DISTRIBUTOR EFFECT ON PARTICLE MIXING SEGREGATION IN A GAS-SOLID FLUIDIZED-BED

Particle concentration profiles were investigated in this study while the bed was equipped with either porous or perforated plate distributors. All of the experiments were carried out in an 88 mm I.D. acrylic fluidized bed with flotsam-rich binary mixtures of various sizes or densities. Experimental parameters examined included operation time, superficial gas velocity, mass fraction of jetsam, distributor open area ratio and hole size. Better mixing is obtained with a perforated plate of either low open area ratio or less hole number. As open area ratio is the same, a perforated plate with a larger hole size promotes particle mixing at an intermediate gas velocity. Particle mixing being affected by not only the bubble size but also the available jet was confirmed by the experimental results.