Applied Energy 86 (2009) 1723–1731

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Applied Energy
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/apenergy

Studies on the operation of loop-seal in circulating fluidized bed boilers

Prabir Basu a,*, James Butler b,1
a
Mechanical Engineering Department, Dalhousie University, P.O. Box 1000, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada B3J 2X4
b
Greenfield Research Incorporated, P.O. Box 25018, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada B3M 4H4

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Loop-seal, considered heart of a circulating fluidized bed (CFB), returns solids captured by cyclone to the
Received 31 July 2008 base of the riser while preventing direct flow of gas from high pressure riser to the low-pressure cyclone.
Received in revised form 15 November 2008 This non-mechanical valve is used in thousands of CFB systems yet only a limited information is available
Accepted 17 November 2008
on its working. Present research studies the flow of solids through a loop-seal and the effect of several
Available online 4 January 2009
design and operating parameters on it. This experimental study was conducted in a loop-seal
110 mm  448 mm  400 mm high connected to a riser 152 mm diameter and 5180 mm high. Majority
Keywords:
of the experiments was done with 171 lm sand though several other size and type of solids were studied
Circulating fluidized bed
Loop-seal
for their flowability. It was found that for the solids to flow through the loop-seal a minimum level of
Standpipe aeration, in excess of that required for minimum fluidization was required. The length of the horizontal
Minimum fluidization velocity passage connecting the supply and recycle chambers of the loop-seal had an important effect on the sol-
Spread angle ids flow. For example, the minimum aeration for the onset of solids flow increases with increase in this
length. The pressure drop per unit length across the passage also increased with the passage length. The
air fed into the supply chamber is split such that the superficial air velocity in the supply chamber (or the
standpipe) remained below the minimum fluidization velocity of the particles while the remaining air
conveys solids through the horizontal passage. Present study showed that the solids flowing through
the horizontal passage are neither fully fluidized nor moving packed or suspended solids. It moves as a
segregated flow of solids driven by hydrostatic pressure and fluid drag.
Ó 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction build-up in the standpipe and cyclone preventing recirculation

In a circulating fluidized bed (CFB) boiler, solid particles are cir-
culated around a loop by high velocity gas injected into the bottom
of the riser. The solids exit the riser top and are separated from the
gas in a separation device such as a cyclone or impact separator
(Fig. 1). Gas exits the top of the cyclone while solids fall down into
its standpipe to be recycled to the riser by means of a non-mechan-
ical valve. Loop-seals are one of the most commonly used non-
mechanical valves used in CFB boilers and reactors. Loop-seals
move solids from the low-pressure standpipe to the high pressure
riser bottom and prevent gas from moving from high pressure riser
to the low-pressure standpipe [1]. Being a non-mechanical valve it
carries no moving part and as such requires minimum mainte-
nance. The flow of solids is maintained by proper aeration of the
valve and the presence of appropriate amounts of solids in the
standpipe.
The loop-seal is a critical component of the CFB boiler and its
failure causes the boiler or reactor to cease operation as solids
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 902 494 3227; fax: +1 902 423 6711.
E-mail address: prabir.basu@dal.ca (P. Basu).
1
Present address: Chemical Engineering Dept., University of British Columbia,
Vancouver, Canada.
of the solids around the CFB loop. Although in wide use in thou-
sands of CFB units, only a limited amount of research is published
on the operation of these devices [1–10]. A lack of proper under-
standing of the operation of the loop-seal prevents rational scale
up, design and can lead to problems with the operation of the
loop-seal. Previous works by the first author [2–6] explored the
basic principle of loop-seal operation and the effect parameters
such as pressure and airflow rate had on the solid flow rate. The
work of Kim and others [7–10] further improved our understand-
ing of the loop-seal. Yet there are several unexplored areas of this
important component of the circulating fluidized bed system. The
present work attempts to bridge one such important gap in our
knowledge.
A typical CFB with a loop-seal is shown in Fig. 1. Here, the loop-
seal is divided into a supply chamber (7) and a recycle chamber (9)
the two connected by a horizontal section or ‘‘passage” (8). The
supply chamber forms the bottom of the cyclone’s standpipe (6),
and the recycle chamber is connected to the lower section of the
CFB riser by means of the recycle pipe (10).
The limited research carried on loop-seal operation till date has
mostly been based on laboratory units where the thickness of the
wall separating the supply and recycle chamber is negligible.
An example of one such laboratory unit is shown in Fig. 2. The

0306-2619/$ - see front matter Ó 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.apenergy.2008.11.024