Authors: Ray Cocco 1 and Ping Cai
1 Particulate Solid Research, Inc., 4201 W. 36th Street, Chicago, IL 60632, USA
Source: This paper was presented at the Fifth World Congress on Particle Technology. Extended abstract is provided courtesy of the lead author.
Abstract: Many of the problems encountered in fluidized bed operations can be linked to injectors, spargers and grid plates. Gas maldistribution and high attrition related to injectors spargers and grid plates issues often result in frequent and premature shutdown of the unit and replacement of some, if not all, of the components. Fortunately, these failures can be managed. Understanding the jet hydrodynamics from spargers and grid plates is critical in designing and operating a reliable sparger. Jet penetration, jet/initial bubble evolution, and bubble hydrodynamics all contribute to the performance and reliability of fluidized beds. Using criteria such as pressure drop, orifice pitch and jet penetration length are a good start, but computational fluid dynamics (CFD) models could be an effective way to understand, improve and optimize injectors, spargers and grid plates, especially for the implement of less common applications such as those in high-temperature, highly corrosive fluidized beds and risers and other systems with very limited experimental data.