Fluidized bed modeling applied to the analysis of processes: review and state of the art

The fluidized bed is a technology that involves multiple phases, allowing for efficient contact between them, therefore it is widely used in the chemical industry, metallurgy, oil and thermal power generation. In fluidized bed processes, the gas–solid interactions and chemical reactions generate a large number of variables to be handled, making the process very complex. Therefore, fluidized bed modeling and simulation is widely used to predict and analyze different processes, but it is possible to find in the literature many mathematical correlations that describe this type of flow. Based on this, the present work presents a review of the main mathematical models that describe the behavior of a fluidized bed reactor, and the state of the art regarding the use of modeling and simulation of the bed to predict and analyze different processes. As a result of this review, we can observe the importance of further development of the hydrodynamic modeling of fluidized beds, where understanding the interactions between the phases and the influence of this interaction is crucial for a better understanding and control of the processes. Generating experimental data of gas–solid and solid–solid interactions is also required for the validation of the numerical models.