Behavior of mixed ZnO and SiO2 nano-particles in magnetic field assisted fluidization

The fluidization behavior of ZnO nano-particles in magnetic fluidized bed (MFB) by adding coarse magnetic particles was investigated, followed by the co-fluidization of mixtures of ZnO and SiO2 nano-particles. For such co-fluidization, bed expansion was found to change smoothly with gas velocity through a range of stable operation. By measuring the bed expansion ratio and pressure drop, a stability diagram for the mixture in MFB was obtained. Within this stable operation range, with increasing gas velocity the pressure drop hardly changes as the bed expands, up to an expansion ratio of more than 4. (C) 2007 Chinese Society of Particuology and Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.