Fluidization characteristics of lithium-titanate in gas-solid fluidized bed

Experiments were conducted to investigate the hydrodynamic behaviour of lithium titanate (Li2TiO3) in gas-solid fluidized bed. The objective of the study was to study the fluidization properties of Li2TiO3 particles. These studies will be useful to find the applicability of fluidization to increase the effective thermal conductivity and wall to bed heat transfer coefficient of Li2TiO3 particulate bed in test blanket module of fusion reactor. Li2TiO3 was synthesized by solid state reaction process and different particle sizes were classified. Experiments were conducted in a cylindrical column of 90 mm diameter and 650 mm height in perspex material with metallic distributor plate. Dry compressed air was used as fluidizing medium. From the experiments it was observed that Li2TiO3 is fluidizable, but severe slugging and bubbling were observed in the fluidized bed. Minimum fluidization and bubbling velocity of Li2TiO3 particles were determined and compared to that of white sand of similar particle size and density. The experimental details and observations are discussed in this paper.