense particles in a stationary, liquid fluidized bed of light particles is exploited to obtain selective and continuous transport of the dense phase. The system is referred to as the 'trickle flow fluidized-bed reactor'. This system is evaluated in its application as a countercurrent adsorptive reactor. By selecting a suitable adsorbent as the dense phase, and a catalyst as the light phase, simultaneous reaction and countercurrent product removal may be achieved within one contactor. For a systematic design and optimization of such an adsorptive trickle flow fluidized-bed reactor, a predictive hydrodynamic model is required. In this work, the relation between the volume fractions and the fluxes of the three phases is investigated. A laboratory scale trickle flow fluidized-bed reactor has been constructed for experimental studies on hold-up and flux. A multi-component transport model to predict the volume fractions, fluxes and operating conditions is developed. The model is validated with the experimental hold-up and flux data from the trickle flow fluidized-bed reactor. To apply this concept as a countercurrent adsorptive reactor, a high countercurrent adsorbent flow, a high hold-up of the else adsorbent and light catalyst are required, together with a stable operation. Hence, the reactor should operate at a minimum liquid fraction of approximately 50 vol% and a free area fraction of the supporting plate between 0.3 and 0.5. It is demonstrated that the system is very sensitive to the bulk density of the multi-component suspension. At a high hold-up of the dense particles, the bulk density of the bidisperse suspension may increase to a level which causes a complete wash-out of the light particles. Therefore, the difference in density between the light catalyst and dense adsorbent particles should be as small as possible.