FLUID-DYNAMICS CHARACTERIZATION OF A PNEUMATIC BED USING A SPOUTED BED TYPE SOLID FEEDING SYSTEM

The development of a bed is reported, in which characteristics from spouted beds and pneumatic conveying are combined. The apparatus can be described as a pneumatic transport bed modified by the introduction of a recirculation process for inert materials, which leads to a final configuration akin to that of spouted beds. The dependency of the particle recirculation rates on the air flow rates and on the distance between the air inlet and the lower end of the central tube (z0) was investigated. Also studied was the variation of the total pressure drop with air flow rate, for different loads of inert materials (glass spheres, d(p) = 2.8 mm) and different z0 values.