Particle residence time distributions in circulating fluidised beds

This paper gives experimental measurements of the particle residence time distribution (RTD) made in the riser of a square cross section, cold model, circulating fluidised bed, using the fast response particle RTD technique developed by Harris et al. (Chem. Eng. J. 89 (2002a) 127). This technique depends upon all particles having phosphorescent properties. A small proportion of the particles become tracers when activated by a flash of light at the riser entry; the concentration of these phosphorescent particles can subsequently be detected by a photomultiplier. The influence of the solids circulation rate and superficial gas velocity on the RTD were investigated. The results presented are novel because (i) the experiments were performed in a system with closed boundaries and hence give the true residence time distribution in the riser and (ii) the measurement of the tracer concentration is exceedingly fast. The majority of previous studies have measured the RTD in risers with open boundaries, giving an erroneous measure of the RTD. Analysis of the results suggests that using pressure measurements in a riser to infer the solids inventory leads to erroneous estimates of the mean residence time. In particular, the results cast doubt on the assumption that friction and acceleration effects can be neglected when inferring the axial solids concentration profile from riser pressure measurements. An assessment of particle RTD models is also given. A stochastic particle RTD model was coupled to a riser hydrodynamic model incorporating the four main hydrodynamic regions observed in a fast-fluidised bed riser namely (i) the entrance region, (ii) a transition region, (iii) a core-annulus region and (iv) an exit region. This model successfully predicts the experimental residence time distributions. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.