Powder Technology 103 Ž1999.

169–174

Hydrodynamic characteristics of a rotating jet annular spouted bed

a,)
S. Devahastin , A.S. Mujumdar a , G.S.V. Raghavan b

a
Department of Chemical Engineering, McGill UniÕersity, 3610 UniÕersity Street, Montreal, Quebec, Canada H3A 2B2
b
Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering, Macdonald Campus of McGill UniÕersity, Ste. Anne de BelleÕue, Quebec, Canada H9X 3V9
Received 2 June 1998; received in revised form 10 November 1998

Abstract

A novel Rotating Jet Annular Spouted Bed ŽRJASB. dryer was developed for drying of particulates in the falling rate period. This
gas-particle contactor consists of one rotating spouting air jet in the annular region of a cylindrical vessel. Effects of the spouting jet
rotational speed, bed height, and nozzle diameter as well as particle size, shape and density on the minimum spouting velocity as well as
peak and steady spouting pressure drops were determined experimentally and correlated empirically. q 1999 Elsevier Science S.A. All
rights reserved.

Keywords: Fictitious column diameter; Intermittent spouting; Spouting regimes

1. Introduction In this paper, the flow characteristics of the RJASB are

Since the conventional spouted bed ŽCSB. suffers from
several shortcomings w1x, many modified spouted bed de-
signs have been proposed and studied w2x. Because the
rates of internal heatrmass transfer determine the overall
drying rate in the falling rate period, drying time will
increase only slightly if external convective heatrmass
transfer is not supplied at high intensity continuously.
Therefore, Mujumdar w3x proposed supplying spouting air
andror heating the air only intermittently for particulate
materials drying in this period. This saves air consumption
as well as thermal energy, as demonstrated by the study of
Jumah et al. w4x on the Rotating Jet Spouted Bed ŽRJSB..
The Rotating Jet Annular Spouted Bed ŽRJASB. exam-
ined in this work consists of a single rotating jet in the
annular region which provides an onroff operation over
the entire area of the bed annular region. A particular
portion of the bed is thus spouted only periodically. In one
complete rotation, the entire bed is spouted once. Com-
pared with the RJSB, RJASB requires less air mass flowrate
for the onset of spouting at a fixed value of the spouting
jet rotational speed Žsince the higher value of jet velocity is
achieved at the same air mass flowrate., thus allowing a
deeper bed of the material to be processed.
)
Corresponding author. Tel.: q1-514-398-4273; Fax: q1-514-398-
6678; E-mail: sakamon@chemeng.lan.mcgill.ca
presented for different solid particulates. Empirical correla-
tions are presented for the prediction of the key hydrody-
namic parameters for this gas–solid contacting system.
2. Experimental setup, materials and procedures
2.1. Experimental setup
A schematic diagram of the experimental setup is shown
in Fig. 1. The spouted bed consists of a cast acrylic vessel
45 cm in diameter and 60 cm in height. A galvanized steel
cylinder, 20 cm in diameter and 55 cm in height with the
top 5 cm perforated Žto allow measurement of the down-
stream pressure., is mounted centrally in the vessel in
order to prevent dead space in the central region of the
bed. Under the bed, supporting screen is placed an inlet air
distributor plate with an orifice, located 18 cm from the
center of the vessel, through which the spouting air is
supplied to the bed. The plate rotates slowly, resulting in a
rotating spout in the annular bed. The shaded area in Fig. 1
represents the locally spouted bed zone at any instant.
Please refer to Devahastin w5x for a detailed description
of the overall experimental setup and measurement
methodology employed.
2.2. Materials
Soft Spring wheat, corn and polystyrene pellets were
used as the test materials in this study. According to

0032-5910r99r$ - see front matter q 1999 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 0 3 2 - 5 9 1 0 Ž 9 8 . 0 0 2 3 1 - 9
170 S. DeÕahastin et al.r Powder Technology 103 (1999) 169–174

Table 2
Physical properties of bed particles used in the experiments
Material rs rb Ar Ž – . Ut a ´ b Ž–.
Žkg my3 . Žkg my3 . Žm sy1 .
Polystyrene 1026.1 584.7 7.33=10 5 6.24 0.430
Wheat Žrewetted. 1182.0 719.1 6.90=10 5 5.34 0.392
Wheat Ždried. 1233.6 779.3 8.41=10 5 5.41 0.368
Corn 1227.5 764.6 8.52=10 6 8.53 0.377
a
Calculated values w8x.
b
´ s1yŽ r b r rs . w7x.

A plot of the bed pressure drop versus superficial air

Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of the overall experimental apparatus. 1,
screen; 2, distributor cover plate; 3, air distributor; 4, ball bearing; 5,
V-belt; 6, motorqgear box; 7, motor controller; 8, pullery; 9, vessel; 10,
central cylinder; 11, cover plate; 12, Žshaded area. locally spouted bed
zone at any instant.
Geldart’s classification w6x all particles used in this work
belong to group D Žspoutable, large and dense particles..
Dimensions and physical properties Žaverage values. of the
particles tested are given in Tables 1 and 2. Two hundred
particles were measured for each type of material.
2.3. Procedure
The bed of test particles was prepared in a standardized
manner before the start of each experiment. This procedure
involved loading an estimated quantity of the selected
material into the vessel, spouting for 5 min at a distributor
rotational speed of 5 rpm and then increasing the rotational
speed until the new flow regime was established. The
airflow was then shut off. For the purpose of the hydrody-
namic study only one inlet air temperature, 408C, was used
throughout.
velocity Žbased on the equivalent cylindrical column diam-
eter, Dce , which is calculated from the empty area of the
column. was obtained by gradually increasing the air
flowrate until a spout was visibly formed. After steady
spouting, the air flowrate was gradually reduced until the
spout just collapsed. The air flowrate at this point was
noted as the minimum spouting flowrate, Q ms . The flowrate
was then further reduced in steps to zero. The bed pressure
drop was calculated according to the method of Mathur
and Epstein w9x as follows:
D P bed s (Ž D P 2 2
tot y D Pemp . Ž 1.
The minimum spouting velocities based on the equiva-
lent cylindrical column and nozzle diameters were calcu-
lated from the total air flowrate, Q ms , using the following
expressions:
4Q ms
Umsce s Ž 2.
p Dce2
4Qms
Umsn s Ž 3.
p Dn2
where Dce and Dn are the equivalent cylindrical column
and nozzle diameters, respectively.
The ranges of experimental conditions employed were:
N s 0–10 rpm; H s 10–20 cm; Dn s 2–3 cm; air superfi-
cial velocitys 0–0.64 m sy1 . The dependent variables
measured were pressure drop versus superficial velocity
characteristics; minimum spouting velocity ŽUms .; peak
pressure drop Ž D PM . and steady spouting pressure drop
Ž D PS .. To investigate the reproducibility of the results,

Table 1
Dimensions of particles used in the experiments
a Ž b
Material L Žmm. B Žmm. Z Žmm. Dpe mm. Dpgm Žmm. Dpc Žmm. f d Ž–.
Polystyrene 3.331 3.004 2.296 3.527 2.842 3.009 0.853
Wheat Žrewetted. 5.863 3.056 2.639 4.486 3.616 2.763 0.616
Wheat Ždried. 5.295 3.158 2.732 4.435 3.575 2.994 0.675
Corn 10.567 7.985 4.770 9.160 7.383 6.400 0.698
a
Equivalent spherical diameter.
b
Geometric particle diameters Ž L = B = Z .1r 3 w7x.
c
Effective particle diameters Dpe = f w7x.
d
Sphericitys Dpgm rL w7x.
 S. DeÕahastin et al.r Powder Technology 103 (1999) 169–174 171

replicates were made of randomly selected experiments.
From these tests, the reproducibility values for Ums , D PS ,
D P M were within "6.0%, 8.2% and 12.8%, respectively.
The relatively high nonreproducibility in D P M is related
to the fact that the peak pressure drop is bed history-depen-
dent w9x.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Spouting features
Fig. 2a,b shows typical plots of D P bed versus Un for
rewetted wheat particles for N s 0 and 5 rpm, respectively.
The plots also show the reverse process, i.e., the collapse
of spout on decreasing the gas flowrate. Both superficial
and jet velocities are indicated, since the latter governs the
spouting phenomenon. These data reveal that the spouting
features of the RJASB are similar to those observed in a
conventional spouted bed. However, rotation of the spout-
ing jet has great influence on the onset of spouting; it
lowers the peak pressure drop values by about 30% as
compared to stationary spouting. This can be ascribed to
the pulsating action within the bed, which loosens the
packed structure and hence facilitates spout development.
Observations from these two figures show that, as the
rotational speed of the spout is increased, the air flowrate
required to maintain the minimum spouting condition in-
creases since the spout has a higher angular velocity
component at a higher rotational speed, and hence deviates
more from the vertical as rotational speed increases. Since
only the vertical velocity component sustains the spout by
offsetting the gravitational effect a higher air flowrate is
needed at higher rotational speeds.
3.2. Empirical correlations
Using the Buckingham theorem w10x, multiple nonlinear
regression analysis for evaluation of the correlation coeffi-
cients based on the Marquardt–Lavenberg method was
performed using the SigmaPlot 1.02’s Curve Fitter. The
following empirical correlations for the dimensionless min-
imum spouting velocity, peak and steady spouting pressure
drops were obtained:
2.5540 y1.5930
H Dn
Re msno s 0.2448
ž / ž /
Dce Dce
Ar 0.5502 ;

R 2 s 0.986 Ž 4.
0.8196 y0.8316
H Dn
Re msn s 2.0950
ž / ž /
Dce Dce
0.1421
Vu
=Ar
ž /
0.5267
Ut
; R 2s0.988 Ž 5.

0.6139 0.2804
D PM H Dn
r b gH
s 2.3140
ž / ž /
Dce Dce
Ar 0.0450 ;

R 2 s 0.938 Ž 6.
0.7199 0.2827
D PS H Dn
r b gH
s 0.7513
ž / ž /
Dce Dce
Ar 0.1075 ;

Fig. 2. Ža. Spouting characteristics for rewetted wheat particles, H s15
cm, Dn s 3 cm, N s 0 rpm. ŽA. peak pressure drop; ŽB. onset of
spouting; ŽC. minimum spouting condition; ŽD. spout collapse. Žb. Spout-
ing characteristics for rewetted wheat particles, H s15 cm, Dn s 3 cm,
N s 5 rpm. ŽA. peak pressure drop; ŽB. onset of spouting; ŽC. minimum
spouting condition; ŽD. spout collapse.
R 2 s 0.978 Ž 7.
where
Vu s 2p RNr60 Ž 8.
Forty-five data points were used for each measured vari-
able in order to generate these correlations which are valid
over the following ranges: HrDce s 0.250–0.500; DnrDce
s 0.050–0.075; Ar s 7.33 = 10 5 –8.52 = 10 6 ; VurUt s
0.003–0.033. These correlations should be applicable also
for RJASB devices using multiple spouts, provided the
spouts do not interact in the bed.
172 S. DeÕahastin et al.r Powder Technology 103 (1999) 169–174
Fig. 3. Effect of dimensionless bed height on Re ms , Dn r Dce s 0.075,
N s 5 rpm.
Fig. 3 presents an example of the variation of Re ms with
dimensionless bed height for different particles. For all
particles, Ums and hence Re ms increase almost linearly as
the static bed height is increased. The deeper the bed,
higher the airflow Ži.e., Ums . needed to sustain spouting.
Similar observations are also reported in the literature for
spouted beds of other designs w11,12x.
The effect of the dimensionless distributor rotational
speed, VurUt , on Re ms is presented in Fig. 4. An increase
in rotational speed introduces resisting forces that tend to
deviate the air jet from the vertical direction, thus requiring
higher air flowrate to maintain stable spouting.
Additional information on the minimum spouting air
flow requirement of RJASB is obtained by examining the
effect of particle properties viz. diameter, shape, and den-
sity. These properties, along with the fluid properties
Ždensity, viscosity., are often combined into a single pa-
rameter, namely, the Archimedes number, Ar Žwhich rep-
resents the ratio of the gravity force to viscous force.. The
effect of this parameter on Re ms is illustrated in Fig. 5 for
different values of the dimensionless bed height. The main
trend is that Re ms increases with Ar. A possible explana-
tion is that a material with larger Ar, in this case corn,
offers more resistance to flow than does a material with
Fig. 4. Effect of dimensionless circumferential velocity on Re ms , Dn r Dce
s 0.075, Hr Dce s 0.375.
Fig. 5. Effect of Archimedes number on Re ms , Dn r Dce s 0.075, N s 5
rpm.
lower Ar. Larger and denser particles respond more slowly
to the change in fluid flowrate, while smaller and lighter
particles follow more closely the changes in fluid motion.
Therefore, gravity is more significant than viscous forces
for the larger particles under spouting conditions.
To investigate the effect of nozzle size on the value of
minimum spouting velocity, several experiments were per-
formed using two different nozzle diameters for different
solid materials and air distributor rotational speeds. The
results so obtained are shown in Fig. 6a as Re msce versus
dimensionless circumferential velocity with the dimension-
less nozzle diameter as a parameter. As observed from this
figure, the value of Re msce increases as the dimensionless
nozzle diameter increases. However, as shown in Fig. 6b,
the plot of Re msn versus dimensionless circumferential
velocity shows an increase in the value of Re msn as the
dimensionless nozzle diameter decreases. This is due to the
fact that as the nozzle diameter decreases, the length scale
for the nozzle velocity calculation also decreases. This
results in higher values of the nozzle Žor jet. velocity and
hence of Re msn . It should be noted that the effect is more
pronounced for materials with higher Ar, i.e., corn.
Correlations of the convective heatrmass transfer coef-
ficients require calculation of a particle Reynolds number,
which in turn requires definition of a characteristics length
scale to calculate the superficial velocity. In conventional
spouted beds, the column diameter is normally used to
calculate the superficial velocity w9,13x. In RJASB, since
the bed is only partially spouted at any instant, this defini-
tion does not hold.
From visual inspection, the active spouted zone in
RJASB Žshaded area in Fig. 1. is observed to be in a
diameter range such that the Mathur–Gishler correlation
w14x predicts the value of the minimum spouting velocity
within 20%. This observation is used to define a fictitious
column diameter to calculate the superficial velocity. Fur-
ther, the equation is modified to base the minimum spout-
 S. DeÕahastin et al.r Powder Technology 103 (1999) 169–174 173

4. Conclusions
A novel Rotating Jet Annular Spouted Bed ŽRJASB.
was developed for drying Geldart’s Class D particles in the
falling rate period. Empirical correlations are given to
predict the values of the key hydrodynamic parameters for
the purpose of design and scale-up.

5. List of symbols
B breadth Žm.
Dce equivalent cylindrical column diameter Žm.
Dcf fictitious column diameter Žm.
Dn nozzle diameter Žm.
Dp effective particle diameter Žm.
Dpe equivalent spherical diameter Žm.
Dpgm geometric particle diameter Žm.
g gravitational constant Žm sy2 .
H static bed height Žm.
L length Žm.
N rotational speed of the spout Žrpm.
D P bed bed pressure drop ŽkPa.
D Pemp empty vessel pressure drop ŽkPa.
D PM peak pressure drop ŽkPa.
D PS steady spouting pressure drop ŽkPa.
D Ptot total pressure drop ŽkPa.
Q ms total gas flowrate Žm3 sy1 .
R radial distance from center of the bed Žm.
R2 coefficient of determination Ž – .
Uce column superficial velocity Žm sy1 .
Umsce superficial minimum spouting velocity Žm sy1 .
Umsn nozzle minimum spouting velocity Žm sy1 .
Fig. 6. Ža. Effect of spouting nozzle diameter on Re ms ce , Hr Dce s 0.375.
ŽCircles: experiments with dried wheat, Ar s8.41=10 5 ; Squares: experi-
Ut particle terminal velocity Žm sy1 .
ments with corn, Ar s8.52=10 6 .. Žb. Effect of spouting nozzle diameter Vu circumferential velocity of the air nozzle Žm sy1 .
on Re msn , Hr Dce s 0.375. ŽCircles: experiments with dried wheat, Ar s Z thickness Žm.
8.41=10 5 ; Squares: experiments with corn, Ar s8.52=10 6 ..
Greek letters
´ voidage Ž – .
mg fluid viscosity Žkg my1 sy1 .
ing velocity on the nozzle diameter rather than the column rb bulk density Žkg my3 .
diameter. rg fluid density Žkg my3 .
Multiple nonlinear regression analysis of the experimen- rs particle density Žkg my3 .
tal results of Mathur and Gishler w14x leads to the follow- f sphericity Ž – .
ing expression: Subscripts and superscripts
Dp
1.045
Dn
y0 .191
2 gH Ž rs y rg .
0.500 c column
Umsn s 74.77
ž / ž / ž
Dc Dc rg / ce
n
equivalent cylindrical column
nozzle
Ž 9. ms minimum spouting condition
msce equivalent column minimum spouting condition
Rearranging for Dc and denoting it as Dcf yields: msn nozzle minimum spouting condition
0.585 msno stationary
Dp1.223 2 gH Ž rs y rg .
Dcf s 156.36
Dn0.223Umsn
1.170 ž rg / Ž 10 . M
S
peak
steady
This correlation should be employed to replace the Dimensionless groups
vessel diameter in calculations of convective transfer coef- Ar Archimedes number, w Dp3 rg Ž rs y rg . g xrmg2
ficients in the RJASB. Re Reynolds number, Dp Urgrmg
174 S. DeÕahastin et al.r Powder Technology 103 (1999) 169–174
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