Effect of vertical internals on the pressure drop in a gas‐solid fluidized bed

Abstract In this work, the pressure drop at the wall and the radial profiles of pressure drop along the bed height have been measured using a differential pressure transducer and pressure probe‐differential pressure transducer in a gas‐solid fluidized bed with a 0.14 m inside diameter. Two types of circular arrangements of intense vertical internals (0.0254 and 0.0127 m diameter), two kinds of solid particles of Geldart B type (glass beads and aluminum oxide), and four selected superficial gas velocities in terms of u/u mf have been used to study the impact of these different designs, as well as the physical and operating variables on the pressure drop measured at the wall of the bed and the radial pressure drop inside the fluidized bed. It has been experimentally demonstrated that the 0.0254 m internals can reduce the pressure drop at the wall and the radial pressure drop inside the bed by about 10 % when compared to without internals, and this result holds true for both kinds of solids used. However, the implementation of 0.0127 m internals inside the gas‐solid fluidized bed leads to a decrease in the pressure drop and radial pressure drop in the case of glass bead solid particles and an increase in the pressure drop in the case of aluminum oxide solid particles. The experimental results in the form of relevant dimensionless groups have been correlated using the statistical analysis software of JMP 12, due to the big difference between the experimental results of this work and the predicted values from the available correlations in the literature. The new correlation has been developed with a mean relative deviation value of 1.08 % between the experimental and predicted values.