Laboratory Manual

For

Fluidization Bed Column

Apparatus

1
 Operating Instructions for Fluidization Bed Column

Apparatus

AIM:

To study the fluidized bed drying.

THEORY:

The process of fluidization with hot air is highly attractive

for the drying of powders and wet granular materials. The

use of fluid bed drying for granular materials is now well

established, and literally thousands of fluid bed dryers are

operating throughout the food and chemical processing

industries in the drying of coarse materials, grains,

fertilizers, chemicals, and minerals, pharmaceuticals and

food products among other solids. Drying is essentially a

process of simultaneous heat and mass transfer. In most

drying operations, water is the liquid evaporated, and air is

the drying medium. Heat, necessary for evaporation, is

2
supplied to the particles of the material and moisture

vapor, evaporated liquid, is removed from the material into

the drying medium. Fluidized drying of granular products

of solids can be either batch wise or continuous. Batch

operation is preferred for small scale production and for

heat sensitive materials. Fluidized bed dryers are widely

used in a number of industry sectors to dry finely divided

50–5000 µm particulate materials. Compared with other

drying techniques, fluidized bed drying offers many

advantages. High heat and mass transfer rates between the

gas and the particles are possible because of good contact

or large contact area between the particles and gas, good

and rapid mixing of solids, nearly uniform moisture

content distribution throughout the bed, closely

controllable temperature in the bed, ease in transport and

handling of particles, and simplicity in construction. On

the other hand, the disadvantages include high pressure

3
drop, attrition of the solids and erosion of the containing

surfaces.

Advantages of fluidized bed drying

 The even flow of fluidized particles permits continuous,

automatically controlled, large- scale operation with easy

handling of feed and product.

 There are no mechanical moving parts, that is, it is low

maintenance.

 By rapid exchange of heat and mass between gas and

particles, overheating of heat sensitive products is

avoided.

 Heat transfer rates between fluidized bed and immersed

objects, such as heating panels, are high.

 Rapid mixing of solids leads to nearly isothermal

conditions throughout the fluidized bed, and thus

4
 reliable control of the drying process can be achieved

easily.

 It can be operated under lower temperatures.

Disadvantages of some fluidized bed dryer

 In conventional fluidized bed, large column heights are

required and formation of channels.

 The principal limitation with the superheated steam

drying is the high operating temperature, large

equipment like boiler for generating steam, electrical

heater for converting saturated steam to super-heated

steam.

 Agitation fluidized bed dryer consumes high electrical

energy for rotation of agitator blade.

 Freeze drying and contact adsorption drying is not

suitable for large-scale production because of high

operation costs.

5
 Schematic Diagram

Theory

The fluidized bed dryer system used is shown in the fig

above. It comprises the Air Blower/Compressor with air

discharge capability, a drying chamber and a vent at the

top of the chamber. The properties of the air flowing

around the drying product are a major factor in

determining the rate of removal of moisture. The capacity of

air to remove moisture is principally dependent on its

initial temperature and humidity, the greater the

temperature and lower the humidity, the greater the

moisture removal capacity of the air. The air from the

6
blower passes through the heater which in conjunction

forms hot air. The changes in air conditions when air is

heated and passed through a bed of moist products,

produces a drying process. As air moves through the grain

bed, it absorbs moisture under adiabatic drying; sensible

heat in the air is converted to latent heat. The absorption of

moisture by air would be the difference between the

absolute humidity’s at each point.

When a gas is passed upwards through the material as

shown in the fig, the gas will at low flow rates merely enters

through the fixed bed of the particles. As the gas velocity

increases, the pressure drop across the particle layer will

increase in proportion to the gas velocity until the pressure

drop reaches the equivalent of the weight of the particles in

the bed divided by the area of the bed. At this point, all

particles are suspended in the upward flowing gas and the

frictional force between particles and gas counter balances

7
the weight of the particles. The layer of particles is now

said to be incipiently fluidized, although the homogenous

particle layer behaves like a liquid, only moderate particle

mixing takes place. When the gas velocity is increased

further above Umf, the gas velocity for incipient

fluidization, any additional fluidization gas will pass

through the particle layer as bubbles. The gas bubbles will

be small at the gas distributor, however they coalesce

rapidly and rise through the particle layer, causing

vigorous mixing of the fluidized particles. At still higher gas

velocities, a point is reached at which the drag forces are

increased to a degree that the particles become entrained

within the gas stream and are carried from the fluid bed.

8
Procedure

1. Connect power supply to machine, mains indicator will

glow

2. Switch on Main on/off, all panel meter will show display.

3. Start compressor and wait till it will get automatically

stopped

4. Switch on heater

5. Set temperature to be attained (say 45 C)

6. Now open rotameter and set flow rate to 5 lpm

7. Now wait till temp is reached.

8. Now take 10 ml of water and pour in Fluidization bed

column

9. Note Temp at inlet & outlet

10. Wait till temp at oulet reached lowest point.

11. Note Tin & Tout

9
Calculations

Energy Required for Drying In drying, the total amount of

heat required is a summation of the heat energy needed to:

1. To preheat the dry matter and moisture;

2. Remove moisture from wet materials;

3. Compensate for the heat loss to the environment.

The energy needed in removing the moisture from the wet

material depends on the drying potential of the heated air

and is expressed as:

m = mass of water poured in Fluidization bed column = 10 ml = 10 gms

Cp = Specific heat of Water = 4.186 joule/gram °C

Tin = Temp at inlet of column

T out = Temp at outlet of Column

E a = 10 x 4.186 x (42-34) = 334.88

E a = 334.88 Joules
10