Heat transfer and the mechanism of drying in agitation fluidized bed

This paper describes experimental and numerical analyses on the heat transfer between air and particles in an agitation fluidized bed drying process. Spherical particles made of crystalline cellulose hating been dampened to 15% were dried in an agitation fluidized bed. The effects of the operating variables such as air temperature, air velocity, agitator rotational speed and particle size on the heat transfer coefficient between air and particles were investigated experimentally, An empirical equation was then proposed to predict the heat transfer coefficient under various operating variables and particle size. The empirical equation could predict the heat transfer coefficient very accurately.