Experimental Investigation of the Effect of Random Packings on Heat Transfer and Particle Segregation in Packed-Fluidized Bed

The heat transfer coefficient, pressure drop, and vertical segregation in a\ua0bubbling fluidized bed reactor containing random packings were investigated. The bed\ua0material was silica sand in the size range of 90−400 μm. Experiments were done for bed\ua0temperatures ranging from 400 to 900 \ub0C and superficial gas velocities up to 0.411 m/s.\ua0Five different types of packings were evaluated: (i) RMSR (25 mm stainless steel thread\ua0saddle ring), (ii) Hiflow (25 mm stainless steel pall ring), (iii) RR6 (6 mm ceramic\ua0Raschig ring), (iv) RR10 (10 mm ceramic Raschig ring), and (v) ASB (12.7 mmaluminum silicate balls). The RMSR packing showed an increase in the heat transfer\ua0coefficient (up to 1243 W/m2\ua0K), as compared to bubbling beds with no packings (up\ua0to 1124 W/m2\ua0K). Also, beds with RMSR and Hiflow packings had a lower pressure\ua0drop and vertical segregation compared to low void factor packings such as RR6, RR10,\ua0and ASB