Fluidisation in a Pulsed Gas Flow

H. W. WONG
Department

AND

of Chemical Engineering,

M. H. I. BAIRD

McMaster

University,

Hamilton

(Canada)

(Received: 23 April, 1970; In final form 15 July, 1970)

transfer between the bed and a solid heating surface

is greatly improved,7p9*10 as is the conversion in a
of vibration
spouted-bed
reactor. l2 A disadvantage
pressure
is that in some cases 8*13 the time-average
drop was seen to increase compared
with steady
conditions.
Understandably,
there is considerable
industrial
interest in the above effects, as shown by many
patents, some of which are cited here. 5- 7 Kobayashi
et al. I4 cite further examples of pulsed bed applications.
The theoretical
understanding
of pulsed
and
vibrating fluidised beds is still far from complete.
Molerus18 has recently proposed a mechanism
for
stabilisation
of particulate fluidisation
by vibration,
based on one-dimensional
particle motions in an
incompressible
fluid. His conclusion confirmed that
frequencies of approximately
50Hz are effective in
reducing by-passing.
However, his model does not
account for the fact that much lower frequencies, in
the order of 5 Hz, have also been found effective in
gas-fluidised
beds; 12- I4 nor does it allow for the
compressibility
of the fluidising gas. Compressibility
is known to have a profound effect on the behaviour
of gas bubbles in vibrating
liquid columns, 19,20
and it might also be important
in vibro-fluidised
beds.
The present investigation
concerns the behaviour
of pulsed cylindrical
gas-fluidised
beds in the frequency range 1 to 10 Hz. The objective has been to
collect new data on bed and bubble behaviour, and
to test some simple theoretical models for predicting
the natural frequency of a fluidised bed. It is felt
that this is an important parameter since it determines
the response of the fluidised bed to an imposed
vibration
or pulsation.
For the most pronounced
effect, the applied frequency should equal the natural
frequency. Three experimental
techniques have been
used; visual and photographic
observation,
pressure
drop measurement,
and tracer studies.

ABSTRACT
The effect offlow pulsations on a 4 in dia air-fiuidised
bed of glass beads has been investigated in the frequency range 1 to 10 Hz. It was found that the beds
have a natural frequency
which can be calculated
approximately from a model which assumes pistonlike behaviour. The shape of the air bubbles rising
through the bed fluctuates
synchronously
with the
applied pulsations. Tracer studies using helium gas
have shown that pulsation can increase the gas retention time by as much as 51%.

For many years, a problem in the design of gaslluidised equipment

has been the by-passing of the
gas phase in the form of bubbles. This has led to
extensive investigations
of the nature of the bubbles
and to the development
of sophisticated
models for
fluidised reactors3
While the main effort has been
directed towards an understanding
of the bubbling
phenomenon,
various equipment modifications aimed
at reducing the effect of the bubbles have also been
proposed. 4, 5 These include special distributor
designs, tapered beds, multi-stage
beds, insertion
of
baffles and packings, and mechanical
agitation.
In
the latter category, vibration and pulsation have been
popular techniques.
Various
means have been employed,
such as
vibrating
baffle plates6s7 or vibrating the gas distributor 8 or the bed support*l.
High intensity
sound, directed at the bed support, has been found
effective.
At frequencies below about 20 Hz, the
usual technique has been to pulse the gas flow. 12*13, I4
The main effect of vibration-pulsation
is to improve
fluidisation
quality.
Channelling
and bypassing
are reduced
and difficult systems can be more
readily fluidised than in steady conditions.
Heat

* Now at Rice University, Houston, Texas (USA).

104
The Chemical

Engineering

Journal

(2) (1971)-Q

Elsevier

Publishing

Company

Ltd.

England-Printed

in Great

Britain

FLUIDISATION

IN A PULSED GAS FLOW

105
FLOW

OSCILLOSCOPE

CONTROL

v
FLUIDIZED

ROTAMETERS

BED

FILTERED
AIR

SURGE
TANK
PRESSURE
TRANSDUCER

WATER
MANOMETER

Fig. 1.

EXPERIMENTAL

SOLENOID
VALVE

Experimental apparatus for studying dynamics of bed.

EQUIPMENT

The investigation
was carried out with a four-inch
diameter
bed formed in a glass tube. The flow
diagram for the pressure measuring and photographic
tests is given in Fig. 1, while the arrangement
for
tracer studies is shown in Fig. 2.
Referring first to Fig. 1, the fluidising air supply is
passed through calibrated rotameters with an overall
capacity range of 0.5 to 50 scfm. The air enters a
7 ft3 steel drum at about 5 psig pressure, thereby
isolating
the rotameters
from the effects of flow
pulsation. The air flow is finely controlled by a needle
valve situated just upstream of the timed solenoid
valve which provides the flow pulsations. The timing
device is capable of actuating the solenoid for periods
of 0.03 set to 10.0 set (Eagle Signal Co., Series CA
100). Thus, it was possible to provide square wave
flow pulsations
at frequencies up to about 11 Hz,
above which the response of the solenoid valve led to
unreliable
operation.
As well as frequency,
the
intermittency
of the square wave, i.e. the fraction of
the period in which flow is allowed to occur, could be
independently
adjusted.
The air flow from the solenoid valve enters the air
space below the bed support, which is also connected
to a diaphragm
pressure transducer
(Pace Engineering Co) whose signal can be either observed in
an oscilloscope or recorded on a high-speed recorder

(Honeywell
Visicorder).
Alternatively,
the timeaveraged pressure beneath the bed could be measured
on a water manometer
equipped with a damping
THERMAL
CONDUCTIVITY

CELL
VACUUM

TRACER

SOLENOID

SUPPORT-

HELIUM

DISTRIBUTOR

PULSING

TIM;;;FRATED

AIR

Fig. 2.

Experimental

apparatus for tracer studies.

GAS

H. W. WONG AND M. H. I. BAIRD

106

valve. The bed support in most of this work is a

loo-mesh stainless steel wire screen. In a few cases,
Nylon filter cloth was used. The particles used are
glass beads supplied by the 3M Company
in the
following
nominal
sizes: 100, 200, 390 and 470
microns. Examination
showed that 5 to 20% of the
beads were perceptibly
non-spherical.
The density
was quoted as 2.5 g/cm3. The measured minimum
fluidisation
velocity was compared with the value
calculated
from
Levas correlation,
assuming
uniform, spherical particles. The extent of agreement
is reasonable, with the exception of the 390 p particle
bed (Table 1).

TABLE 1
OBSERVED

Particle

AND CALCULATED
VALUES
uMF IN STEADY FLOW

size

(PI
100
200
390
470
(62.5%) 390
(37.5 %) 470

Mixture

OF

Minimum fluidking velocity, ft/s

(Observed)
(Calculatedzl)

0.117
0.268
0.404

0.038
0.11
0.35
0448

0.402

0.40

Figure 2 shows the arrangement

used in the tracer
experiments. The tracer is pure helium, introduced at
a flow of about 2 % of the air flow in a step function.
The solenoid valve which permits the flow is activated
by a time switch which sends a corresponding
signal
to the high-speed
recorder.
The helium flow is
distributed
into the air stream just beneath the bed
support as shown. The distributor
is a 3 in dia ring
of l/S in OD copper tubing provided with 20 equally
spaced l/64 in holes opening horizontally.
Ten of the
holes are directed towards the centre, and 10 are
directed radially outwards. The space immediately
above the fluidised bed is provided with an impeller,
and a bundle of vertical l/4 in plastic tubes is placed
about 4 in above the bed. In this way, a perfectly mixed
cell is effectively connected in series with the fluidised
bed. A continuous
gas sample is drawn from this cell
through a l/8 in dia stainless steel tube at approximately 40 ml/set giving a sampling time lag of about
0.6 sec. Experiments with different lengths of sample
tube suggest that most of the lag was due to the
detector cell rather than the length of sample tube.
The detector was a thermal conductivity
cell (GowMac Instrument
Co, model 460). Preliminary
testsz2
with step injection directly into the stirred gas space
indicated that the assumption
of perfect mixing in
the space was reasonable.

VISUAL

OBSERVATIONS

At very low frequencies of flow pulsation, the bed

was alternately
fully fluidised and quiescent.
This
phenomenon,
also noted by Massimilla
et al. 13 is
not of primary
interest in this work. At higher
frequencies, above approximately
1 Hz, the bed did
not have time to adjust completely to the changes in
flow rate, and this state is described as pulsed fluidisation. Massimilla
et &.I3 further
subdivided
the
pulsed fluidisation regime into three sub-regimes:
(a) Transition
at 1.2 to 2.7 Hz; (b) piston-like
fluidisation at 2.7 to 4.8 Hz; and (c) plain fluidisation
at frequencies above 4.8 Hz.
In the present work, piston-like
behaviour
as
described by Massimilla13
occurred only in a comparatively
narrow range of operating
conditions
under which the pressure could build up very rapidly,
i.e. low intermittency,
low frequency,
and a low
volume of the gas space beneath the bed support. At
the highest frequencies used in this work (c. 10 Hz),
the fluidising gas was better distributed than in steady
flow, although piston-like motion of the bed could
not be seen. At intermediate
frequencies
(c. 5 Hz)
and high gas rates, some vertical oscillation
of the
bed was noticeable, but because of bubbling the bed
as a whole did not appear to oscillate uniformly. The
shapes of the rising bubbles fluctuated, as discussed
below. Another interesting
phenomenon,
noted in
occasional
cases, was the tilting oscillation
of the
upper surface of the bed. The frequency of the tilting
was not necessarily that of flow pulsation, for example
3 Hz and 6.7 Hz respectively.

PRESSURE

FLUCTUATIONS

The pressure fluctuations

occurring in steady flow
are illustrated in Fig. 3 for a typical case. It will be
seen that the mass of beads used, and hence the mean
pressure drop, had little effect on the magnitude of
37.5 % .4x)p + 62.5 oh, 390~
= 1.5 ,

SYSTEM =

- 20 6
I

BED MASS - 6 lb.

6lb.

3 lb.

I
3.0

I
2.0

I
1.0

TIME,

Fig. 3.

Instantaneous

I
00

lSEC.1

pressure drop in steady flow,

FLUIDISATION

107

IN A PULSED GAS FLOW

SYSTEM

= 8lb,
U

39OP

= 1.8

%tlf

f =3.45

f = 7.1 Hz

f =I,61
I =0.5

Ht

Hz

02
4.5

4.0

3.5

3.0

2.5

2.0

TIME

Fig. 4.

Instantaneous

1.5

I.0

0.5

0
!

, (SEC)

pressure drop in pulsed flow.

the fluctuations.
The lowest curve, for a 3 lb mass of
beads, shows a definite periodicity
at a frequency
of about 3.7 Hz. This will be discussed in the section
on models for bed behaviour.
Figure 4 shows the pressure record for a typical
case of pulsed flow at three different frequencies.
Referring to the curve at 1.61 Hz, a sharp positive
peak occurs shortly after the start of the gas flow
(A). A decaying oscillation
of the pressure occurs,
until the cessation of gas feed (at B) causes a sharp
drop in the pressure. There is then a pressure recovery,
due to the falling of the bed which compresses the gas
in the space below the support. Without further gas
feed the pressure drop would eventually
decay to
zero, but the renewed gas flow causes the cycle to
repeat. A similar effect may be seen at 3.45 Hz, with
A and B again denoting the beginning and end of the
gas supply period.
The curves at 1.61 Hz and 3.45 Hz are quite similar
to those of Kobayashi et a1.14 for the pulsed operation of an annular bed (4 in and 1.25 in dia) of 580 p
particles. In their I4 work, however, the secondary
oscillations
appeared
to damp out more rapidly,
perhaps because of the extra friction at the central
cylinder and the fact that larger particles were used
than in the present work.
Returning to Fig. 4, it will be seen that at 7.1 Hz
the applied frequency is of the same order as the
natural frequency exhibited by the bed at the lower
frequencies.
There are no secondary
peaks and
troughs, and the pressure amplitude is high. In some
tests2 2 the minimum pressure was sub-atmospheric.
The nature of the natural frequency will be discussed later. The instantaneous
pressure fluctuations
reported by Massimilla 3 do not show any secondary
activity, irrespective of frequency. It is thought that

this difference is due to wall friction in their bed, which

was a two-dimensional
one of thickness 1.5 cm.
Another
difference between this work and the
earlier investigation
3 is the effect of pulsation on the
time-averaged
pressure drop. Massimilla
et al. 3
found that pulsation
increased the pressure drop,
whereas in Fig. 5 it can be seen that, at high gas
velocities, the effect was to decrease the pressure
drop. It will be noticed that the curve at the highest
frequency (7.14 Hz) approaches that for continuous
fluidisation.
This is to be expected because of the
damping
effect discussed
above. At the lowest
frequency (1.6 Hz) the beds behaviour approaches
intermittent
fluidisation in which the time-averaged
pressure (for u > 0.5,,)
would be one half of the
fluidisation pressure, for an intermittency
of 0.5. The
effect of intermittency
is also shown in Fig. 5 for a
constant frequency of 3 Hz. As may be expected, the
higher I value gives a curve closer to the continuous
fluidisation
curve while for lower values of I the

ii

6
0

05
i

Fig. 5.

10

15

,f

Time-average pressure drop in pulsed and steady flow.

H. W. WONG AND M. H. I. BAIRD

108

mean pressure drop is reduced. This effect of intermittency was also noted by Kobayashi et al. 4 who
pointed out that for a very long off-period (I + 0)
one would obviously expect a very low time-averaged
pressure drop.
It was found that the use of a high-resistance
bed
support (Nylon filter cloth) damped out the flow
pulsations
at lower frequencies,
and therefore the
effects of flow pulsation
were small. The stainless
steel screen was therefore used in the major parts of
the investigation.

BUBBLE

SHAPES

As mentioned
previously,
pulsation
resulted in
smaller and more uniformly distributed gas bubbles
than obtained in continuous
flow. The bubble shape
was seen to fluctuate with time as illustrated in Fig. 6.

This figure shows part of an oscillation cycle at l/l00

set intervals. Initially (top right) the bubble shape is
close to that normally observed. As we move down
the right hand column of Fig. 6, the bed as a whole
accelerates
downwards
and a tongue
of wake
particles is thrown into the void of the bubble.
Eventually (top left) this eruption of wake particles
appears to cut the bubble in two. After this point, the
upward motion of the bed resumes, and the wake
particles fall back (this is not shown very clearly in
Fig. 6.). In the case of smaller bubbles, the bubble
could not be seen to reform after this wake eruption.
There is an interesting
resemblance
between the
wake eruption effect seen here, and a photograph
of
a water bubble injected into a water-fluidised
bed of
lead shot. This suggests that the effect of the lead shot
system may have been partly due to inertia of the
wake particles following the injection of water into
the system.

SIMPLE

PISTON

MODEL

The major simplifying assumptions

in this model
are that the bed oscillates in response to the flow
pulsations
as a coherent whole, and that the bed
support does not contribute to the force acting on the
bed. Further, we assume a sinusoidal
pulsation
of
the pressure drop. The piston model may be used to
derive the natural frequency of the bed, taking into
account the mass of the particles and the compressibility of the air in the space beneath the bed
support. The analysis is similar to that for an airpulsed liquid column, 2 3 and its application
to a
fluidised bed was first suggested by Davidson. 24 For
undamped free oscillation, it can be shown that

Thus the period of oscillation

7=2x

Fig. 6. High-speed cinephotograph of a rising bubble in a

pulsed bed, 100 framesisec. Bed mass = 8 lb; U/U, = 1.8;
particle size =390~ (62.5%) + 470~ (37.5%); Frequency =
6.7 Hz; Intermittency = 0.3.

would be given by:

mV
yPA2

( )

(la)

Davidson24
suggested
that this was a possible
explanation for the spontaneous
oscillations reported
recently by Avery and Tracy.25
A refinement
of this analysis is given hereunder
and includes the effect of the permeability
of the bed,
an effect which is of course absent in the case of
liquid columns. 23 A balance of forces on the bed,
neglecting the effect of the bed support, gives:
A(P - P,,) = m(Z + g)

(2)

FLUIDISATION

of state of the gas beneath

The equation

the bed is:

Pvy = const

(3)

Hence,
PC-

- yPz;
(4)

If N is the total number

space, then

of moles of gas in the gas

would effectively increase with gas velocity, i.e., it

would be a function of time. The analytical solution
of eqn. (10) for this case would be difficult if not
impossible. As an approximation,
however, we will
assume that k is independent
of gas velocity, as it is
up to the minimum fluidisation velocity. Thus it can
readily be shown that
MF A2
kc---

N = (V + AZ)

Substitution

of eqn. (12) in eqn. (11) gives:

Hence
Ai

(V + Az)N

N2

I _ yhMF2A2

ti = Q, - k(P - P,,)

(7)

The piston model in this form does not allow for

fluidisation,
in which case the pressure drop would
be constant and the gas outflow would be independent of (P - P,).
Substitution
of eqns. (6) and (7) into eqn. (4) gives :
= yP(v[Q, - k(P - P,,)] - Ai)/(V

For relatively

small perturbations,
P
V+Az

+ AZ)

we assume

(8)
that

P
N - and v N ti
V

Hence
P = $

([e(Ql - k(P - PO))] - Ai)

(9)

Differentiating
eqn. (9) with respect to time, and
substituting
for Z from eqn. (2) gives a secondorder differential
equation
in the pressure drop
AP(= P - P,) across the bed.

(10)
This equation
is analogous
to that of a linearly
damped mass-spring system with an external forcing
function in Q,. In the absence of a forcing function,
it can be shown that for sub-critical
damping the
natural frequency is
W

4mg2 V

(6)

The accumulation,
I?, is the difference between the
molar inflow, QI and the molar outflow, which for
laminar flow in a packed bed is proportional
to
(P - P,):

(12)

fimg

(5)

i,=--

109

IN A PULSED GAS FLOW

(I$)+ [(1- y$)]

(11)

Thus the natural frequency will be somewhat less

than that given by eqn. (1).
As already pointed out, the pressure drop across a
fluidised bed is independent
of gas flow rate, so k

(13)

(14)

The period is thus:

l-

yhMF2A2
4mg2 V

The natural period calculated above will always be

greater than that from eqn. (la) and particularly
so
in highly damped systems such as coarse particle
beds with a high uMF. For very heavily damped
systems, the square bracketed terms in eqns. (13)
and (14) becomes imaginary
and no secondary
oscillations can occur. Friction between the particles
and the wall is thought to contribute significantly to
damping in previous work.i3*14
Observed natural frequency and period
It can be seen from Fig. 4 that in pulsed operation
at low frequencies
the pressure
drop undergoes
secondary
oscillations
during both the active and
inactive parts of the cycle. These oscillations
are
particularly
distinct at low intermittencies.
The half-period of the secondary oscillations was
measured as the time between the first minimum AP
following shut-off of gas, and the recovery maximum.
For example, in Fig. 4 at 1.61 Hz the natural halfperiod is 0.1 seconds. The periods observed in this
way can be compared with the calculated values from
eqn. (14), and the simpler eqn. (la).
Referring to Fig. 7, it will be seen that the effect of
varying bed mass conforms quite well with eqns. (la)
and (14) at low gas flow rates, but at higher rates the
period is about 20% greater than predicted.
The
effective permeability
of a fluidised bed, in steady
flow conditions,
increases with gas flow rate. Thus
from eqn. (14) one would expect a lower natural
frequency
and longer period at high gas rates.
Figure 8 shows similar results for coarser particles,
for which the difference between eqns. (la) and (14)
is more significant. The periods are greater than those
shown in Fig. 7, probably due to the greater permeability of the coarser particle bed, as predicted by
eqn. (14).

H. W. WONG AND M. H. I. BAIRD

110

Fig. 7.

is available, although it is thought that the effect of

the bed support may be a factor.
The applied frequency and the intermittency
were
found22 to have no significant effect upon the natural
period.
It may be concluded from Figs. 7 to 9, and the
foregoing discussion, that the pressure fluctuations in
response to a flow disturbance
are approximately
consistent with the simple piston model. The major
shortcomings
of the piston model are that it does not
take account of the effect of the bed support, and it
assumes that the fluidised bed moves as a single
entity.
An alternative model has been proposed by Hiby 6
to account for the spontaneous
vertical oscillation
sometimes observed in shallow beds (see Fig. 3).
A balance of forces on a single particle leads to a
differential equation with a cyclic solution. The natural frequency of the particles (and hence the bed) is
given by

Effect of bed mass on period of oscillation.

In the present case of a 4 in bed with a voidage of

approximately
0.4 and bulk density 1.5 g/ml, the
natural period relates to the bed mass in lb as follows
according to the Hiby model:
r z 0.14 m+
Fig. 8.

Effect of bed mass on period for larger particles than

in Fig. 7.

According to theory, the natural period is a function of the gas volume, V, beneath the bed support.
In order to investigate this dependence,
the volume
was enlarged by including an extra pipe section. The
results, given in Fig. 9, show that increasing
V does

3.0

Fig. 9.

Effect of bed mass on period for larger gas space than

in Fig. 8.

increase the period but not to the extent predicted by

eqn. (14). Even at high gas flow rates, the period is
shorter than predicted. No firm explanation
for this

(16)

It will be seen from Figs. 7 to 9 that this equation

substantially
over-predicts
the natural period as
measured in pulsed flow conditions. Moreover it does
not predict that there is any effect of the gas space
volume, contrary to eqn. (14).
On the other hand, the Hiby model does seem to
be more accurate than the piston model in regard to
spontaneous
oscillations. In the case of the 3 lb bed
with steady fluidisation (Fig. 3) the observed period
was 0.27 set, compared with 0.24 set according to
the Hiby modelz6 and only 0.069 set according to
the piston model.
An intriguing
possibility,
not investigated
in this
work, is to operate a fluidised bed under such conditions that the Hiby natural frequency is the same
as the piston natural frequency. It is possible that
in such conditions
the bed would oscillate strongly
in the absence of any external pulsing arrangement.
In concluding
this section, it may be mentioned
that Mitkevich lo reported resonant frequencies of
23.3 to 50 Hz in beds of depth 20 to 10 cm (respective
limits). These frequencies
are much greater than
those predicted
by either of the models already
mentioned,
and it is thought that this is due to the
somewhat
special system used, namely calcining
sodium bicarbonate,
in which each particle emits
carbon dioxide and steam.

FLUIDISATION

Tracer

IN A PULSED

GAS FLOW

111
TABLE 2

studies

As mentioned
at the beginning
of this paper,
previous workers have found that fluidisation quality
is improved by vibration
or pulsation.
Visually, it
has been observed in this work that the bubbles are
smaller and better distributed in pulsed than in steady
flow. Some preliminary
gas tracer studies were also
carried out in order to gain a quantitative
measure of
the effect of flow pulsation.
The technique
used has already been described
and is similar to that of Gilliland et al.27 except that
in their work the tracer flow was suddenly shut off and
in this work the tracer flow was suddenly initiated.
The resulting F curve is shown, for a typical case, in
Fig. 10.
The curve shown has been corrected for the effect
of the well-mixed volume,
V,, above the bed as
follows :

GAS RETENTION TIMES IN CONTINUOUS

PULSED FLUIDISATION

Particle
system

_a_
f
UMF (HZ)

Coarse :

3 lb. 470~
+ 5 lb,
390.u

Medium :
9 lb, 200~

Fine :

10 lb, 100~

Also shown on Fig. 10 are the ideal curves for plug

flow and perfect mixing (with due allowance for the
sampling lag).
It is notable that the shape of the F-curve is not
changed significantly
by pulsation;
the main effect
of pulsation is to shift it to the right. A similar effect
was seen in most of the other cases investigated.22
These are summarised in Table 2, with the retention

Ratio
ZG pulsed
56 cant

6.25
6.25
4.6

,375
.375
.5

1.32
0.974
0.947

1.24
1.025
1.05

0.94
1.05
1.08

3.0
3.0
3.0

6.25
6.67
5.26

.31
.30
.475

1.65
1.65

1.855
2.11
1.776

1.12
1.28

1.07

5.3
5.3
7.4

6.68
4.35
6.67

.33
,43
.33

4.10
4.10
3.92

6.16
4.57
4.0

1.51
1.12
1.04

time of the gas expressed

(17)

Retention time TG
continuouspulsed
(set)

0.8
1.5
1.5

z G=

c = Cobs + ($2)

AND

1.65

as:

SC0 - t,)U - 3 dt
J; (1 - C>dt

(18)

It should be stressed that a single parameter such

as this is not adequate to describe fluidised bed
behaviour,3
but in the present work it does provide
a useful index for the effect of pulsation on the Fcurve.
Referring to Table 2, it will be seen that in the
case of coarse particles the value of rG for pulsed flow
is within &-8 % of the value for continuous flow. The
experimental
error in measuring
rG at these low
values is estimated to be of the same order, so it

I.1 o A MEASURED

1.0 -

RESPONSE
AA.

. A

CORRECTED RESPONSE

bf=

0.9 -

0.8 0.7 c

0.6 GAS RATE

0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 -

0
t,=0.6

TIME
Fig. 10.

,(SEC)

Step tracer response in continuous and pulsed flow.

= 1.47

SCFM

H. W. WONG AND M. H. I. BAIRD

112

would appear that pulsation had no significant effect

on the value of ro for coarse particles. In the medium
and fine particle systems, however, the effect of flow
pulsation on rG is significant. The amount of data
does not permit a detailed analysis, but three possible
reasons can be put forward for the increase of zc by
pulsation. Firstly, it was observed that
distribution
was improved,
leading to smaller bubbles which
would therefore rise more slowly through the bed.
A second possible effect was the retardation
of the
rising bubbles by bed oscillation. It has been observed
that gas hold-up in gas-liquid
bubble columns can
be increased as much as 75% by vertical oscillations. 9 The third factor is the fluctuation
in shape
of the rising bubbles as illustrated
in Fig. 6. The
periodic eruption of wake particles into the bubble
might be expected to enhance gas mixing between
the particulate and bubble phases, thereby reducing
the by-pass effect of the bubbles.
These suggestions are consistent with the absence
of any significant effect for coarse particles, in which
case u/uMF was small enough to allow most of the
gas to pass through the particulate phase rather than
the bubble phase. Consequently,
ro in this case was
essentially
independent
of bubble behaviour.
An
effect might have been found at higher values of
u/uMF but the equipment imposed an upper limit on
the gas flow rate.

NOMENCLATURE
A

cross-sectional

dimensionless

gravitional

height of bed

intermittency,
fraction
gas is supplied

area of bed
tracer concentration

acceleration

of time during

permeability

mass of bed

moles of gas in gas space beneath

pressure

beneath

PO

pressure

above bed

AP

pressure

drop (= P - PO)

Q,
t

gas inflow

ts

sampling

superficial

gas velocity

uMF

minimum

fluidisation

molar volume

volume

of gas space beneath

V,

volume

of well-mixed

bed displacement
model)

which

of bed (eqn. (7))

bed

bed

time
lag

velocity

of gas
bed

space above bed

from

equilibrium

(piston

CONCLUSIONS
Greek letters

The major conclusion of this work is that the piston

model gives a fair approximation
to the behaviour
of a pulsed fluidised bed, even when bubbles are
present. The model allows approximate prediction of
the natural frequency of the bed, so that the pulsing
frequency can be set to match the natural frequency
in a given case. The behaviour of bubbles at the wall
has also been observed;
the bubble shape in the
pulsed bed undergoes fluctuations which are thought
to be due to inertial effects. The tracer experiments
have shown that, in a bubbling
bed, pulsation
increases the retention time of the gas by as much as
51%.
Further work in this area should include a comparison between tracer studies and gas-solid reaction
conversion in a pulsed fluidised bed, with the eventual
aim of obtaining
a design method for such reactors.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

exponent

natural

in equation

TG

retention

frequency

natural

of state (= 1.4 for air)

period of bed
time of gas (eqn. (18))

frequency

of piston-like

bed

Superscripts

time-averaged

value

first differential
..

with respect to time

second differential

with respect to time

REFERENCES
1. ROWE, P. N., Proc. Znt. Symp. on Fluidisation,
1961 p. 11.

2. DAVIDSON,J. F., AND HARRISON, D. Fluidised

Cambridge University Press (1963).
3. KUNII, D., AND LEVENSPIEL,O., Fluidisation

We are grateful for financial assistance from the

National Research Council of Canada (Grant No.
A4600) and the Ontario Department
of University
Affairs.

Eindhoven,

Wiley, New York 1969.

4. ZENZ, F. A., AND OTHMER, D. F., Fluidisation
particle

systems,

Particles,

Engineering,
and Fluid-

Reinhold, New York 1960.

and Heat Transfer

5. ZABRODSKY, S. S. Hydrodynamics
Fluidised Beds, MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass. 1966.

in

FLUIDISATION

IN A PULSED

6. REED, T. M., AND FENSKE, M. R., Ind. Eng. Chem. 1955 47

p. 275.
I. BUKHAROV, M. F., CHLENOV, V. A., AND MIKHAILOV,
N. V. Ind. Chem. Eng. 1969 9 p. 119.
8. YOSHIDA, T,, KOUSAKA, Y., AND YUTANI,
Japan (Enghsh) 1966 4 p. 158.
9. BRETSNAJDER, S., JAZCZAK, M.,
Chem. Eng. 1963 3 p. 496.

AND

A., Chem. Eng.

GAS FLOW

113

17. GARLING, K., Swedish Patent No. 163,430,lOth

July 1958.

18. MOLERUS, P., Proc. Int. Symp. on Fluidisution, Eindhoven,

p. 144 1967.

19. HARBAUM, K. L., AND HOUGHTON, G., J. Appl. Chem.

(London) 1962 12 p. 29.

20. JAMESON, G. J., AND DAVIDSON, J. F., Chem. Eng. Sci.

PASIUK, W.

Ind.

1966 21 p. 29.

21. LEVA, M. Fluidisation, McGraw-Hill,

New York

10. MITKEVICH, E. M., Zhur. Prikl. Khim. 1960 33 p. 1263.

22. WONG, H. W., M. Eng. Thesis, McMaster

11. MORSE, R. D., Ind. Eng. Chem. 1955 47 p. 1170.

23. BAIRD, M. H. I., Proc. Joint A.I.Ch.E./I.

ference, London, 1965 p. 6. 53.

12. VOLPICELLI, G., Ing. Chim. Ital. 1965 1 p. 37.

13. MASSIMILLA, L., VOLPICELLI, G., AND RASO, G.
Eng. Progr. Symp. 1966 Sar. 62(62) p. 63.

Chem.

14. KOBAYASHI, M., RAMASWAMI,D., AND BRAZELTON, W. T.,

Chem. Eng. Progr. Symposium Series (to be pubhshed).

1959.

University

1970.

Chem. E. Con-

24. DAVIDSON, J. F., Rapporteurs account, Tripartite Chemical

Engineering Conference, Montreal, Session 26 1968.
25. AVERY, D. A., AND TRACY, D. H., Proc. Tripartite Chem.
Eng. Conference, Montreal, Session 26 1968.

15. WILLEMS, P., Swiss Patent No. 404, 368, 30th June 1966.

26. HIBY, J. W. Proc. Int. Symp on Fluidisation, Eindhoven,

99 1967.

16. EVESON, G. F., AND RICHARDS, G. T., US Patent 3,288,282

29th November 1966.

27. GILLILAND, E. R., MASON, E. A., AND OLIVER, R. C. Ind

Eng. Chem. 1953 45 p. 1177.

R_&JM&
Les auteurs ont recherchP IinJluence depulsations de
lhir sur un litfluidise de billes de verre, duns un domaine
de frequences allant de 1 ci 10 Hertz. IIs observent que
les 1itsJuidisPs possedent une frequence propre qui est
calculable approximativement Li partir dun modgle
supposant un comportement du type piston. La forme
des bulles ascendantesfluctue dune manikre synchrome
avec les pulsations du d&bit de gaz. Des etudes de
traceur, utilisant lhelium comme gaz-traceur, ont
montre que la pulsation peut augmenter jusqud 51 x,
le temps de retention du gaz.

p.

ZUSAMMENFASSUNG
Der Ein$uJ der pulsierenden Striimung auf ein
luftdurchstriimtes FlieJbett volt Glaskugeln mit einem
Durchmesser von 4 inch (IO cm) wurde in dem Frequenzbereich von l-10 Hz untersucht. Man fund, daj3
die FlieJbetten natiirliche Frequenzen haben, welche
sich durch ein Model1 mit Pfropfen-Striimung niiherungsweise berechnen lassen. Die Form der Luftblasen,
die durch das Bett steigen, schwankt synchron mit dem
angewendeten Pulsieren. Spurgasuntersuchungen mit
Helium wiesen darauf hin, dap das Pulsieren die
Aufenthaltszeit des Gases bis zu 51% erhiihen kann.