Characterisation of fluidizable materials at high temperatures and pressures

A variety of small scale low temperature tests have been developed to evaluate catalyst flow behaviour. Standard correlations have been established on the basis of these results and are used to predict the catalyst flow behaviour at ambient conditions, but the correlations have also been used to predict high temperature operations. Measured fluidization characteristics, such as U-mf, U-mb and deaeration rates, of industrially important materials operating under process conditions can differ significantly from those predicted by the standard correlations. This can lead to misleading predictions of fluidization behaviour. On this basis a PhD programme was started recently to characterise the flow behaviour of a large range of industrially important fluidizable materials at conditions as close to unit operational conditions as possible. New discriminating tests will be developed for evaluating particle fluidizability.