Fluidized Bed

Reactor Design

S. Barman
CHED
Fluidized Bed Reactor
• It consists of a vertical cylindrical vessel containing fine solid particles.
The fluid stream is introduced through the bottom at a rate such that
a catalyst particles are suspended in the fluid stream without being
carried out.
• With this reactor it is possible to regenerate the catalyst continuously
without shutting down the reactor. This reactors are particularly
suitable when the heat effects are very large and the frequent catalyst
regeneration is required.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION ABOUT SUSPENDED SOLIDS REACTORS
Variation of fluidized bed pressure drop with gas velocity.
At low air velocities through the bed the particles remain stationary as the aerodynamic drag on the
particles is low and air only percolates through the inter-particle voids.

With increasing velocity, the particles start moving apart and vibrate owing to increase in drag. This leads
to bed expansion and an increase in pressure drop. Pressure drop across a fixed bed is practically
proportional to gas velocity.

Increasing the velocity above a critical value, which is generally known as the minimum fluidisation
velocity, results in the particles being held in suspension in the gas flow and the weight of the entire bed of
particles is balanced by the upward drag.

 As the air velocity increases further, no increase in pressure drop is observed as the bed expands
continuously, allowing more air to pass through. The pressure drop remains constant although the fluid
velocity increases.

Minimum fluidization velocity has the same physical meaning as the free fall velocity of the particle—that
is the velocity at which all particles in the bed are floating.

Increase of the bed height, i.e., the increase in bed volume, is closely related to the fluidized bed porosity
and the volume fraction occupied by bubbles
Kunni and Levenspiel model for FBR
Gas Flows up as bubbles
Mass transport in and out of the bubbles. Catalytic reactions occurs in
solid particle
Mass transport of products into the bubbles
Bubbles leave the reactor
Certain factors to be considered

 Mass Transfer rate

 Bubble residence time
 Rate of reaction
Hydrodynamic Flow Model
• Davidson found that the rise velocity of the bubble Ubr, depends only
on the bubble size, and that the gas behavior in the vicinity of the
bubble depends only on the relative velocity of rising bubble and of
gas rising in the emulsion ue.
• Now, for the fine particle bed gas circulates within the bubble plus a
thin cloud surrounding the bubble. Thus the bubble gas forms a
vortex ring and stays segregated from the rest of the gas in the bed.
 The K-L Model for BFB
Assumptions:
 The bubbles are all spherical, all of the same size d,, and all follow the Davidson model. Thus the
bed contains bubbles surrounded by thin clouds rising through an emulsion. We ignore the upflow
of gas through the cloud because the cloud volume is small compared to that of the bubble. This is
the regime where Ub>>Ue

 The emulsion stays at minimum fluidization conditions, thus the relative G/S velocity stays
constant in the emulsion.

 Each bubble drags up a wake of solids behind it. This generates a circulation of solids in the bed,
upflow behind the bubbles, and downflow everywhere else in the bed. If this downflow of solids is
rapid enough then gas upflow in the emulsion is impeded, can actually stop, and even reverse
itself.
 Downflow of gas has been observed and recorded.We ignore any upflow or downflow of gas in
the emulsion.
• Let
• u0 = superficial gas velocity in the bed, m3 gas/m2 bed - s
• d = diameter, m
• E = fraction of voids in the bed
• subscripts b, c, e, w refer to bubble, cloud, emulsion, and wake, respectively.
• subscripts m, mf, and f refer to packed bed, minimum fluidization, and bubbling
• fluidized bed conditions, respectively.
Between Cloud wake and emulsion