A unique normalized radial pressure profile characterizes the bed of a gas-solid vortex reactor over a range of particle densities and sizes, solid capacities, and gas flow rates: 950-1240 kg/m3, 1-2 mm, 2 kg to maximum solids capacity, and 0.4-0.8 Nm3/s (corresponding to gas injection velocities of 55-110 m/s), respectively. The combined momentum conservation equations of both gas and solid phases predict this pressure profile when accounting for the corresponding measured particle velocities. The pressure profiles for a given type of particles and a given solids loading but for different gas injection velocities merge into a single curve when normalizing the pressures with the pressure value downstream of the bed. The normalized-with respect to the overall pressure drop-pressure profiles for different gas injection velocities in particle-free flow merge in a unique profile.
Keywords: fluidization; gas‐solid vortex reactor; multiphase flow; pressure drop; pressure profile.
© 2015 The Authors AIChE Journal published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of American Institute of Chemical Engineers , 61: 4114-4125, 2015.