The Chemical Engineering Journal, 24 (1982) 143 - 150
Hydrodynamic Characteristics of Inverse Fluidization in Liquid-Solid
and Gas-Liquid-Solid Systems
LIANG-SHIH FAN*, KATSUHIKO MUROYAMA
Department of Chemical Engineering, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210
(Received 20 July 1981; in final form 25 September 1981)
Abstract
The flow characteristics of inverse fluidiza-
tion utilizing low density spherical particles
are experimentally investigated for both the
liquid-solid and gas-liquid-solid systems. The
experimental data for the bed expansion in
the liquid-solid system are correlated, both
empirically and semi-empirically. In the gas-
liquid-solid system in which the gas and
liquid flows are countercurrent, two modes of
fluidization are examined. They are fluidiza-
tion with the liquid as a continuous phase and
fluidization with the gas as a continuous
phase; the former characterizes the inverse
gas-liquid-solid fluidized bed, while the latter
characterizes the turbulent con tatting bed. A
flow regime diagram which portrays these
modes of fluidization is presented. Correla-
tions of the bed expansion and gas hold-up
are proposed for the inverse gas-liquid-solid
fluidization.
INTRODUCTION
Fluidization where the liquid is a con-
tinuous phase is commonly conducted with
an upward flow of the liquid in liquid-solid
systems or with an upward cocurrent flow of
the gas and the liquid in gas-liquid-solid sys-
tems. Under these fluidization conditions, a
bed of particles with a density higher than
that of the liquid is fluidized with an upward
flow of the liquid counter to the net gravita-
tional force of the particles. When the density
of the particles is smaller than that of the
liquid and the liquid is the continuous phase,
*Author to whom correspondence should be ad-
dressed.
0300-9467/82/0000-0000/$02.75
143
and SONG-HSING CHERN
(U.S.A.)
however, fluidization can be achieved by a
downward flow of the liquid counter to the
net buoyancy force of the particles. Such a
type of fluidization is termed inverse fluidiza-
tion. Studies of liquid-solid or gas-liquid-
solid fluidization are mainly concerned with
systems in which the particles have higher
density than the liquid. Little information [l] ,
however, is available on inverse fluidization.
In this paper, fundamental characteristics
of the bed hydrodynamics for inverse fluidiza-
tion in the liquid-solid and gas-liquid-solid
systems are presented. In the liquid-solid sys-
tem, particles are fluidized with the down-
ward flow of water. Six different particles
made of polyethylene or polypropylene are
utilized in this study. The bed expansion data
obtained experimentally are compared with
the correlations available in the literature and
those proposed in the present work. In the
gas-liquid-solid system, air is introduced into
the bed countercurrently to the water flow.
The constrained gas-liquid-solid fluidization
phenomenon is briefly described. An exten-
sive investigation is extended to the flow
regime diagram for inverse gas-liquid-solid
fluidization. The bed porosity and gas hold-
up in the inverse gas-liquid-solid fluidized
bed are empirically obtained and correlated.
EXPERIMENTAL
The schematic diagram of the experimental
apparatus is shown in Fig. 1. The vertical
Plexiglas column in the figure has the dimen-
sion of 76.2 mm id with a maximum height of
2.730 m. The column consists of five sections,
namely, the liquid disengagement section,
liquid distributor section, test section, gas
distributor section and liquid collector sec-
tion. The liquid and gas distributors which are
0 Elsevier Sequoia/Printed in The Netherlands

Fig. 1. Experimental apparatus for the study of inverse
fluidization in liquid-solid and gas-liquid-solid sys-
tems. 1. Liquid disengagement section, 2. Liquid dis-
tributor, 3. Test section, 4. Gas distributor, 5. Liquid
collector, 6. Bed support, 7. Wire mesh, 8. Manometers,
9. Liquid reservoir, 10. Liquid pump, 11, 12. Rotam-
eters, 13. Liquid filter, 14. Weir, 15. Pressure gauge,
16. Linked quick closing valve.
located at the top and the bottom of the test
section, respectively, are designed in such a
manner that uniform distributions of liquid
and gas can be maintained in the column.
The detailed design of the liquid and gas
distributors is shown in Figs. 2(A) and 2(B)
respectively.
Water and air were used as the liquid and
gas in the experiment. Calibrated rotameters
were used for the measurements of the gas
and liquid flow rates. Pressure taps are evenly
spaced at 51 mm intervals on the wall of the
test section, The pressure taps were connected
to water manometers for the measurement of
the static pressure gradient along the column.
Measurement of bed expansion in inverse
liquid-solid fluidkation
An adjustable bed support made of coarse
stainless steel mesh with openings of about 3
mm was installed on the top of the test sec-
tion. Water was fed to the column through
the liquid distributor which has fifty-four
holes of 1.59 mm id. It flowed as liquid jets
before reaching the liquid surface. The liquid
level inside the column was controlled by a
weir to a level about 0.5 m above the bed
supporting mesh. This gives rise to an ade-
quate hold-up of the liquid above the mesh
for disengagement of the fine bubbles en-
trained by the liquid jets into the held-up
liquid.
Liquid Inlet
~__
(A) Liquid Distributor
(B) Gas Distributor
Fig. 2. (A). The liquid distributor for the study of in-
verse fluidization in the liquid-solid and gas-liquid-
solid systems. (B). The gas distributor for the study
of inverse fluidization in the gas-liquid-solid system.
Six different solid spheres made of poly-
ethylene or polypropylene with sizes ranging
from 4.76 to 19.1 mm in diameter and densi-
ties varying from 388 to 930 kg me3 were
utilized as fluidized particles. The bed poros-
ity was determined from the direct measure-
ment of the fluidized bed height. The physical
properties of the particles and their corre-
sponding operating conditions are summa-
rized in Table 1.
Measurement of hydrodynamic characteristics
in inverse gas-liquid-solid fluidization
The polyethylene hollow spheres with a
diameter of 10 mm and density of 388 kg
rnd3 were used in the study of inverse gas-
liquid-solid fluidization. Other particles,
given in Table 1, with densities of 822 and
930 kg rnp3, which are close to that of the
 145

TABLE 1 fg + El + E, = 1 (3)
Physical properties of fluidized particles used in this
study In this experiment, the static pressure
gradient (-dP/dz) was measured with ma-
Material d x 103, ps x 10-3, yo x 102, nometers. The bed height, H, is taken as the
m kg rnp3 m s-l distance between the top of the bed, which
is defined by the supporting mesh level under
4.76 0.896 0.86 - 4.28
6.35 0.930 0.64 - 3.70
the low gas flow condition and the upper
Polyethylene 9.53 0.882 1.95 - 4.86 liquid level under the high gas flow condition,
spheres 19.1 0.887 3.99 - 6.08 and the expanded bed level.
10.0* 0.388 4.86 - 6.52
Polypropylene 9.53 0.822 2.39 - 6.08
spheres RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

*hollow spheres
liquid, were used in the study of constrained
gas-liquid-solid fluidization. The detailed
study of constrained gas-liquid-solid fluidi-
zation will be reported in another paper.
In the experiments of gas-liquid-solid
fluidization with high gas flow rates the bed
supporting mesh was removed in order to
prevent the formation of the gas slug under-
neath the mesh. Air is introduced into the
column through the gas distributor plate to
provide an uniform distribution of gas bub-
bles in the bed. The gas distributor has thirty-
seven holes of 1.02 mm id.
Two different modes of operation were
obtained by varying the liquid level inside the
column. They are, operation with the liquid
as a continuous phase and operation with the
gas as a continuous phase. Operation with the
liquid as a continuous phase is achieved with
a weir which controls the liquid level at the top
of the bed. Under this operation the bed of
particles is supported by the liquid phase.
Operation with the gas as a continuous phase
is achieved with a weir which controls the
liquid level at the bottom of the bed. Under
this condition, the bed of irrigated particles is
supported by the gas phase.
For operation with the liquid as a contin-
uous phase, the hold-up of the individual
phases can be evaluated from the well-known
relationships [2, 3, 41 as given in the fol-
lowing
dP
-
z = (%Pg + ElPl + %P,k
fs =-
ws
P&J
Bed expansion in inverse liquid-solid
fluidization
The correlation models summarized by
Garside and Al-Dibouni [ 51 for bed expan-
sion in the upward liquid-solid fluidization
can be classified into three types. In the Type
I model, correlations of the bed expansion
are expressed in a relationship between Ua
and E, which is either theoretical, semi-theo-
retical or empirical in nature. In the Type II
model, correlations of the bed expansion are
developed by modifying the drag coefficient
versus Reynolds number relationship for a
single particle. In the Type III model, the
expanded bed height is directly correlated
with operating variables of the system such
as particle diameter and density, and liquid
velocity. The Type I model represents the
majority of the correlations. It is followed by
the Type II model and the Type III model in
popularity.
In the following, correlations based on the
Type I model and the Type II model are
developed to account for the bed expansion
in inverse liquid-solid fluidization. The cor-
relations cover a wide range of operating
conditions. Comparisons of the model predic-
tion with the experimental data are con-
ducted.
Type I model
Comparisons of the predictions based on
the correlations by Lewis and Bowerman [ 61,
Richardson and Zaki [ 71 and Letan [ 81 are
made with the present data. Among them,
Letan’s correlation [ 81 gives rise to the best
prediction for the entire Re, range con-
sidered, while Richardson and Zaki’s correla-
(2)
tion yields a poor prediction for the range of
Re, > 500. The prediction based on the Lewis
146

and Bowerman is satisfactory for the range of

350 < Re, < 1250 and unsatisfactory for the
range of Re, > 1250.
Based on the Type I model, the following
empirical relations are obtained for the bed
voidage in the present system:
ua =e”
where

for 350 < Re, < 1250 (4a)

n = 8.6Re;0.2 exp Fig. 3. The relationship between f and f in inverse

liquid-solid fluidization.
for Re, > 1250 (4b)
Material d x 103, PS% Key
The coefficient of variation for eqn. (4) is m kg mV3
within 8%.
4.76 896 0
6.35 930 0
Type II model Polyethylene 9.53 882 n
The drag force function for the multipar- 19.1 887 0
title system, f, which is defined as the ratio of 10.0 388 A
the drag force of fluid on particles in a multi- Polypropylene 9.53 822 0
particle system to that in a single particle sys-
tem [9], can be expressed in terms of the
Archimedes number Ar, defined as d3(pl -
p,)plg/pf and Reynolds number Re for the
The coefficient of variation for eqn. (6) is
inverse fluidization system as follows:
within 15%. Note that the range of applica-
f = Ar/13.9Re1.4, (2 < Re < 500) (5a) bility of eqn. (6) is: e = 0.40 to 0.88, Ar =
1.1 x lo5 to 7.65 X 106, d/D = 0.062 to
f = 3Ar/Re2, (Re > 500) (5b) 0.250.
For upward liquid-solid fluidization, Ar in
eqn. (5) is replaced with Ar’ defined as Flow patterns in inverse gas-liquid-solid
d3(p, - pI)plg/pf. Ramamurthy and Subbaraju fluidization
[lo] and Riba and Couderc [ 111 expressed Fluidization with liquid as the continuous
empirically fin terms of @(e)(=[l -1.21(1- phase
E)~@-~). Wen and Fan [12] showed that in The flow patterns which can be distin-
addition to G(E), f is also a function of Ar’. guished by visualization of the operation with
A plot of f versus log E for the present sys- the liquid as a continuous phase encompass
tem is given in Fig. 3. As noted by Wen and four distinct regimes. They are fixed bed
Fan [ 121 for upward liquid-solid fluidiza- (with/without partial fluidization) with dis-
tion, a significant effect of Ar in the plot is persed bubble regime, inverse bubbling fluid-
also observed. The prediction based on Wen ized bed regime, transition regime, and inverse
and Fan’s correlation [ 121 is compared with slugging fluidized bed regime. The schematic
the experimental data. This comparison shows diagram of the flow regimes for a selected exper
the coefficient of variation is within 25%. imental condition are given in Fig. 4. At the low
An empirical correlation for the function liquid and gas flow rates (point A in the
f is developed for inverse liquid-solid fluidiza- figure), the drag force exerted by the liquid
tion. The correlation which is expressed in and the turbulence generated by the bubbles
terms of e, Ar and d/D has the form: does not exceed the net buoyancy force of
the particles. Thus, the bed remains in a
f = 3.21e-4.05Ar-0.07 exp 3.5 % (6) packed bed mode. When the gas flow rate

Bubbling
Fluidized Bed Regime
Fig. 4. Flow regime diagram for a countercurrent
gas-liquid-solid fluidized bed. Polyethylene hollow
spheres, d = 0.01 m; ps = 388 kg me3; -: liquid
as a continuous phase, --- : gas as a continuous
phase.
increases to that close to the incipient fluid-
ization conditions, the lower portion of the
bed begins to fluidize. As the gas flow rate
further increases, the remaining packed por-
tion progressively expands until the entire
bed is fluidized. The bed under such a condi-
tion is defined as incipient fluidization and is
indicated by point B in the figure. Point B
also corresponds to the break point on a curve
in the plot of dynamic pressure gradient
(-dPlh)dy-i, 3defined as the static pressure
gradient corrected for the static liquid head,
versus Vi,. In this plot, the dynamic pressure
gradient increases as Vi, increases until a
break point is reached beyond which the in-
crease in Vi, would decrease the dynamic
pressure gradient. The definition of incipient
fluidization for inverse gas-liquid-solid fluidi-
zation described here which is based on the
dynamic pressure gradient variation, is similar
to that for the liquid-solid fluidized bed.
In the inverse bubbling fluidized bed regime
(between points B and D), the bubble size is
uniform and the bed is expanded downward
uniformly. In this regime the bed would ex-
pand by an increase in either the gas or liquid
flow rate.
As the gas flow rate increases beyond point
D, the transition regime is reached. In this
147
regime, the coalescence of the bubbles occurs.
The frequency of the coalescence and size of
the coalesced bubble increases with the in-
crease of the gas flow rate.
Point F is the inception of the inverse slug-
ging fluidized bed regime. In this regime, the
bed of particles aggregatively moves up with
the slug bubble and then slumps violently.
Note that the word ‘inverse’ prefixed to the
bubbling fluidized bed regime or slugging
fluidized bed is used simply to denote the
“inverse” fluidization system in which the
bubbling or slugging phenomenon is observed.
Fluidization with gas as the continuous phase
The left upper portion of Fig. 4 describes
the flow regimes for the operation with the
gas as a continuous phase. At low liquid and
gas flow rates, the liquid trickles down the
surface of stationary particles and the gas
moves up through the remaining void in the
bed. When either the liquid or gas flow rate
increases, the liquid hold-up in the bed in-
creases. When a point is reached where the
pressure drop across the bed is equal to the
weight of the bed, the bed begins to fluidize.
Such a mode of fluidization characterizes the
operation of the turbulent contacting bed
(TCB).
O’Neill, et al. [13] reported that there are
two fluidization conditions in the TCB opera-
tion, namely, fluidization without incipient
flooding denoted as Type 1 condition and
fluidization due to incipient flooding denoted
as Type 2 condition. The operation of the
Type 1 TCB involves the the use of rather
light particles. The incipient fluidization
occurs without bed flooding. The operation
of the Type 2 TCB involves the use of heavy
particles. The incipient fluidization occurs
with bed flooding.
The TCB in the present experiment was
operated under the Type 2 condition. The
dashed line in the figure corresponds to the
incipient fluidization conditions. This curve
which is obtained experimentally is in good
agreement with that estimated by Lobo, et al.
[ 141, or Sherwood, et al. [15], for the Type
2 TCB condition.
Bed expansion and gas hold-up in inverse gas-
liquid-solid fluidization
Bed expansion
Figure 5 shows the variation of the bed
 148
,
-With Diswrsed _. ,.- _ d Regime
1 Bubble kegime r’“‘o’zeoae
o.ll10
Ugox102 (m/s)
Fig. 5. The variation of bed height with the superficial
gas velocity in the inverse gas-liquid-solid fluidized
bed. H, = 0.32 m, d = 0.01 m, pP = 388 kg m-3.
B: incipient fluidization point. Note: the flow regime
refers to curve 2.
Key Ul() x 102, Curve
m s-l
0 1.37 3 to F, inverse slugging fluidized bed regime
n 2.82 2 beyond point F. In addition, the constrained
0 4.28 1 fluidized bed regime ranges from point C to
height with the gas flow rate. At the liquid
flow rate of 0.0282 m s-l, incipient fluidiza-
tion occurs at a gas flow rate of 0.023 m s-l
as indicated by point B in the figure. As noted
earlier, a slight bed expansion would occur
when the bed is operated close to the incipi-
ent fluidization condition. Evidently, a slight
increase in the height of the bed is observed
between points A and B as shown in the
figure.
As the gas flow rate increases beyond point
B, the bed expands until the bottom distribu-
tor plate is reached, which is represented by
point C. Particles are fluidized in the entire
column under this constrained condition until
point E is reached. Note that, the present
experiments show that, under constrained
fluidization, the condition of ‘semifluidiza-
tion’, which is characterized by a fluidized
bed and a fixed bed in series in the column,
would exist for the particle with a density of
930 kg mm3 and diameter of 6.35 mm at a
moderate gas flow rate. However, under the
same ranges of the liquid flow rate considered,
the fixed bed is not formed for the particle
with a density of as low as 388 kg rnp3 and
diameter of 10 mm at a moderate gas flow
rate, and thus semifluidization is not estab-
lished in the system.
When the gas flow rate is slightly increased
from point E, the bed contracts sharply to
point F. When the gas flow rate further in-
creases beyond point F, the bed increases
‘again but moderately. It is also noted that, for
a given gas flow rate, the bed expands with an
increase of the liquid flow rate under non-
constrained fluidization condition. Extrapola-
tion of the BC curve and the FE curve would
intersect at a point which is defined as point
D. The physical interpretation of point D is
that should the column be extended, the
maximum height of bed expansion would be
that which corresponds to point D. In terms
of the flow regimes defined in Fig. 4, the fol-
lowing regimes occur in order: fixed bed
(with/without partial fluidization) with dis-
persed bubble regime from point A to B, in
verse bubbling fluidized bed regime from
point B to D, transition regime from point D
E. Note that the length of the test section dif-
fers for the three liquid velocities used, which
gives rise to three different maximum heights
of the bed expansion in the figure.
An empirical equation was obtained for the
bed voidage e in the inverse bubbling fluidized
bed regime as given below:
E = cg + e1 = -0.26 + 27&e - 23OOU$ +
+ 9.5u,, (7)
The coefficient of variation for this correla-
tion equation is within 12.4%.
Gas hold-up
The gas hold-up eg is plotted against the
superficial gas velocity U,, as shown in Fig. 6.
It is noted that in the inverse bubbling fluid-
izing bed regime the liquid flow rate has negli-
gible effect on eg. In contrast, in the conven-
tional cocurrent up-flow gas-liquid-solid
fluidized bed using large particles, the gas
hold-up decreases with an increase in the
liquid flow rate [4, 161. Furthermore, in the
inverse slugging fluidized bed regime, the gas
hold-up increases with an increase in the
liquid flow rate.
 149

(1) The experimental data for the bed

expansion in the liquid-solid system cannot
be satisfactorily represented by the available
correlations for the upward liquid-solid fluid-
ized bed system. The data, however, can be
represented by eqn. (4) based on the voidage-
velocity relationship or eqn. (6) based on the
drag force function.
(2) In the gas-liquid-solid system with
countercurrent gas and liquid flows, two dis-
tinct modes of fluidization are attained. They
are fluidization with the liquid as a contin-
uous phase and fluidization with the gas as a
continuous phase. For a given experimental
condition, a flow regime diagram is presented
which portrays four distinct regimes for the
former mode of fluidization, namely, fixed
Fig. 6. The variation of gas hold-up.with the super- bed (with/without partial fluidization) with
ficial gas velocity in the inverse gas-liquid-solid
dispersed bubble regime, inverse bubbling
fluidized bed, H,]H, = 0.15, D, = 0.01 m, pP = 388
kg rne3. Note: the flow regimes refer to curve 1. fluidizing bed regime, transition regime and
inverse slugging fluidized bed regime, and two
Key UlO x lo2 Curve distinct regimes for the latter mode of fluidi-
m s-l zation, namely, trickle bed regime and tur-
bulent contacting bed regime.
0 1.37 1
a 2.82 2
(3) The bed porosity and gas hold-up for
V 3.55 the fluidization in the inverse bubbling fluid-
0 4.28 3 ized bed regime can be empirically correlated
0 5.01 by eqn. (7) and eqn. (8), respectively.
0 5.50
0 6.05

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Empirical equations for the gas hold-up in

This work was sponsored by the National
the inverse bubbling fluidized bed regime and
Science Foundation Grant CPE-7911183.
inverse slugging fluidized bed regime in the
gas-liquid-solid system are given below:

eg = 0.3226 l.35( U,e/ u,e)O.l* NOMENCLATURE

for the inverse bubbling fluidized bed regime
and
eg = 2.43U,oo.‘04~~25
for the inverse slugging fluidized bed regime.
The coefficient of variations for eqns. (8) and
(9) are both within 15%.
CONCLUDING REMARKS
The hydrodynamic characteristics of
inverse fluidization in both the liquid-solid
and gas-liquid-solid systems are experimen-
tally determined in this study. The following
findings are obtained:
(8)
A cross sectional area of the column, m2
Ar = (d3(pl - ps)plg/ p: ), Archimedes
number
(9) d particle diameter, m
column diameter, m
P drag force function for multi-particle
system
gravitational acceleration, m s- 2
height of the‘test column, m
height of initial static bed, m
exponent of Ua versus E relationship
defined in eqn. (4)
dP/dz static pressure gradient, Pa/m
Re = (dUIOpI/pl), Reynolds number
Re, = (dU,p,/pJ, Reynolds number based
on the particle terminal velocity
150

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