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q Institution of Chemical Engineers
Trans IChemE, Vol. 78, Part A, October 2000

AN ANALYSIS OF LOOP SEAL OPERATIONS IN A

CIRCULATING FLUIDIZED BED
P. BASU and L. CHENG*
Mechanical Engineering Department, Dalhousie University, Nova Scotia, Canada
*Institute for Thermal Power Engineering, Zhejiang University, PR China

he operation of a loop seal in a circulating uidized bed is studied on the basis of

pressure balance of the circulation loop. The sharp-crested theory of free surface ow
is applied to analyze the solids ow rate through a loop seal. Factors, which inuence
the solids ow rate through the loop seal, include loop seal air velocity, initial bed inventory,
standpipe size, loop seal slit size and particle size. The solids ow could occur only between
two limiting values of each of those parameters. The analysis also presented pressure
distributions along the loop for different circulation rates. Results from above theoretical
analyses were compared with experimental results. A good agreement between the results
conrmed the validity of the present analysis.
Keywords: loop seal; solids recycle device; circulating uidized bed

INTRODUCTION

The present work analyses the loop seal taking into

account all relevant factors including loop seal air velocity,
initial bed inventory, standpipe size, loop seal slit size and
particle size.

A typical circulating uidized bed (CFB) system comprises

a fast uidized bed (riser), a gas-solid separator, a standpipe (dipleg) and a solids recycle system. Solids particles
move around these components in sequence and the solids
recycle system is a key component of the CFB loop. A nonmechanical valve is commonly used in this system because
it is robust, inexpensive and simple in construction. Serious
erosion of moving parts, high solids ow rate requirement and high operating temperature preclude the use of
mechanical valves.
Solids in a non-mechanical valve are moved by air or
gas. In certain sections of the valve the solids exhibit a
liquid-like behaviour when aeration air is added. The solids
ow through the valve when the drag of the aeration air
exceeds the resistance holding the solids together.
Several types of non-mechanical solid recycle valves
are used in a CFB system. They are L-valve, V-valve,
J-valve, seal pot and loop seal (uo seal). Some data are
available on L-valve1,2 and V-valve3 but information on
loop seal is very limited. Some experimental investigations4,5 were reported, but a comprehensive analysis of the
performance of the loop seal is not available in published
literature. The present paper presents an analysis of the
performance of the loop seal using free surface theory and
pressure balance equations.
Based on their experiments on a 200 mm 200 mm cross
section loop seal, Luo et al.4 presented empirical equations
to calculate the standpipe height and solids ow rate. The
accuracy and general applicability of their equations have
not been veried.
Horio6 discussed the total pressure balance around a
CFB loop taking the loop seal as a simple orice or valve.
The pressure drop across the seal was obtained by an
empirical equation. None of the models consider the
inuence of solids inventory on solids recycle rates.

THEORETICAL ANALYSIS
Figure 1 shows a CFB loop with a loop seal where solids
are in a fast uidized condition in the riser. Particles enter
the cyclone after they exit from the riser and particles,
separated in the cyclone, accumulate in the standpipe. The
standpipe drops the solids into the loop seal, which is split
into two sections, supply and recycle chambers (Figure 1).
These two sections are connected by a rectangular opening, called slit. Both chambers can be uidized from the
bottom. The recycle chamber has an overow weir, which
connects it to a discharge pipe leading the solids to the riser.
Solids collected in the standpipe, drop into the supply
chamber. Aeration given at the bottom of the loop seal
helps this solids move through the slit into the uidized
recycle chamber. The uidized solids spill over the weir
into the recycle pipe, which leads the solids into the riser.
Thus the solids move around the CFB loop without a
mechanical pump. The pressure difference between the
standpipe and the riser drives the solids through the system.
So under a steady state, there would be a pressure equilibrium around the loop.
Pressure Balance in a Circulation Loop
For a pressure balance the algebraic sum of pressure drop
across each section of the circulation loop should be equal
to zero.
Pa

Pb
Pe

991

Pb
Pf

Pc
Pf

Pc
Pg

Pd
Pg

Pd
Pa

Pe
0

992

BASU and CHENG

Figure 1. Loop seal solids recycle system.

Point D in Figure 1 is the solids surface in the standpipe.

The friction on the discharge pipe (G-A) can be neglected
as it is rarely full. Also, the section of the cyclone (C-D)
offers very low resistance. So, if any resistance at the exit
of the riser is neglected, Pb Pc 0, Pc Pd 0 and
Pg Pa 0 can be written. The above pressure balance
equation now simplies as:
Pa

Pb

Pd

Pe

Pe

Pf

Pf

Pg

0
2

Pressure Drop in the Riser

The pressure drop along the riser height is determined
by its axial voidage prole. Two main methods are used
to estimate the axial voidage prole. The axial voidage
prole may be divided into two parts, a denser section and
a leaner section. The transition point between these two
may be estimated for riser reactors at a given set of operating and geometric conditions7 . In a CFB boiler this point
coincides with the secondary air injection point8 . So, the
axial voidage prole in the leaner section may be calculated using the entrainment model of Kunii and Levenspiel9 .
The voidage decay constant of the leaner section and
voidage of the lower dense bed were based on experimental
results9 .
Thus, the bed is divided into lower dense region and

upper dilute region along the bed height. The total pressure
drop across the riser A-B, also includes the frictional loss
including acceleration loss, DPab . Then the total pressure
drop Pa Pb becomes:
Pa

Pb

den

ghden

dil

ghdil

D Pab

Where den and dil are voidages in lower dense region and
upper dilute region respectively, hden is dense region
height in bed, hdil is the dilute region height, which is
riser height less the dense region height. Kunii and
Levenspiel10 compared voidages in the lower dense
regions of a uidized bed (Table 1). A typical value for
the fast uidized bed is chosen in the present model
calculation.
Bed internals may affect the axial voidage prole. There
is also an effect of the bed exit11 . However, if one assumes
that the furnace is so tall that all particles are completely
Table 1. Comparison of voidage in
the lower dense region of a uidized
bed.
Fluidized bed
Bubbling bed
Turbulent bed
Fast uidization

Voidage
0.450.60
0.600.78
0.780.84

Trans IChemE, Vol 78, Part A, October 2000

AN ANALYSIS OF LOOP SEAL OPERATIONS IN A CIRCULATING FLUIDIZED BED

dispersed near its exit, and there is no reuxing, then the

solids ux leaving the bed may be given by the following
equation:
Gs

dil

s Ab

Where dil is the voidage in the upper region, up is the

absolute velocity of solids particle. As the voidage is very
high, up can be approximated by the equation12 :
up

ug

ut

Where ug is the supercial gas velocity in the bed, ut is the

particle terminal velocity.
Pressure Drop in the Standpipe
Particles move down slowly as a moving packed bed
ow in the standpipe. Assume the voidage to have identical values in the standpipe and in the supply chamber.
So, the pressure drop per unit length is obtained by a slight
modication of the Ergun equation13 :
Pe

Pd
Ls

150 1
3s

3
s

mg D u
w s dp

1.75 1
3s

3
s

g D u
w s dp

Where s is the solids voidage in the standpipe, D u is the

relative velocity of gas with respect to the solids.

Du

uo

us

The supercial rise velocity of gas up the standpipe, uo , is

small. This ow rate is a fraction d of the air ow of the
loop seal, Q. Here d is taken as 0.095 from Cheng and
Basu14 .

expansion, derived by King17 , is used.

ur
ur

1
2

Solids Flow Rate at the Weir of the Recycle Chamber

Once the recycle chamber is uidized, the solids in it
ow like a liquid. The uidized bed expands above the
height of the weir (Figure 1), and the solids ow into the
riser through the inclined recycle pipe. The inclined pipe
is generally not lled with solids. So the overow rate
of solids is a direct function of excess bed height above
the weir, which increases with the uidizing velocity.
This situation is similar to that of free surface ow of a
liquid over a sharp crested weir. So from sharp-crested
theory18 the volume ow Qs of uidized solids can be
written as:
cg1/2 Dh3/2 W

Qs

Gs

den

As
Asc

1.2

Gs

where As and Asc are cross section areas of the slit and the
supply chamber, respectively.
Pressure Drop in the Recycle Chamber
Solids in the recycle chamber are uidized by the air
entering from its bottom. The bed level must rise
above the weir (Figure 1) in order to overow into the
recycle pipe. Considering the bed to expand to a height
D hr over the recycle chamber weir height hr (Figure
1):
Pf

Pg

hr

Dhr s

For rst approximation, a simplied expression for bed

Trans IChemE, Vol 78, Part A, October 2000

s Qs

c1

s g1/2 D h3/2
r v

12

Assuming that the total amount of solids and their size

distribution do not change during operations, the sum of
solids in each component of the CFB loop system should
be equal to the original solids inventory M0 . Thus a material
balance gives us the following equation,

Solids from the supply chamber ow to the recycle

chamber through an opening (slit) at the bottom of the
division wall between these two chambers. The pressure
drop across this opening can be calculated by the following equation suggested by Cheng and Basu14 . It is based
on the experimental data of Jin et al.15 and Kuramoto
et al.16 ,
0.66

11

where c is an experimentally derived constant, Dhr is the

bed level above the weir, W is the width of the weir and g
is the acceleration due to gravity.
Thus the solids ow rate Gs can be calculated by:

Pf

10

where ur is the uidizing velocity in the recycle chamber.

Pressure Drop Across the Slit

Pe

993

s Ab hden

dil

s Asp Ls

lsc

s Arc hr

D hr

s Ab hdil

1
M0

s Asc lsc
13

where Ab , Asp , Asc and Arc are areas of the riser, standpipe,
supply chamber and recycle chamber respectively. Neglecting the frictional loss and substituting equations (3), (6),
(8) and (9) into (2), relations among different parameters
are established.
The above model can be used for both understanding
the operating behaviour and the design of a loop seal. For
example, the solids circulation rate and gas velocity in the
riser may be specied as input parameters, and then compute the aeration rate required in the loop seal. To validate
the above model, it would be used rstly to interpret the
observed behaviour of the loop seal, then the results
compared.
EXPERIMENTS
The tests were carried out in a 152 mm diameter circulating uidized bed with a 100 mm width rectangular loop
seal. The system is shown in Figure 1. Three size sands,
480 mm, 355 mm and 250 mm were used in the tests and
two techniques were used to measure the solids ow rates.
Experimental details are reported in Basu et al.5 so they are
not reported here.

994

BASU and CHENG

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The loop seal operates steadily when the pressure balance

equation (1) is satised but its operation becomes irrational
or it stops entirely when the pressure balance is lost. A very
common failure occurs when the pressure drop across the
standpipe falls below that required to drive the solids
through the loop seal and into the riser. Under this condition,
the aeration air takes a short cut from the loop seal to the
cyclone directly through the standpipe.
When the riser operates at a high gas velocity, the solids
transfer rate from the riser to the cyclone and standpipe
increases. If there is no corresponding increase in the loop
seal aeration, the solids return rate will be less than that
leaving the riser. So there would be an imbalance in solids
ow rate breaking down the loop system pressure balance.
Similarly, the balance breaks down with a combination of
low riser gas velocity and high loop seal aeration air rate.
Under this condition, the solids height in the standpipe drops
lowering to an extent that the loop seal air takes the low
resistance path through the cyclone, resulting in a drop in
cyclone separation efciency. This adversely affects the
operation of a CFB.
In the present model, the calculation was terminated
either when an imbalance in the loop pressure or air bypassing in the standpipe occurred. Air by-passing happens
when the relative velocity of gas and solids is higher than
the minimum uidizing velocity of the solids. Under this
condition, further increases in relative velocity do not
increase the resistance of the standpipe. So, the pressure
drop in the standpipe reaches its peak making the solids
recycle unstable.
In all calculations, it is found that the loop system
operated only within a certain range of loop seal aeration
air rate for a given riser gas velocity. When the riser gas
velocity varies the operating range of the loop seal aeration also changes. Besides this the solids inventory also
affects the operating range of the loop seal. Reasons for
these behaviour are explained in subsequent sections.
Solids Flow Rate
Figure 2 shows the relationship between the solids ow
rate and the loop seal aeration velocity at different riser gas
velocities. At a xed riser gas velocity, an increase in the

Figure 2. A comparison of theoretical and experimental variation of the

solids ow rate with loop seal air velocity (points are experimental data at
different loop seal slit height).

loop seal aeration rate results in an increased solids ow

through the loop seal. This can be explained by equation
(12), which shows that the solids ow rate increases when
D hr increases. Equation (10) shows that higher aeration
rate or higher velocity expands the bed in the recycle
chamber and increases the D hr .
However, the pressure seal of solids in the standpipe
is broken if the loop aeration is increased continuously
without a corresponding increase in the riser gas velocity.
This denes the maximum operable velocity of the loop
seal. Similarly, if the loop seal velocity is reduced much,
the pressure drop across the standpipe solids falls below that
required to drive the solids. This denes the lower limit of
loop seal aeration.
The lines in Figure 2 give the predicted operating range
of the aeration velocity. Within this operating range, the
solids ow rate increases with loop seal air velocity. The
solids ow also increases as the riser gas velocity increases.
However, at a higher riser gas velocity the operating range
of the loop seal aeration decreases. Thus, the control range
of the solids ow rate reduces at a higher riser velocity.
A limited change in the aeration rate gives a very large
change in the ow rate, and nally there is a breakdown
in the ow.
Since the solids carrying capability of the riser increases
at higher riser velocities, the solids level in the standpipe
increases. This exerts a higher hydrostatic pressure on
the loop seal moving more solids from the standpipe. So
the solids recycle rate increases even when the loop seal
aeration rate is unchanged. Figure 3 shows how the solids
ow rate increases with the riser gas velocity at a xed
loop seal aeration rate.
A high riser velocity results in high solids ow from
the riser to the standpipe. This results in a higher relative
velocity between gas and the solids at a given supply
chamber aeration. This gives a higher pressure drop across
the standpipe. Higher resistance in the standpipe would
cause less air to ow through the supply chamber to maintain the pressure balance. This would increase the air ow
through the recycle chamber which in turn increases the
recycle rate.
The solids circulation rate, predicted from the present
models, were plotted on Figure 2 along with experimental
data. The latter was shown by points while the predictions
are shown by lines. It shows a good agreement between the
model and experiments.

Figure 3. Solids ow rate increases with the supercial velocity at a xed

loop seal air rate.

Trans IChemE, Vol 78, Part A, October 2000

AN ANALYSIS OF LOOP SEAL OPERATIONS IN A CIRCULATING FLUIDIZED BED

Figure 4. Solids height in standpipe decreases with increasing loop seal air
velocity.

Solids Height in Standpipe

Figure 4 shows that the height of solids in the standpipe
decreases with increasing loop seal aeration rate. As the
loop seal aeration air increases, more solids would ow
out of the standpipe, giving a higher circulation rate. This
would, in turn, make the riser denser. Thus, there is an
increase of solids inventory in the riser at the cost of that in
the standpipe. This causes the solids level in the standpipe
to drop. There is, however, a minimum solids height in the
standpipe for a given solids inventory in the system. From
Figure 5 it is found that the pressure drop per unit height
Pe Pd /Ls increases with the gas-solid relative velocity
in the standpipe. So, if the pressure across the riser (Pa Pb )
increases for any reason, a larger fraction of the aeration moves to the standpipe to increase the standpipe head
(Pe Pd ). However, it can increase only up to a certain
maximum valve. Thus if Ls drops too far, the resultant
(Pe Pd ) will not be able to balance the increased pressure
drop (Pa Pb ) in the riser. So a solids height lower than
the minimum will result in an air by-pass through the
standpipe. It should be noted that a higher height of solids
in the standpipe does not mean that a higher pressure is
produced. The pressure drop in the standpipe is determined
not only by the solids height but also by the relative velocity
between solids and gas (Figure 5). If the loop seal aeration
rate is too small, the pressure produced by the solids in the
standpipe will not be enough to balance the loop system
pressure and this would stop solids recycle rate (Figure 4).

995

Figure 6. Pressure prole along the circulation loop at different solids

circulation rate around the CFB loop.

This aeration rate, as explained earlier, denes the lower

operating limit of the loop seal.
Pressure Drops and Pressure Balance
Pressure drops across different sections of the CFB loop
vary with changes in the loop seal aeration rate. As discussed above, the solids ow rate increases with the loop
seal aeration rate, and so does with the solids inventory in
the riser. Thus, the pressure drop in the riser increases with
the increment in the loop seal aeration rate. The riser
pressure drop also increases with the riser gas velocity at a
given aeration rate.
The pressure drop across the standpipe is a combined
result of the solids height and the relative velocity between
solids and gas in it (Figure 5). With increasing aeration
rates the relative velocity increases, but the solids height
decreases in the standpipe (Figure 4). This explains why
the rate of increase of pressure drop drops off at higher
aeration rates.
The pressure drop across the opening between the two
chambers of the loop seal increases with a rise in the loop
seal aeration rate. The slit is like an orice through which
gas-solids ow. At higher aeration rates, there is a higher
ow through the slit which in turn causes higher pressure drops. The equation used to calculate the slit pressure
drop was taken from the experimental data of Jin15 and
Kuramoto16 .
The voidage of the recycle chamber increases as the loop
seal aeration rate increases. Thus, the pressure drop in the
recycle chamber decreases with the loop seal aeration rate.
The bed expansion equation (10) gives a steady decline
in bed density except at very high supercial gas velocities.
Figure 6 shows the pressure drops along the whole loop
and their change at different solids ow rates. This gure
explains the pressure balance and shows how it is maintained at varying solids ow rates. Similar pressure distributions around the CFB loop were found in the experiments
of Basu et al.5 .
Effect of Solids Inventory

Figure 5. Variation of pressure drop across the unit height of the standpipe
with increasing gas solids slip velocity in the standpipe.

Trans IChemE, Vol 78, Part A, October 2000

Li and Kwauk19 used the results of Weinstein et al.20

to suggest that axial voidage proles are affected by the
solids inventory in the system. This implies that the system
solids inventory has an effect on the pressure distribution

996

BASU and CHENG

Figure 7. Solids ow rate increases with loop seal air velocity at different
solids inventories (ug = 3 ms 1).

around the loop. Similar results were obtained by the present

work. Figure 7 shows that at a xed aeration rate the
solids ow rate changes with the system solids inventory.
At a given loop seal aeration rate, the solids ow rate
increases as the solids inventory increases. And the operational range of the loop seal aeration rate also increases
with the solids inventory.
Effect of Standpipe Size
Inuence of standpipe diameter on the solids ow rate
is shown in Figure 8. It shows that a smaller size standpipe
can handle a given solids ow rate at a smaller loop seal
aeration rate. However, this decreases the solids storage
capacity in a smaller standpipe. There would be a large
change in the solids height in the standpipe for a relatively small change in the solids ow rate. This makes the
system less stable.
Effect of Loop Seal Slit Height
The slit height does not play an important role as long as
it does not provide signicant resistance (Figure 9). The
solids ow rates do not change much at different slit
heights. This is a result of smaller values of the linear
velocity of solids through the slit (0.005 0.06 m s 1 in
Figure 9) which offers a resistance small compared to that
in other components in the loop.

Figure 8. Solids ow rate increases with loop seal air velocity for different
standpipe sizes (ug = 3 ms 1).

Figure 9. Solids ow rate varies with the loop seal air rate at different slit
heights (ug = 3 ms 1).

Effect of Particle Size

Solids particle size has an effect on the solids ow rate
(Figure 10). Smaller size particle has higher solids ow
rate at a xed loop seal aeration rate. At a given riser gas
velocity, smaller size of solids has lower umf , and therefore, higher relative velocity (ug umf ). This gives larger
pressure drops across the standpipe, which result in higher
solids ow rate through the loop seal.
Effect of Adjusting Parameters
Finally, the adjusting parameters in the model are discussed. There are two main adjusting parameters in the
model calculation. One is the fraction of the loop seal air
entering the supply chamber of the loop seal and this parameter can be obtained from experiments14 . It was taken as
a constant in the present model and it might change with the
pressure distribution in the loop seal. A lower value gives
lower solids ow rate at a given loop seal aeration rate,
but the operating range of the loop seal air rate increases
(Figure 11).
Another parameter is the constant c of the sharp-crested
theory in the equation (11). As the pressure drop across
this section is not large compared to that in other places,
the inuence of c can be neglected.

Figure 10. The variation of solids ow rate with loop seal air velocity for
different particle sizes (ug = 3 ms 1).

Trans IChemE, Vol 78, Part A, October 2000

AN ANALYSIS OF LOOP SEAL OPERATIONS IN A CIRCULATING FLUIDIZED BED

Q
Qs
u0
ug
umf
up
ur
us
usg
ut
Du
W
Fs
d

Figure 11. Solids ow rate increases with the loop seal air velocity at
different air fractions (ug = 3 ms 1).

den
dil
r
s

mg

CONCLUSION
A simple model of the operation of the loop seal in
circulating uidized beds is developed on the basis of
pressure balance. It showed that the sharp-crested theory can
be applied to estimate solids ow rate through the loop seal.
The loop system operated only within a certain range
of loop seal aeration rate for a given riser gas velocity. At
a given riser gas velocity the system can not be made
to operate well at any solids recycle rate even through
adjustments of the loop seal aeration. When the riser gas
velocity varies the operating range of loop seal aeration
rate also changes.
Other observations made are:
1) The solids ow rate increases with the loop seal air
velocity.
2) The solids inventory in the system has an effect on the
solids ow rate. At a given loop seal aeration rate
the solids ow rate increases as the solids inventory
increases.
3) The solids ow rate decreases as the standpipe size
increases at a certain loop seal air rate.
4) The slit size of the loop seal does not have a major effect
on the solids ow rate if the slit is adequately wide.
5) At a given loop seal aeration rate, smaller particles will
have a higher solids ow rate.
NOMENCLATURE
Ab
Arc
As
Asc
Asp
c
dp
ds
g
Gs
hg
hden
hdil
hr
D hr
Ls
lsc
M0
Pi
D Pi j

cross-section area of the riser, m2

area of the loop seal recycle chamber, m2
area of slit between two chambers in the loop seal, m2
cross-section area of the supply chamber, m2
cross-section area of the standpipe, m2
constant in equations (11) and (12)
solids particle diameter, m
standpipe, diameter, m
acceleration due to gravity, m s 2
solids ow rate, kg s 1
loop-seal gap height, m
dense region height in the riser, m
dilute region height in the riser, m
recycle chamber height, m
suspended solids height above the weir, m
height of solids above the air distributor of supply chamber, m
height of supply chamber, m
solids inventory of the system, kg
pressure at Point I, i a, b, c, d, e, f, g, Pa
friction loss including acceleration loss in IJ section, ij ab, bc, cd,
de, ef, fg, ga, Pa

Trans IChemE, Vol 78, Part A, October 2000

g
s

997

air ow of the loop seal, m3 s 1

solids volume ow, m3 s 1
velocity of gas in the standpipe, m s 1
velocity of gas in the riser, m s 1
minimum uidizing velocity, m s 1
absolute velocity of solids particle, m s 1
uidizing velocity in the recycle chamber, m s 1
supercial velocity of solids in the standpipe, m s 1
actual gas velocity in the standpipe, ms 1
particle terminal velocity, m s 1
supercial gas velocity in the standpipe, m s 1
weir width, m
sphericity of a particle,
average fraction of the overall air entered the supply chamber of
loop seal,
voidage in lower dense region of the riser,
voidage in upper dilute region of the riser,
voidage in the recycle chamber,
voidage in the standpipe,
viscosity of gas, kg ms 1
density of gas, kg m 3
density of solids, kg m 3

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ADDRESS
Correspondence concerning this paper should be addressed to Dr
P. Basu, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Dalhousie University,
Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada B3J 2X4. E-mail: Prabir.Basu@Dal.Co
The manuscript was communicated via our International Editor for
Canada, Professor Philippe Tanguy. It was received 19 March 1999 and
accepted for publication after revision 6 September 2000.

Trans IChemE, Vol 78, Part A, October 2000