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.
Fluid does not impart enough drag to overcome gravity and particles
do not move. Fixed Bed.
At high enough velocities fluid drag plus buoyancy overcomes the
gravity force and the bed expands. Fluidized Bed.
Low Velocity
High Velocity
Ap for Increasing u
0

Until onset of fluidization Ap increases, then becomes constant.
Bed Length for Increasing u
0

L is constant until onset of fluidization and then begins to increase.
How do we calculate the pressure drop across a fixed
bed?
Start with the MEB:
f b
f
h g L
p
= +
A

2
4
2
V
D
L
f h
f
|
.
|

\
|
=
For pipe flow we determined:
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).
|
|
.
|

\
|
|
.
|

\
|
|
.
|

\
|
=
A
2
16
4
2
V
D
L
Re
p
f

f
D
V L

2
32
=
?
?
What are the proper velocity and diameter?
L
b
S = Volume of Bed
c L
b
S = Volume Available for Flow
For a unit length of bed:
S u S u c =
0
Mass
Balance
c
0
u u =
Since this is not true pipe flow must use hydraulic radius.
|
|
.
|

\
|

=
perimeter wetted
flow for area sectional cross
D
h
4
|
|
.
|

\
|
=
area surface wetted
flow for available volume
D
h
4
Multiply by L/L
( )
|
|
.
|

\
|

=
s b
b
h
a S L
S L
D
c
c
1
4
a
s
is the ratio of particle surface area to volume.
The denominator above is then the particle volume
multiplied by a
s
or the particle surface area.

p
s
D R
R
a
6 4
3
3
4
2
= =
t
t
For a sphere:
( )
p h
D D
|
|
.
|

\
|

=
c
c
1 6
4
( )
3
2
2
0
1 72
c
c
= A
p
D
Lu
p
In actuality the above equation does not account for the tortuous path through
the bed and AL is much longer. Experimental data show that a numerical
constant of 150 should replace the 72.
Blake-Kozeny equation. Assumes c < 0.5 and Re
p
< 10

c
f p
p
u D
Re
0
1
1

=
( )
3
2
2
0
1 150
c
c
= A
p
D
Lu
p
One cannot use the Hagen-Poiseuille approximation
when flow is turbulent. After substituting in D
h
and
velocity correction
( )
3
2
0
1 3
c
c
= A
p
D
L u f
p
Experimentally:
000 . 1 >
p
Re
Burke-Plummer Equation
( )
3
2
0
1 75 . 1
c
c
= A
p
D
L u
p
Ergun Equation
( )
75 . 1
150
1
3
2
0
+ =

A
p
p
Re L
D
u
p
c
c

Note: equation can be used with gases using average gas density
between inlet and outlet.
( ) ( )
3
2
0
3
2
2
0
1 75 . 1 1 150
c
c
c
c
+

= A
p
b
p
b
D
L u
D
L u
p
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 u
s
which allows
calculation of an equivalent diameter.
particle particle
p
particle
sphere
s
V S
D
a
a
/
6
= = u
Where D
p
is the diameter of a sphere of the same volume as the
particle
3
2
6
a V
a S
=
=
What is diameter of sphere of volume a
3
?
( ) a D
D a
p
p
3 1
3 3
6
6
t
t
=
=
( )
81 . 0
6
6
6
6
3 1
3 1
=
|
.
|

\
|
= = u
t t
a
a
s
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.
So the final Ergun equation is:
( ) ( )
3
2
0
3
2
2 2
0
1 75 . 1 1 150
c
c
c
c
u
+

u
= A
p s
b
p s
b
D
L u
D
L u
p
At fluidization, the gravity force on the particles in the bed must be
balanced by the drag, buoyancy, and pressure forces.
( )( ) ( ) g L p p S F
f p b k
c = 1
2 1
Substituting the Ergun equation for the pressure drop.
( )
( )
(
(

+
u

u
= 75 . 1
1 150
0
3
2
0
f p s
p s
f
f p
u D
D
u
g

c
c

This equation can be used to calculate the minimum
fluidization velocity u
mf
if the void fraction c
mf
at incipient
fluidization is known.
( )
( )
(
(

+
u

u
= 75 . 1
1 150
3
2
f mf p s
mf
mf p s
mf f
f p
u D D
u
g

c
c

c
mf
depends on the shape of the particles. For spherical
particles c
mf
is usually 0.4 0.45.
What if c
mf
(and maybe u
s
) is unknown?
Wen and Yu found for many systems:
14
1
3
~ u
mf s
c
( )
( )
7 . 33 0408 . 0 7 . 33
2
3
2

(
(

+ =

g D
Re
f p f p
mf
Thus a reasonable estimate of minimum velocity can be
obtained from
Once we obtain the minimum void fraction
( )
p mf
Bed
mf b
S
M
L
c
=
1
,