1.

INTRODUCTION

1.1

Background of the experiment

Fluidization is occurred when quantity of a solid particulate substance is placed under

appropriate conditions to cause a solid or fluid mixture to behave as a fluid. Fluidized beds are
known for their high heat and mass transfer coefficients due to the high surface area-to-volume
ratio of fine particles. It is an important application that fluidized beds are widely used in
industrial processes for separations, rapid mass and heat transfer operations and catalytic
reactions.

Packed bed situations include such diverse processes as filtration, wastewater

treatment, and the flow of crude oil in a petroleum reservoir. In these cases, the interest centers
on the pressure drop through the bed as a function the volumetric flow rate or superficial
velocity. If the particles in the bed are loose and there is sufficient volume in the device
containing the particles, the particles may fluidize at high flow rates
.
In this experiment, the characteristics of fluidization in gas-solid system are studied by
using fine sand. The behavior, pressure drop and the thickness of fluidized bed form are studied
throughout the experiment. The important phenomenon of bubbling occurs can be observed in a
gas-solid systems when the as velocity is in the excess of that required for fluidization.

1.2

Objective of the experiment

The objective of the experiment is to study the behavior of fluidization.

1.3

Scopes of the experiment

In this experiment, the principles of fluidization of fine sand are studied by using fine

sand. The principles include the thickness of the fluidized bed, behavior of the fluidized bed and

the pressure drop when there are different air flow rate supplied to the system within two minutes
gap.
3.0

METHODOLOGY
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The power switch was turned on.

The air flow rate (L/min) was adjusted to 2 L/min and wait for two minute.
The behavior of the fluidized bed of fine sand was observed when reach two minute and
the thickness of the bed fine sand (cm) and pressure drop (mmH2O) were measured and

recorded.
The measurement, recording and observation were repeated for 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 13, 14, 16

and 18 L/min every minute.

The experiment is ended when there a big gap of the fine sand in the tube (burst). The
power switch was turned off after the experiment was done.