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Fixed AND Fluidized BED

Chemical laboratory (University of Benin)

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UNIVERSITY OF BENIN
DEPARTMENT OF
CHEMICALENGINEERING

A CHEMICAL ENGINEERING
LABORATORY REPORT ON
FIXED AND FLUIDIZED BED.

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UNIVERSITY OF BENIN
DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING
EXPERIMENT TITLE: FIXED AND FLUIDIZED BED
AIM OF EXPERIMENT: TO INVESTIGATE THE CHARACTERISTICS
ASSOCIATED WITH air FLOWINGUPWARDS
THROUGH A BED OF GRANULAR MATERIAL
OBJECTIVES: (A) TO DETERMINE THE HEAD LOSS
(B) TO VERIFY THE EQUATION
(C) TO OBSERVE THE ONSET OF FLUIDIZATION AND
DIFFERENTIATE BETWEEN THE CHARACTERISTICS OF A
FIXED AND FLUIDIZED BED.
(D) TO COMPARE THE PREDICTED ONSET OF FLUIDIZATION
WITH THE MEASURED HEAD LOSS.
TH
DATE: 20 OF MAY 2021
NAME: NWAFOR CHISOM
MATRICULATION NO: ENG1703896
SERIAL NO: 114
GROUP: B1
EXPERIMENT CODE: 03
LEVEL: 300
INSTRUCTOR: MR MOSES OGHENOVO.

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LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES

Figures Names Page no.
1 Equipment set up
2 graph

Tables Names Page no

1 Table for illustration
2 Table showing results from experiment

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
 Contents………………………………………………………...Page no
 Summary……………………………………………………..………
 Introduction………………………………………………….…………
 Theory………………………………………………………...………
 Description of Apparatus…………………………………..………..
 Procedures………………………………………………………...…….
 Results……………………………………………………………….
 Discussion………………………………………..………………….…..
 Conclusion……………………………………………………………....
 Recommendation………………………………………………….….…
 Reference……………………………………………………..…………

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SUMMARY
The experiment was carried out to observe characteristics of air flowing
vertically upwards through a bed of granular material. To carry out this experiment
we had our fixed and fluidized bed experimental set up which consist of the water
and air circuit, but the air circuit was the one used to carry out this experiment.
The equipment was turned on and the air compressor pumps air at the air test
column through a flow valve connected to a flow meter, the valve was adjusted to
cause an increment of 1L/min at each flow rate the pressure drop determined by
taking readings from the differential water manometer and also the bed length was
noted , this was repeated until we got to 7L/min when the bed start to increase in
length hence the bed state changed to fluidized.
Since we have already gotten or experimental pressure drop the theoretical
values were gotten from using the relevant formulae for fixed and the fluidized
bed, the experimental values and the theoretical values were not the same due to
human errors but it was close which goes ahead to prove that the Erguns’ equation
is valid.

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INTRODUCTION
A fluidized bed is a physical phenomenon occurring when a quantity of
a solid particulate substance (usually present in a holding vessel) is placed under
appropriate conditions to cause a solid/fluid mixture to behave as a fluid. This is
usually achieved by the introduction of pressurized fluid through the particulate
medium. This results in the medium then having many properties and
characteristics of normal fluids, such as the ability to free-flow under gravity, or to
be pumped using fluid type technologies. The resulting phenomenon is
called fluidization.
Fluidized beds are used for several purposes, such as fluidized bed
reactors (types of chemical reactors), solids separation, fluid catalytic
cracking, fluidized bed combustion, heat or mass transfer or interface modification,
such as applying a coating onto solid items. This technique is also becoming more
common in aquaculture for the production of shellfish in integrated multi-trophic
aquaculture systems.
Packed and fluidized beds play a major role in many chemical engineering
processes. Packed bed situations include such diverse processes as filtration,
wastewater treatment, and the flow of crude oil in a petroleum reservoir. In these
cases, the interest centers on the pressure drop through the bed as a function the
volumetric flow rate or superficial velocity.
If the particles in the bed are loose and there is sufficient volume in the
device containing the particles, the particles may fluidize at high flow rates.
Fluidized beds are used extensively in the chemical process industries, particularly
for the cracking of high-molecular-weight petroleum fractions. Such beds
inherently possess excellent heat transfer and mixing characteristics. In the study
of the fluid mechanical behavior of these beds, the focus here is on the incipient
fluidization velocity and the dependence of bed expansion on the superficial
velocity.

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THEORY
The flow of a fluid, either liquid or gas, through a static packed bed of
particles is a situation encountered both in nature and industry. Natural occurrences
include the movement of ground water, the movement of crude petroleum or the
movement of natural gas through process media. Industrial occurrences include
operations of backwashing filters, ion exchange processes, extraction of soluble
components from raw material and certain type of chemical reactors.
The theory for this experiment is covered in Chapter 7 of McCabe, Smith,
and Harriott (M,S&H). The following material is a condensation of that chapter as
it relates to the experiment at hand. As an aid to you, some specific equations in
M,S,&H are referred to. There are three areas of interest to us: (1) Relationship
between the pressure drop and the flow rate; (2) Minimum fluidization velocity,
and; (3) Behavior of the expanded bed.
(1) Relationship between pressure drop and flow rate
The flow of a fluid, either liquid or gas, through a static packed bed can be
described in a quantitative manner by defining a bed friction factor, fp, and a
particle Reynolds number, NRe,p, as follows:

Note that this equation cannot be derived directly by extrapolating the case
of flow through a circular conduit since friction factor defined in both cases is
different (see McCabe and Smith 4th edition, pg. 137)

Where ∆P = pressure drop across the bed

L = bed depth or length
gc = conversion constant (= unity if SI units are used)
Dp = particle diameter
ρ = fluid density
ε = bed porosity or void fraction
Vo = superficial fluid velocity
µ = fluid viscosity
φs = sphericity

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The friction factor and the Reynolds number are dimensionless. Some
typical sphericity factors are given in McCabe, Smith and Harriott (p. 928, Table
28.1).
For laminar flow, where only viscous drag forces come into play, NRe,p <20
( ), experimental data may be correlated by means of the Kozeny-Carman equation:

Note: According to Yates ("Fundamentals of Fluidized-bed Chemical

Processes," by J. G. Yates, Published by Butterworths, 1983, p. 7-8) the factor of
150 was originally given by Carman as 180 for the case of laminar flow. Ergun
later suggested a better value was 150 when the particles are greater than about 150
µm in diameter.
For highly turbulent flow where inertial forces predominate, (NRe,p >1000 ) ),
experimental results may instead be correlated in terms of the Blake-Plummer
equation:

While both equations (3) and (4) have a sound theoretical basis, Ergun
empirically found that the friction factor could be described for all values of the
Reynolds number by simply adding the righthand sides of equations (3) and (4).
Thus:
+1.75
(2) Minimum fluidization velocity
At a sufficiently high flow rate, the total drag force on the solid particles
constituting the bed becomes equal to the net gravitational force and the bed
becomes fluidized. For this situation a force balance yields:
(−∆p)A=LA (1−εM )(ρp −ρ )g/gc =M (ρp −ρ)g/ (gcρp ) (6)
where εM = void fraction at the minimum fluidization velocity
A = cross-sectional area of the bed
ρp = particle density
g = gravitational constant
M = total mass of packing.
This is Eq. 7.48, 7.49 MS&H . The superficial fluid velocity at which the
fluidization of the bed commences is called the incipient or minimum fluidization

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velocity, V0M. The incipient fluidization velocity may be determined by

combining equations (1), (3), and (6) with the following result [Eq. (7.52) MS&H]
for the case of small particles and consequent, NRe<1:

This equation is the basis for some empirical equations found in the
literature. The terms can be grouped as follows:

The first factor contains the sphericity of the particles and the bed porosity at
the point of incipient fluidization. Neither of these factors is usually known with a
high degree of accuracy. If spheres are assumed φs =1 ( ) and a reasonable value
of voidage, say εM=0.4, then the first factor is 0.00071. The factor is quite
sensitive to εM. For example, if εM=0.413, then the factor is 0.0008.
One investigator, [D. Geldhart, "Types of Fluidization," Powder Technology,
7 (1973), 285292; Geldhart and Abrahamsen, Powder Technology, 19 (1978), 133-
136] simply determined the first factor from his data and actually found 0.0008 to
be the best value; that is, he reported the following correlation:

Behavior of the expanded bed

The expansion of fluidized beds is discussed in the text on Pages 170-173.
The treatment to be used here is slightly different. For fluid velocities exceeding
the incipient fluidization velocity, the bed expands. The porosity, ε, of an
expanded bed may be related to the superficial fluid velocity, Vo, by means of an
empirical relation suggested by Richardson and Zaki (1,2):

where ut is the terminal velocity of a spherical particle in a fluidizing

medium (3). The exponent, n, depends on the flow conditions -- that is, on the
Reynolds number. Thus:
NRe,p <0.2 n=4.65 (11)

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0.2<NRe,p <1.0 n=4.35NRe,p −0.03 (12)

1<NRe,p <500 n=4.45NRe,p −0.1 (13)
NRe,p >500 n=2.39 (14)
Because the terminal velocity, ut, is a constant for a given particle, it can be
seen that Equation (10) above is essentially the same as the empirical equation in
the text; namely Eq. (7.59) MS&H.
The void fraction of the expanded bed, ε, is related to that at incipient
fluidization by the following equation:
(7-58 MS&H)
where LM and εM are the bed height and void fraction at incipient
fluidization, and L is the measured height of the expanded bed. Therefore, since
LM and εM are known, ε can be calculated from the measured height, L, of the
expanded bed.
In Equations (11)-(14) the Reynolds number is based on the particle
diameter, Dp, and the terminal velocity, ut. Therefore it is necessary to know the
terminal velocity. By means of a force balance it be shown that the terminal
velocity for spherical particles is:
(15, &.37 MS&H)
where CD denotes the drag coefficient. A graph of CD versus NRe,p is
shown in the text (Figure 7.6, p. 158). To find CD, you need to know ut so that
NRe,p can be calculated. There are two ways of doing this: i) One could do this by
trial-and-error. Thus, you could guess ut, calculate NRe,p, look up CD on the
graph, and put the resulting value in Eq. (15). If the calculated value of ut did not
match the guess (it surely wouldn't on the first try!), you would guess again. ii) We
can also do this without trial-and-error. For this square both sides of Eq. (15) and
utilize the definition of NRe,p (Eq. (2)) to obtain:
(16)
All parameters on the right are known. This suggests that a plot of
CDNRe,p 2 versus NRe,p can be constructed and used to avoid the trial-and-error
procedure.

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The plot is prepared in the following way. Pick a series of point coordinates
off the plot shown above. Some examples for spheres are:
Table 1
NRe,p CD CD NRe,p
0.001 22000 22
0.01 2200 22
0.1 220 22
1.000 0.48 480

Pick off a dozen similar pairs. Then plot CDNRe,p as the ordinate against
corresponding NRe,p as the abscissa. For each bed, calculate CDNRe,p 2 from Eq.
(16). From your plot read the corresponding NRe,p. Then use Eq. (2) to calculate ut
When water is passed at very low velocity up through a bed of solid
particles, the particles do not move, and the pressure drop is given by the Erguns
equation;

Where ΔP = Pressure drop (Nm)

L= height of bed
Vsm= average superficial fluid velocity
µw= viscosity of water (Nsm-2)
ρw = density of water (kgm-3)
DP = size of particles (m)
Фs = particle sphericity
ε = bed voidage

If the fluid velocity is steadily increased, the pressure drop and the drag on
individual particles increase, and eventually the particles start to move and become
suspended in the fluid. The term fluidization and fluidized bed are used to describe
the condition of fully suspended particles, since the suspension behaves as a dense

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fluid. If the bed filled, the top surface remains horizontal and large objects will
either float or sink in the bed depending on their density relative to the suspension.
At low Reynolds’ number (Re<1) and noting that for spherical particles SI. The
Carman Kozeny equation is obtained;

Where Re is average Reynolds’ number based on superficial velocity

which is dimensionless.
For this experiment the nominal values for some of the parameters are;
DP = 0.485m
L = 0.3m
µw=10-3Nsm-2
PP particle density (kg/m) = 2960 kgm-3
€=0.425
Bed diameter = 0.05m
If the flow rate Q is measured in L/min, and Vsm is the average superficial velocity
in m/s then;

Where A is Bed cross sectional area

Then the erguns’ equation with Фs =1becomes;

λ= pressure drop
5
The pressure drop at fluidization can be predicted by using the equation:

So that;
NOTE: The particles have two forces acting on it, the drag force acting
upwards and the weight of the particles acting downwards.

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DESCRIPTION OF APARATUS

Fig 1

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1. CONTROL SWITCH: used to turn on the air circuit.

2. DIFFERENTIAL WATER MANOMETER: used to measure pressure drop.
3. VARIABLE AREA FLOWMETER: used for measuring flow rate.
4. BED
5. FLOW CONTOL VALVE: used to alter the flow rate.
6. BRASS DISK: supports the particle inside the test column and helps to
distribute water uniformly across the section of the test column.

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PROCEDURES
 The air column was filled to a height of 310mm, the air flow control valve
was closed
 The water manometer was checked for air bubbles.
 The air compressor was switched on and the air flow rate was adjusted to an
increment of 1L/min
 At each setting the conditions were allowed to stabilize and the height of the
bed, the differential reading of the manometer and the state of bed were
recorded
 This process was continued until the flow rate got to 20L/min and the
readings were subsequently recorded.

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RESULTS

Table 2

Bed Flow Rate P1(mmH2O) P2(mmH2O) Pressure Bed state

height (L/min) drop in bed
(mm) ΔP(mmH2O)
310 0 245 245 0 fixed
310 2 212 278 66 fixed
310 3 196 293 97 fixed
310 4 180 310 130 fixed
310 5 160 329 169 fixed
310 6 140 350 210 fixed
312 7 120 370 250 fluidized
314 8 105 384 279 fluidized
318 9 90 397 307 Fluidized
324 10 88 400 312 Fluidized
333 11 85 403 318 Fluidized
340 12 82 406 324 Fluidized
345 13 80 408 328 Fluidized
350 14 79 409 330 Fluidized
358 15 78 411 333 Fluidized
365 16 75 412 337 Fluidized
373 17 71 415 344 Fluidized
375 18 70 417 347 Fluidized
383 19 69 418 349 Fluidized
398 20 68 419 351 fluidized

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GRAPH

400

350

300

Point of fluidization
250

200

150

100

50

0
0 5 10 15 20 25
Pressure drop

Fig 2

CALCULATIONS;

1. Q=0 hence,
2. Q=2,
3.
4.
14.
5.
15.
6.
16
7.
17.
8. 18.
19
20.

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9.
10.
11.
12.
13.

Predicted pressure drop across a fixed bed;

Viscosity of air µw=1.81 x 10-5kg/m.s L= 0.31m

ε = 0.425
DP= 0.485m
Density of air ρw =1.225 kg/m2
1. 0
2.
3.
4. 104.647
5. 130.8
6. 156.97

Predicted pressure drop across a fluidized bed;

7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.

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17.
18.
19.
20.

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DISCUSSION
The bed length was fixed initially because of the low flow rate but as the
flow rate increased from 2 to 6L/min the bed became fluidized i.e. the length of the
bed started fluctuating when the flow rate of air was 7L/min. The experimental
values are different from the theoretical values (lower) due to errors that occurred
during the experiment like inability to set the flowmeter accurately to the required
value and also the inability to read values from the test column especially when it
was fluidized.
The point of fluidization also didn’t sit right with the graph cause of these
erroneous values.
Its also worthy to note the importance of this experiment to most unit
processes.

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CONCLUSION
The flow rate of air at which the balliotini used will be fluidized is 7L/min,
this can be gotten with both theoretical and experimental means as the values
gotten from both doesn’t differ that much.

RECOMMENDATION
Other granular materials should also be used to carry out this experiment.

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REFERENCES
 P. chattpaday, unit operations for chemical engineering vol 1, third edition,
khanna publishers, dehil 2003
 Sciencedirect.com
 Chapter 7 of McCabe, Smith, and Harriott (M,S&H). unit operations for
chemical engineering
 Wikipedia
 R.h. perry and C.H chiliton, chemical engineering handbook, seventh edtion

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