SOLID LIQUID MASS-TRANSFER IN A GAS-LIQUID SOLID FLUIDIZED-BED

Solid-liquid mass transfer in co-current two- and three-phase fluidized beds of water, air and benzoic acid pellets is studied. An axial dispersion model is used to describe the liquid flow when evaluating the solid-liquid mass transfer. The axial concentration profile of benzoic acid in the liquid is compared to that obtained experimentally and is found to be accurate. Three-phase fluidized bed solid-liquid mass-transfer coefficients are higher than the corresponding two-phase bed coefficients. The mass-transfer coefficient increases with increasing gas rate and is independent of liquid rate over the entire range studied. The mass-transfer coefficient also appears to be dependent on particle size, but only at high gas rates. At low or zero gas rates, k is nearly independent of particle size. A generalized correlation is developed which accurately and conveniently predicts the mass transfer in both two- and three-phase fluidized beds.