Impact of Process Conditions on Fluidized Bed Drying: Experiments and Model Predictions
Fluidization
2023
Fluidization XVII
General Submissions
Applications Session 5: Manufacturing
Wednesday, May 24, 2023 - 10:45am to 11:00am
Experiments were carried out in a Glatt GPCG-1 fluidized bed dryer. Water impregnated catalyst supports were used as the experimental material. The change in moisture content of the bed over time was measured along with the bed temperature and the rate of drying was calculated. Different bed loading, inlet air temperature, initial moisture content, and gas flowrate were tested. Using experimental reference drying curves, model equations for predicting the moisture content of the bed were implemented. For a large range of process conditions, we found that the model worked best when the drying rate was roughly constant, which correlates to the unhindered or constant rate drying period. However, the model was still able to make reasonably good predictions, even when drying started in the hindered or falling rate drying period. For high bed loadings, where the number of transfer units was large, the experiments and model showed the best agreement. This work provides quantitative findings on how process conditions affect the rate of drying for a bed of catalyst supports with corresponding prediction equations.