Stability of Spouting Regimes in Conical Spouted Beds with Inert Particle Mixtures

Because of their reduced level of segregation, conical spouted beds (CSBs) have become a promising technique for many chemical engineering processes involving particle mixtures. However, for possible applications, the identification of particle segregation and flow-regime stabilities in CSBs is needed. Therefore, this paper presents an investigation to quantify the stability of spouting regimes (by pressure fluctuations) and particle segregation levels in CSBs operated at 60 °C with a variety of particle combinations with uniform sizes or a size distribution. The data show that, at a standard deviation from pressure signals of 50 Pa, beds with inert particle mixtures can achieve stable spouting regimes as the diameter ratio of larger particles to smaller particles (dpL/dpS) is reduced from 2.85 to 1.98 and the bed height is increased from 0.105 to 0.195 m. Moreover, analysis of the segregation indexes revealed that our CBS showed itself to be more restrictive in operating with particle mixtures than those reported by San José et al. (Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 1994, 33, 1838).