Experimental investigation of hydrodynamics of liquid-solid mini-fluidized beds

Expanded fluidization behavior in liquid-solid mini-fluidized beds (MFBs) was experimentally investigated using visual measurements. Wall effects in the liquid-solid MFBs were identified and explained. The measured incipient/minimum fluidization liquid velocity (u(mf)) in the MFBs was 1.67 to 5.25 times higher than that calculated using the Ergun equation when the ratio of solid particle diameter to bed diameter varied from 0.017 to 0.091. The ratio of the Richardson-Zaki (R-Z) exponent obtained by fitting with experimental data to that calcblated using the R-Z correlation varied from 0.92 to 0.55. A wider solid particle size distribution resulted in a smaller R-Z exponent. The influence of the solid particle material on umf and R-Z exponent was negligible. (C) 2015 Chinese Society of Particuology and Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.