| The objective of this work was to experimentally study the heat transfer characteristics in a gas-liquid-solid fluidized bed equipped with and without static mixers. Experiments were carried out in a 50.8 mm (2") I.D. doublepipe fluidized bed heat exchanger. Water and air were used as the fluidizing media and steam at 3 psig was used as the heating source. The fluidized particles used were 4 mm and 6 mm glass beads and 3 mm lead shots. A variable speed screw feeder was employed for charging the particles. The experimental parameters included liquid velocity, gas flow rate, particle concentration, particle size and particle density. The characteristics of heat transfer and bed pressure drop were compared among different operating schemes, namely, blank tube, blank tube with mixers, stationary-fluidized bed with and without static mixers, and cocurrent-fluidized bed with and without mixers. |
