Minimum fluidization velocities of mixtures of biomass and sands

The present work reports studies on the fluidization of mixtures of biomass and sands. The biomass materials used are rice husk, sawdust and groundnut shell powder, and the sands employed are of two different densities and particle sizes. Experiments are carried out in a 5 cm ID fluidized bed column to determine the minimum fluidization velocities. The percentage of biomass materials in the mixtures studied are 2, 5, 10 and 15% by weight. Equations are developed for predicting the U-mf values of these mixtures. The equations are also tested for their validity against the data in current literature on U-mf values of mixtures of biomass and sands and also mixtures of particles of different sizes only. It is found that the proposed equations quite satisfactorily predict the U-mf values for mixtures of different particle densities and sizes. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.