Fixed and Fluidized Beds

CBE 150A – Transport Spring Semester 2014

 Goals
• Describe forces that act on a bed of particles.
• Describe how pressure drop and bed height (or void
fraction) vary with fluid velocity.
• Apply basic equations to compute pressure drop
across the bed, the bed height and the diameter of the
bed.
• List advantages and disadvantages of fluidized beds.

CBE 150A – Transport Spring Semester 2014

 Flow Through a Bed of Particles

CBE 150A – Transport Spring Semester 2014

 Response to Superficial Flow
Low Velocity
Fluid does not impart enough drag to overcome gravity and particles do
not move. Fixed Bed.

High Velocity
At high enough velocities fluid drag plus buoyancy overcomes the
gravity force and the bed expands. Fluidized Bed.

p for Increasing u0
Until onset of fluidization p increases, then becomes constant.

Bed Length for Increasing u0

L is constant until onset of fluidization and then begins to increase.

CBE 150A – Transport Spring Semester 2014

 Response to Superficial Velocities

CBE 150A – Transport Spring Semester 2014

 Fixed Bed
How do we calculate the pressure drop across a fixed
bed?

Start with the MEB:

p
 Lb g  h f
f
For pipe flow we determined:

 L V
2
hf  4 f  
 D 2

CBE 150A – Transport Spring Semester 2014

 Pressure Drop
For now make the following assumptions:
• Horizontal Bed (or small L)
Gravity not important.
• Particles pack uniformly giving rise to continuous
flow channels
• Bed can be modeled as bundle of small pipes.
• Flow is laminar (f = 16/Re).

CBE 150A – Transport Spring Semester 2014

 Laminar Flow
 p  16  L  V 
 2
 4   
f  Re  D  2 
32  LV ?

D f
2

?
What are the proper velocity and diameter?

CBE 150A – Transport Spring Semester 2014

 Velocity
Lb S = Volume of Bed
e Lb S = Volume Available for Flow

For a unit length of bed:

u0 S  ue S
Mass
Balance

u  u0 e

CBE 150A – Transport Spring Semester 2014

 Diameter

Since this is not true pipe flow must use hydraulic radius.

 cross  sectional area for flow 

Dh  4   
 wetted perimeter 

Multiply by L/L
 volume available for flow 
Dh  4   
 wetted surface area 

CBE 150A – Transport Spring Semester 2014

 Diameter
 e Lb S 
Dh  4   
 1  e Lb S as 
as is the ratio of particle surface area to volume.
The denominator above is then the particle volume
multiplied by as or the particle surface area.
4 R 2 6
For a sphere: as  4 
3 R
3
Dp

4 e 
D h    D p
6  1  e  

CBE 150A – Transport Spring Semester 2014

 Laminar Flow
72 Lu0 1  e 
2
p 
D 2
p e 3

In actuality the above equation does not account for the tortuous path
through the bed and L is much longer. Experimental data show that a
numerical constant of 150 should replace the 72.

150  Lu 0 1  e 
2
p 
Dp2
e 3

Blake-Kozeny equation. Assumes e < 0.5 and Rep < 10.

1 Dpu0  f
Re p 
1 e 
CBE 150A – Transport Spring Semester 2014
 Turbulent Flow
One cannot use the Hagen-Poiseuille approximation
when flow is turbulent. After substituting in Dh and
velocity correction
3 f u02 L 1  e 
p 
Dp e3
Experimentally:

1 . 75  u L 1  e 
2

Re p  1,000 p  0
Dp e3
Burke-Plummer Equation

CBE 150A – Transport Spring Semester 2014

 Intermediate Flow

1 5 0  u 0 L b 1  e  1 . 7 5  u L b 1  e 
2 2
p   0
Dp2
e 3
Dp e 3

Ergun Equation

p p e
D 3
150
  1.75
 u0 L 1  e  Re p
2

Note: equation can be used with gases using average gas density
between inlet and outlet.

CBE 150A – Transport Spring Semester 2014

 Fixed Bed “Friction Factor”

CBE 150A – Transport Spring Semester 2014

 Irregular Shapes
To increase surface area and liquid solid contact, many
particles are often of irregular shape. In that case the
particle is treated as a sphere by introducing a factor called
sphericity Fs which allows calculation of an equivalent
diameter.
asphere 6 Dp
Fs  
a particle S particle / V particle

Where Dp is the diameter of a sphere of the same volume

as the particle

CBE 150A – Transport Spring Semester 2014

 Example: Cube
S  6a 2
V  a3
What is diameter of sphere of volume a3?

a  3
D 3p
6
D p  6   a
13

6
Fs 
6   13
a  
 
13

 0.81
6 6
a

CBE 150A – Transport Spring Semester 2014

 Sphericity

Note entries for cubes and cylinders. For convenience, some just
calculate a nominal (average) diameter and assign a sphericity of unity.

For greatest contact area want lower sphericity.

CBE 150A – Transport Spring Semester 2014

 Adsorbent Mesh Sizes

6 X 8 Mesh dp = (0.132 + 0.0937) / 2 = 0.113 in (0.0094 ft)

CBE 150A – Transport Spring Semester 2014

 Irregular Shapes

So the final Ergun equation is:

150 u0 Lb 1  e  1.75 u L 1  e 
2 2
p   0 b
F s Dp
2 2
e 3
F s Dp e 3

CBE 150A – Transport Spring Semester 2014

 Fluidization (Refinery Application)

CBE 150A – Transport Spring Semester 2014

 Fluidization (Drug Application)

CBE 150A – Transport Spring Semester 2014

 Fluidization
At fluidization, the gravity force on the particles in the bed
must be balanced (Fk = 0) by the drag, buoyancy, and
pressure forces.


Fk  S  p1  p2   Lb 1  e   p   f g  0 
Substituting the Ergun equation for the pressure drop.

f u 1501  e 
2

 p   f g  0
3 
 1.75
F s D pe  F s D p u0  f 

CBE 150A – Transport Spring Semester 2014

 Minimum Fluidization Velocity

This equation can be used to calculate the minimum

fluidization velocity umf if the void fraction emf at incipient
fluidization is known.

 f umf
2
1501  e mf  
 p   f g    1.75
F s D pe mf
3
 F s D p umf  f 

CBE 150A – Transport Spring Semester 2014

 Void Fraction at Min. Fluidization
emf depends on the shape of the particles. For spherical
particles emf is usually 0.4 – 0.45.

CBE 150A – Transport Spring Semester 2014

 Minimum Fluidization
What if emf (and maybe Fs) is unknown?

Wen and Yu found for many systems:

1
Fe 3
s mf 
14

CBE 150A – Transport Spring Semester 2014

 Bed Length at Minimum Fluidization

Once we obtain the minimum void fraction

M Ping pong balls

LBed ,mf 
STube 1  e Bed ,mf  Ping pong ball

LBed

STube

CBE 150A – Transport Spring Semester 2014

 Example
A packed bed is composed of cubes 0.02 m on a side. The bulk density
of the packed bed, with air, is 980 kg/m3. The density of the solid cubes is
1500 kg/m3.

• Calculate the void fraction (e) of the bed.

• Calculate the effective diameter (Dp) where Dp is the diameter of a sphere
having the equivalent volume.
• Determine the sphericity of the cubes.
• Estimate the water flow rate (m3/sec) required for minimum fluidization of the
solid using water at 38 C and a tower diameter of 1.0 m.

CBE 150A – Transport Spring Semester 2014

 Void Fraction

We know : Vbed  V fluid  Vsolids and Wbed  W fluid  Wsolids

 bedVbed   fluidV fluid   solidsVsolids

 solidsVsolids   fluidV fluid

 bedVbed
Vbed 
 solids
  bedVbed   solidsVsolids and e 
Vbed

kg
980
 bed m3
e  1  1  0.35
 solids kg
1500 3
m

CBE 150A – Transport Spring Semester 2014

 Effective diameter


a3  D 3p
6

0.023   D 3p  D p  0.025m
6

Sphericity

6
Fs 
6  1 3 a    1 3  0.81
 
6 6
a

CBE 150A – Transport Spring Semester 2014

 Mimimum Fluidizati on Velocity

 f umf
2
1501  e mf  
 p   f g    1.75
F s D pe mf
3
 F s D p umf  f 

 kg kg  m kg
1500  994   9.80 2  4959 2 2 LHS
 m3 m3  s m s

1
F se mf
3
  e mf  0.445
14

kg 2
1.75   f u 2 1.75  994  umf
5 kg
3
mf
 m  9. 748  10  umf
2
RHS Term No. 1
F s D pe mf
3
0.81  0.025m  0.445 3
m 4

CBE 150A – Transport Spring Semester 2014

  kg 
150  1  0.445  0.693 cp    0.001   umf
150  1  e mf   umf  m s 
 RHS Term No. 2
F s Dp e
2 2 3
mf 0.81  0.025 m   0.445
2 2 3

kg
 1597  umf
m3 s

kg 2 kg kg
0  9.748 105  u  1597  u  4959
m4
mf
m3 s
mf
m2 s 2 Final Equation

m  ft 
umf  0.071  0.233 
s  s

 (1.0) 2 m 2 m
Volumetric flow  * 0.071  0.0558 m 3 /s (884.5 GPM)
4 s

CBE 150A – Transport Spring Semester 2014