(70a) Laboratory Experiments in Particle Technology

Particle science and technology laboratory in chemical engineering at Indian Institute technology has made attempt to create interest in particle technology to students and industries for last 28 yrs. In addition to compulsory course on mechanical operations there are courses as electives on powder processing and fluidization. Laboratory was developed for students with the help of Prof.Rumpf's laboratory at Karlsruhe and Prof.Molerus laboratory at Technical University Erlangen.

The following experiments set up are available for the students. 1.Measurement of particle size distribution by Andersen pipette method with sampling with suction and gravity flow.

2.Measurement of size distribution by Andersen pipette method by variable height of pipette for reduction of time of experiments 3. Measurement of size distribution by Photo sedimentation technique 4. Measurement of surface area, permeability , bulk density and porosity of packed bed by Blaine permeameter 5. Studies in performance of reverse flow cyclone 6. Studies in performance of uni- flow cyclone 7. Estimation of angle of repose and estimate size distribution and compare with size distribution measured with lazer size analyser 8. Estimate the effect of bin-sert on flow properties of powder in laboratory silo 9. Estimate the effect of in-sert on flow properties of powder in laboratory silo 10. Study sedimentation of slurry and design settling tank 11. Study the flow through packed bed and compare the performance on different packing shape 12. Study the performance of fluidization and recognize the powder as per Molerus and Geldart chart 13. Study the permeability and time taken for primary cake formation for air filtration in fabric filter 14. Estimate the optimum time for screening 15. Studies in batch mill to estimation Comminution functions

Though most of the experiments listed in indigenously made in the laboratory the paper will discuss in detail the experimental set up for uniflwo cyclone and filter fabric performance studies.

The salient feature of development of uni-flwo set up is the development of tangential velocity meter to estimate the vane angle for high efficiency dust collection. The experiment is used to demonstrate the effect of tangential velocity on pressure drop and efficiency of dust collection. The pressure drop is substantially less than the reverse flow cyclone.

Regarding fabric filter the set up helps in estimation of time taken for primary cake formation in fabric filter. The set up is outcome of industrial project on testing of fabric filter for specific dust. It is used to determine the time taken for formation of primary cake formation and verify Kozney carmen equation.