Distinctions between circulating-turbulent fluidized beds, turbulent fluidized beds and high-density circulating fluidized beds

Gas-solid fluidized beds have been widely applied in various industrial processes involving gas-solid contact including combustion, gasification, catalytic cracking, calcinations, drying, etc., due to their excellent gas-solid contacting, mixing and heat/mass transfer characteristics. Flow characteristics in a novel circulating-turbulent fluidized bed (C-TFB) were studied. The hydrodynamic distinctions between the flow regime of turbulent fluidization, fast fluidization, dense suspension upflow, and newly proposed circulating-turbulent fluidization were presented. The circulating-turbulent fluidization is a new flow regime, independent of turbulent fluidization, fast fluidization, and dense suspension upflow. As a result, the gas-solid flow in the C-TFB has its inherent characteristics, different from those in CFB, TFB and HDCFB reactors. This is an abstract of a paper presented at the AIChE Annual Meeting (Salt Lake City, UT 11/4-9/2007).