Solid distribution in fluidized and fixed beds with horizontal high speed gas jets

High speed jet penetration in fluidized beds can be used for particle size control or comminution processes. Thus, particle breakage is determined by the kinetic energy of the solids and the frequency of particle-particle impacts inside the flow. Both aspects are influenced by the solid concentration inside the jets and at the boundary. For understanding the fundamental breakage mechanism, the determination of the solid distribution in those complex flows is an important contribution.

In order to access the turbulent and delicate multiphase flow, a modern fast X-ray computed tomography unit was used in this work. To obtain quantitative solid concentrations, the measurement system was optimized by means of hardware filtering, exposure time and reconstruction algorithm. These methods allowed the investigation of influencing parameters like jet velocity, fluidization velocity or particle size on the solid distribution in a single jet. With the obtained experimental data, correlations for the axial and radial solid distribution were developed. In addition, the influence of multiple jet injection with a common focal point is presented.