4170

Energy & Fuels 2008, 22, 41704176

Fluidization of Biomass Particles in a Gas-Solid Fluidized Bed

Wenqi Zhong,* Baosheng Jin, Yong Zhang, Xiaofang Wang, and Rui Xiao
School of Energy and EnVironment, Southeast UniVersity, Nanjing 210096, Peoples Republic of China
ReceiVed June 22, 2008. ReVised Manuscript ReceiVed August 15, 2008

Studies on the fluidization of biomass particles and binary mixtures of biomass particles with fluidization
mediums were carried out. The biomass particles used were wood chip, mung beans, millet, corn stalk, and
cotton stalk, and the fluidization mediums employed were silica sand, continental flood basalt (CFB) cinder,
and aluminum oxide. Experiments were performed in a rectangular biomass fluidized bed (cross-sections of
0.4 0.4 m in a dense region and 0.5 0.5 m in a freeboard region, with a height of 4.4 m). The minimum
fluidization velocity (UMF) of approximate sphere biomass particles (wood chip, mung beans, and millet) and
long thin biomass particles (corn stalk and cotton stalk) in different transection diameters and ratios of length/
diameter were tested. Furthermore, the UMF of binary mixtures of biomass particles with fluidization mediums
of different particle densities and diameters was obtained. The results showed that the UMF of long thin
biomass increases with an increasing transection diameter and aspect ratio of length/diameter, while long thin
biomass with the aspect ratio over a certain value could not be fluidized; the UMF of binary mixtures increase
with an increasing density and diameter of fluidization medium and an increasing mass fraction of biomass.
On the basis of experimental data, new correlations were developed for predicting the values of UMF.
Comparisons of the predicted UMF by the correlations with experimental data in both the present work and
literature were carried out. It was found that the present proposed correlations reasonably well-predicted the
UMF of biomass particles and binary mixtures of biomasses with fluidization mediums.

1. Introduction
The transformation of biomass into fuel and chemicals is
becoming increasingly popular worldwide as a way to mitigate
global warming and diversify energy sources.1 A number of
thermo-chemical processes are under development worldwide,
e.g., combustion, gasification, and pyrolysis. Many of these
processes are based on fluidization; however, biomass particles
have peculiar shapes, sizes, and densities, which make them
difficult to fluidize and handle.2 Thus, the fluidization characteristics, including minimum fluidization velocity, ways of
achieving fluidization, mixing and segregation, and residence
time distributions, are of interest for the design and optimization
of these processes and equipment.
Fluidized beds have been applied widely in dealing with
biomass because of their advantages of high heat transfer,
uniform and controllable temperatures, favorable gas-solid
contacting, and the ability to handle a wide variation in
particulate properties.3 Many valuable efforts have been performed in understanding the fluidization characteristics of
biomass and the mixture of biomass with fluidization medium,
e.g., refs4-11. However, limited work that has been reported
on the influence of key particle properties (e.g., particle size
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. Telephone: +86-2583794744. Fax: +86-25-83795508. E-mail: wqzhong@seu.edu.cn.
(1) Briens, C.; Piskorz, J.; Berruti, F. Biomass valorization for fuel and
chemicals productionsA review. Int. J. Chem. React. Eng. 2008, 6, R2.
(2) Cui, H.; Grace, J. R. Fluidization of biomass particles: A review of
experimental multiphase flow aspects. Chem. Eng. Sci. 2007, 62, 4555.
(3) Lv, P. M.; Xiong, Z. H.; Chang, C. Z.; Chen, Y.; Zhu, J. X. An
experimental study on biomass air-steam gasification in a fluidized bed.
Bioresour. Technol. 2004, 95, 95101.
(4) Pilar Aznar, M.; Gracia-Gorria, F. A.; Corella, J. Minimum and
maximum velocities for fluidization for mixtures of agricultural and forest
residues with second fluidized solid. I. Preliminary data and results with
sand-sawdust mixtures. Int. Chem. Eng. 1992, 32, 95102.

and particle density) and the presence of particles of extreme

shapes (e.g., long thin stalks or flat chips) on the fluidization.2
As an important parameter of fluidization hydrodynamic characteristics, the minimum fluidization velocity not only quantitatively indicates the amount of drag force needed to attain solid
suspension in the gas phase but also constitutes a reference for
the evaluation of the intensity of the fluidization regime at higher
velocity levels.12 Until now, there is a lack of data on the
minimum fluidization velocity of particular forms of agricultural
biomasses, including straw, corn stalk, and cotton stalk, even
less than the correlation of minimum fluidization velocity. Thus,
theoretical attempts as well as experiments aiming at grasping
interesting and helpful information on the minimum fluidization
velocities of biomass fuels are expected.
In the present work, experiments on the fluidization of
biomasses (wood chip, mung beans, millet, corn stalk, and cotton
(5) Pilar Aznar, M.; Gracia-Gorria, F. A.; Corella, J. Minimum and
maximum velocities for fluidization for mixtures of agricultural and forest
residues with a second fluidized solid. II. Experimental results for different
mixtures. Int. Chem. Eng. 1992, 32, 103113.
(6) Laytner, F.; Grace, J. R.; Epstein, N.; Pinder, K. L. Mobility of wood
wafers in a gas-fluidized bed. In Fluidization VIII; Large, J. F., Laguerie,
C., Eds.; Engineering Foundation: New York, 1995; pp 93-102.
(7) Chen, K. F.; Chen, Sh. M. Fluidization properties of high-consistency
fiber suspensions. Exp. Therm. Fluid Sci. 1997, 14, 149159.
(8) Rao, T. R.; Bheemarasetti, J. V. R. Minimum fluidization velocities
of mixtures of biomass and sands. Energy 2001, 26, 633644.
(9) Kozanoglu, B. U.; Welti Chanes, J.; Garca Cuautle, D; Santos Jean,
J. P. Hydrodynamics of large particle fluidization in reduced pressure
operations: an experimental study. Powder Technol. 2002, 125, 5560.
(10) Suarez, J. A.; Beaton, P. A. Physical properties of Cuban coffee
husk for use as an energy source. Energy Sources 2003, 25, 953959.
(11) Abdullah, M. Z.; Husain, Z.; Yin Pong, S. L. Analysis of cold flow
fluidization test results for various biomass fuels. Biomass Bioenergy 2003,
24, 487494.
(12) Frmisani, B.; DeCristofaro, G.; Girimonte, R. A fundamental
approach to the phenomenology of fluidization of size segregating binary
mixtures of solids. Chem. Eng. Sci. 2001, 56, 109119.

10.1021/ef800495u CCC: $40.75 2008 American Chemical Society

Published on Web 10/21/2008

Fluidization of Biomass Particles

Energy & Fuels, Vol. 22, No. 6, 2008 4171

Figure 2. UMF of cotton stalk and corn stalk in different ratios of

length/diameter.
Figure 1. Schematic diagram of the experimental system.

stalk) and binary mixtures of biomasses with fluidization

mediums [silica sand, continental flood basalt (CFB) cinder, and
aluminum oxide] were carried out in a gas-solid fluidized bed.
It focused on examining the effects of particle size, density,
and shape on the minimum fluidization velocity and obtaining
helpful experimental data. Furthermore, new correlations were
developed for predicting the values of minimum fluidization
velocity based on the experimental data.
2. Experimental Section
Experiments were carried out in a gas-solid fluidized bed. The
schematic diagram of the experimental system is illustrated in Figure
1, which consists of a fluidized bed, a gas supply system, a
differential pressure acquisition system, and a digital visual
acquisition system.
The fluidized bed is rectangular-shaped, which has a cross-section
of 0.4 0.4 m in the low-dense region and a cross-section of 0.5
0.5 m in the upper freeboard region. The total height of the bed
is approximately 4.4 m. A Roots-type blower supplied the fluidizing
gas. Gas flow rates are regulated by an orifice flowmeter. The
fluidizing gas entered into the gas chamber first and then entered
the bed via the gas distributor. The gas distributor was composed
of 48 equally spaced nozzle-type tuyeres with four horizontal
orifices. For visual observation, the front wall of the low-dense
region was made of glass. The right wall of the bed could be opened
for the loading and discharging of biomass particles and fluidization
mediums.
Five pressure taps were located on the left wall: one was in the
gas chamber, and the others were along the bed heights of 0.05,
0.15, 0.68, and 2.96 m, respectively. Pressure drops through the
bed were measured by a differential pressure sampling apparatus.
The pressures were measured and then converted into voltage
signals by a multichannel differential pressure signal transmitter
with a scale of 0-10 kPa. The voltage signals were sent to a
computer through an A/D converter.
The experimental biomass particles were wood chip, mung bean,
millet, corn stalk, and cotton stalk. The fluidization mediums were
silica sand, CFB cinder, and aluminum oxide. The particle densities
were measured by an electronic specific gravity balance (MD-300S).
For the measurements of low-density particles, i.e., less than 1000
kg/m3, particles were enclosed in a multiporous metal box first and
then immerged into measurement medium. By this method, the
voidage can be calculated by subtracting the volume of the metal
box. The medium used in the measurements was distilled water.
The diameters of approximate sphere particles were measured by
a laser particle size analyzer (Mastersizer 2000). The transection
diameters and lengths of long thin particles were measures by a
vernier caliper. To obtain accurate mean values, three measurements
were carried out.

Experiments were conducted at room temperature and atmospheric pressure. The fluidizations of biomass particles with and
without fluidization mediums were experimented. For the experiment of biomass fuel with fluidization medium, the initial arrangement of the bed was such that the particles were well-mixed. To
obtain such a state, two species were placed into the bed layer by
layer in sequence. Starting from the fixed-bed state, the gas velocity
was slowly increased until it reached a larger value to obtain a
complete fluidized state and then decreased the gas velocity to
measure the minimum fluidization velocity according to the pressure
drop line. It has been widely accepted that the interaction of the
pressure drop line of the fixed bed with that for the fluidization
state is denoted the minimum fluidization condition, and its
corresponding superficial gas velocity is defined as the minimum
fluidization velocity. Similar to most previous investigations (e.g.,
Rao and Bheemarasetti8 and Kozanoglu et al.9), the value of
minimum fluidization velocity measured with a decreasing gas
velocity from the complete fluidized state was performed in the
present work to ensure that the measured values could make the
bed fluidized.

3. Results and Discussion

3.1. Experimental Minimum Fluidization Velocities.
3.1.1. Long Thin Biomass Particles. Long thin biomass is one
of the familiar biomass fuels but with extreme shape, e.g., cotton
stalks and corn stalks. Here, extreme shape refers to not familiar
shape, for example, long thin stalks and flat chips, according to
Cui and Grace,2 and long thin biomass refers to that which
covers a larger aspect ratio of length/transection diameter
(generally 1 < L/dpt < 20). Because of the lower energy
consumption of cutting very long biomass stalks to a certain
length than grinding to particles, long thin biomass fuels are of
increasing interest in industrial applications. For example, they
are very appropriate to be dealt with in gas-solid fluidized beds.
However, there has been no study on their hydrodynamic
characteristics in gas-solid fluidized beds until now.2 In the
present experiment, the fluidization of two kinds of long thin
biomasses particles was investigated.
Figure 2 plots the varieties of minimum fluidization velocity
of cotton stalk (Fp ) 365 kg/m3, dpt ) 5 mm) and corn stalk
(Fp ) 274 kg/m3, dpt ) 4 mm) with increasing ratios of length/
diameter. Here, the diameter dpt of long thin biomass refers the
diameter in its transection. It is found that the minimum
fluidization velocities of both biomass fuels increase with
increasing aspect ratios of length/diameter. For a given ratio of
length/diameter, an increase in particle transection diameter leads
to an increasing minimum fluidization velocity, as presented in
Figure 3.

4172 Energy & Fuels, Vol. 22, No. 6, 2008

Figure 3. UMF of cotton stalk in different transection diameters.

Figure 4. UMF of mung beans in different mass fractions with

fluidization mediums.

It was observed in the experiments that long thin biomass

with a ratio of length/diameter over a certain value could not
be fluidized. Taking cotton stalk for example, to become
fluidized, the aspect ratio of length/diameter should be L/dpt <
18 when the transection diameter of long thin biomass is 3.4
mm, while when the transection diameter increases to 6.5 mm,
the aspect ratio L/dpt should be not larger than 12. However,
the range of the aspect ratio is not fully determined at this time,
because the ratio is related to many other factors besides the
transection diameter. The above-mentioned trend might be due
to the phenomenon that long thin biomasses are usually bridging
and enwinding each other, which gives an adverse effect to
fluidization. In this case, large fluidizing gas is needed for
fluidization, which is especially visible for the biomass with a
large ratio of length/diameter. Besides, unlike particulate
fluidization of particles, the fluidizing of long thin biomass is
found to be aggregative fluidization.
3.1.2. Approximate Sphere Biomass with Fluidization
Medium. Biomass, especially long thin biomass, cannot be easily
fluidized because of their peculiar shapes, sizes, and densities.
For proper fluidization and processing in the reactor, a second
fluidization medium, usually an inert material, such as silica
sand, CFB cinder, and aluminum oxide, are used to facilitate
fluidization of biomass. They also act as a heat-transfer medium
in the reactor. In the present work, the fluidizations of biomass
particles including the above-mentioned long thin biomass with
fluidization mediums were tested and their minimum fluidization
velocities were determined.
Figure 4 shows the minimum fluidization velocity of mung
bean (Fp ) 1640 kg/m3, dp ) 3.2 mm) with two kinds of
fluidization mediums (silica sand, Fp ) 2700 kg/m3, dp ) 1.0
mm; CFB cinder, Fp ) 1870 kg/m3, dp ) 2.8 mm) at different

Zhong et al.

Figure 5. Effect of the fluidization medium diameter on the UMF of

the binary mixture.

Figure 6. Effect of fluidization medium density on the UMF of the

binary mixture.

biomass mass fractions. The data shown in Figure 4 cover a

range of effective diameters from 1.0 to 3.2 mm. The minimum
fluidization velocity of pure mung bean was determined as 1.07
m/s, and the minimum fluidization velocities of pure silica sand
and CFB cinder were determined as 0.56 and 0.92 m/s,
respectively. For the binary mixture of mung bean with
fluidization mediums, it can be seen that the minimum fluidization velocity increases with an increasing mass fraction of
biomass. In this case, the effective particle diameter of the
mixture increases, which leads to an increasing minimum
fluidization velocity.
The effect of the fluidization medium diameter on the
minimum fluidization velocity of the binary mixture of wood
chip (Fp ) 564 kg/m3, dp ) 0.89 mm) and silica sand is shown
in Figure 5. It can be seen that the minimum fluidization velocity
increases with an increasing diameter of fluidization medium
at a given biomass fuel mass fraction. When the density of the
fluidization medium is increased, the minimum fluidization
velocity of the binary mixture increases, as presented in Figure
6. The minimum fluidization velocities of binary mixtures of
approximate sphere biomass with fluidization medium have
similar characteristics of fluidization medium in the fluidization.
In these cases, the mass fractions are lower when compared to
the fluidization mediums. Both the effective particle diameter
and the effective particle density for the binary mixture increase
when the diameter and density of the fluidization mediums
increase. As a result, the minimum fluidization velocities of
binary mixtures increase.
3.1.3. Long Thin Biomass with Fluidization Medium. Figure
7 shows the minimum fluidization velocities of long thin cotton
stalk in different ratios of length/diameter with siliceous sand

Fluidization of Biomass Particles

Energy & Fuels, Vol. 22, No. 6, 2008 4173

Figure 8. UMF of cotton stalk in different diameters with different

fluidization mediums.

Figure 7. UMF of cotton stalk in different ratios of length/diameter

with fluidization mediums: (a) silica sand and (b) CFB cinder.

and CFB cinder. It can be seen that the minimum fluidization

velocities increase with an increasing mass fraction of biomass
ranges from 0 to 5%. The present experiments performed under
the cases that the mass fraction of long thin biomass is no more
than 5%. In the CFB combustion of cotton stalk, the mass
fraction of biomass to the fluidization medium is always less
than 5% because of the low packed density and high volume
ratio of the biomass in the bed corresponding to the higher mass
fraction of the solids. Take biomass CFB for example, the
fluidization medium with about 500 mm in height is generally
used to improve fluidization; the height of long thin biomass
(e.g., cotton stalk) reaches about 500 and 720 mm when the
mass fraction of biomass is 5% for the fluidization medium of
silica sand and aluminum oxide, respectively. It can be imagined
that the bed could not be well-fluidized when the height of long
thin biomass is higher than that of fluidization medium.
Figure 7 indicates that the minimum fluidization velocities
of long thin biomass with fluidization medium increase with
increasing aspect ratios of length/diameter. In comparison to
the minimum fluidization velocity of long thin biomass only
and long thin biomass with fluidization medium, it is found that
the fluidization can be achieved with a larger aspect ratio of
long thin biomass with fluidization medium. Taking cotton stalk
of 5 mm transaction diameter for example, the bed could not
be fluidized when the aspect ratio L/dpt is larger than 16 in a
pure biomass fluidized bed (Figure 3), while a fluidized bed
with fluidization medium even when the aspect ratio L/dpt
reached 20 can be well-fluidized (Figure 7). This indicated that
fluidization medium improves the fluidization of long thin
biomass.

The minimum fluidization velocities of long thin biomass in

different transection diameters with three kinds of fluidization
mediums are presented in Figure 8. As shown in this figure,
the minimum fluidization velocities increase with increasing
biomass transection diameters for each fluidization medium.
Additionally, the minimum fluidization velocities of binary
mixtures of long thin biomass with fluidization medium have
similar characteristics of fluidization medium in the fluidization,
the minimum fluidization velocity increases when the density
of the fluidization medium increases.
3.2. Correlation of Minimum Fluidization Velocity.
3.2.1. Determination of the UMF Correlation. Knowledge of
the minimum fluidization velocity facilitates the study of reaction
kinetics because it allows for a rational use of the gas in the
gas phase as an excess over that required for minimum
fluidization. It would therefore be useful to be able to predict
this velocity instead of having to measure it for each new
situation. In the literature, several equations are proposed for
predicting the minimum fluidization velocity mainly based on
particle and gas properties, i.e., densities of solid and gas,
sphericity, particle diameter, and voidage at minimum fluidization velocity (e.g., Ergun14 and Lippens and Mulder15). These
expressions require parameters of the sphericity and voidage at
minimum fluidization velocity, which are difficult to measure
experimentally. Coltters and Rivas16 proposed a new relationship
without the necessity of experimental determination of bed
voidages and shape factors for the prediction of minimum
fluidization velocity, which was in very well agreement with
the experimental data.
However, there has been little investigation on the minimum
fluidization velocity correlation of mixtures of solids with
different particle sizes, especially the mixtures of biomass
particles with different sizes and densities. Cheung et al.17
proposed an equation for predicting minimum fluidization
velocities of binary mixtures of particles in different sizes, which
is given by
(13) Clarke, K. L.; Pugsley, T.; Hill, G. A. Fluidization of moist sawdust
in binary particle systems in a gas-solid fluidized bed. Chem. Eng. Sci.
2005, 60, 69096918.
(14) Ergun, S. Fluid flow through packed columns. Chem. Eng. Prog.
1952, 48, 8994.
(15) Lippens, B. C.; Mulder, J. Prediction of the minimum fluidization
velocity. Powder Technol. 1993, 75, 6778.
(16) Coltters, R.; Rivas, A. L. Minimum fluidation velocity correlations
in particulate systems. Powder Technol. 2004, 147, 3448.
(17) Cheung, L.; Nienow, A. W.; Rowe, P. N. Minimum fluidization
velocity of a binary mixture of different sized particles. Chem. Eng. Sci.
1974, 24, 13011303.

4174 Energy & Fuels, Vol. 22, No. 6, 2008

()

umf ) us

ub
us

Zhong et al.

xb 2

(1)

This equation depends upon the mass fraction of the particles

in the mixture and the individual minimum fluidization velocity
for each particle fraction, in which us and ub are minimum
fluidization velocities of small and larger particles, respectively,
and xb is the mass fraction of the larger particles. Rao and
Bheemarasetti8 found that this correlation predicted lower values
compared to their experimental values. Thus, they proposed a
new correlation, that is
dpe2(Fpe - Fg)g
1650g

umf )

(2)

where dpe and Fpe are effective particle diameter and effective
density of the mixtures, respectively.
However, eq 2 is not very convenient for use because there
is a coefficient included in effective particle diameter that is
difficult to determine, detailed information could be seen in Rao
and Bheemarasetti.8 In the present work, the minimum fluidization velocity is considered to be characterized by particles with
different shapes, sizes, densities, and compositions. The determination of correlation for predicting the minimum fluidization
velocities of biomass is based on the general expression
proposed by Coltters and Rivas.16 The relationship is presented
as follows

umf ) kXR ) k

() ]

dp2(Fp - Fg) Fp
g
Fg

1.23 R

(3)

Equation 3 is a general expression that may be used to estimate

the minimum fluidization velocity in a system. The precise
knowledge of bed voidage at minimum fluidization velocity is
avoided in this equation, which is very important given the
experimental difficulties in determining those parameters,
especially when beds of irregular shape and coarse particles are
handled.16 dp and Fp in this equation refer to the single material.
To use this equation for the biomass mixtures, quantities such
as effective particle diameter dpe and effective density Fpe of
the irregular shape biomass and binary mixture of biomass with
fluidization medium are used. The effective density of the
mixture is calculated using the following general equation:
Fpe )

w1F1 + w2F2
) x1F1 + x2F2
w1 + w2

(4)

in which w1 and w2 are the weights of particles in the binary

mixture, x1 and x2 are the mass fractions of particles in the binary
mixture, with x1 < x2, and F1 and F2 are the densities of particles
in the binary mixture.
To determine the effective diameter dpe, it is assumed that
the effective particle diameter for mixtures depends upon the
individual particle sizes, densities, and their composition. The
following equation is defined for calculating the effective particle
diameter for mixtures:

[( )( )]

dpe ) dp1

F1 dp2
F2 dp1

w2/w1

) dp1

[( )( )]
F1 dp2
F2 dp1

x2/x1

(5)

In eq 5, dp1 and dp2 refer to the effective particle diameters of

composition in binary mixtures. While dp1 is the diameter of
the particle that is in less mass fraction of the mixture, it does
not matter if dp1 is the biomass or the fluidization medium.
Combining eqs 3-5, the minimum fluidizing velocity yields

umf ) kXR ) k

( ) ]

dpe2(Fpe - Fg) Fpe

g
Fg

1.23 R

(6)

Figure 9. Determination of the UMF correlation of the low-effective

density particulate system.

It is well-known that the minimum fluidization velocity is

sensitive to parameters such as solid and fluid densities, the
nature of solids and fluids, etc. Additionally, the minimum
fluidization velocity is quite sensitive to the density difference
because of the buoyancy. The particle-fluid density ratio can
be related to the drag exerted from the fluid on the particles
and to the void fraction. In the present work, correlations were
determined for the low- and high-effective density particulate
systems, respectively.
For low-effective density particulate system (0 < Fpe < 1000
kg/m3), the correlation of minimum fluidization velocity is
determined as

umf ) 1.2 10-4X0.633 ) 1.2 10-4

( ) ]

dpe2(Fpe - Fg) Fpe

g
Fg

1.23 0.633

(7)

The determination of eq 7 based on the experimental values is

presented in Figure 9. It can be seen that the minimum
fluidization velocity is a function of parameter X. Besides, the
equation fits the experimental data in an excellent manner, with
closer scatter of the data points around this line. The fitting of
the experimental data to eq 7 has a correlation coefficient of R
) 0.99. This equation can be used to predict the minimum
fluidization velocities of not only the binary particulate system
but also biomass, only when the effective density ranges from
0 to 1000 kg/m3, because the experimental data used to
determine the correlation includes the data of low-density
biomass.
For the high-effective density particulate system (Fpe > 1000
kg/m3), the correlation of minimum fluidization velocity is
determined as
umf ) 1.45 10-3X0.363 ) 1.45 10-3

dpe2(Fpe - Fg)

( ) ]
Fpe
Fg

1.23 0.363

(8)

The determination of eq 8 based on the experimental values is

presented in Figure 10. The minimum fluidization velocity is a
function of parameter X. The equation fits the experimental data
in a reasonable manner. A closer scatter of the data points around
this line is seen. The fitting of the experimental data to eq 8
has a correlation coefficient of R ) 0.96. The correlation is
applicable for the high-effective density binary particulate
system, with the effective density larger than 1000 kg/m3.

Fluidization of Biomass Particles

Energy & Fuels, Vol. 22, No. 6, 2008 4175

Figure 12. Comparison of present experimental UMF with predicted

data by the correlations of the present work and in the literature.
Figure 10. Determination of the UMF correlation of the high-effective
density particulate system.

and Bheemarasetti8 correlations contain certain errors, with some

errors beyond 40%. Not considering the difference in measurement, when the data under different operating conditions were
checked, it was found these two correlations failed to predict
the minimum fluidization velocities of binary mixtures of long
thin biomasses with fluidization mediums. As a result, the
relative errors of predictions to experiments were found to be
very large.
4. Conclusions

Figure 11. Comparison of predicted UMF by eqs 7 and 8 with

experimental data of the present work and in the literature.

3.2.2. Verification of the UMF Correlation. Figure 11 shows

the comparison of predicted minimum fluidization velocities by
eqs 7 and 8 with experimental data. Experimental data were
obtained from the present work and the experiments by Rao
and Bheemarasetti8 and Abdullah et al.11 It is found that the
present correlations quite satisfactorily predicted the experimental results. The mean relative error of the predictions to the
experiments is 14.7%. This indicates that the present correlation
is available. However, the prediction is overestimated the
minimum fluidization velocities than experiments by Rao and
Bheemarasetti,8 with a mass fraction of biomass less than 10%
and a mean relative error over 40%. This error could not
generate the difference in the measurement way. Both present
experiments and Rao and Bheemarasetti8 employed the method
of decreasing superficial gas velocity. Besides, it is known that
the data measured with decreasing superficial gas velocity is
somewhat larger than that measured with an increasing superficial gas velocity, but the difference is generally no more than
5%. Thus, the error might be due to using mean diameters of
fluidization mediums in predictions, while their experiments
were carried out with a wide distribution of particle diameters
of fluidization medium.
To further verify the present correlations, Figure 12 gives
the comparison of present experimental minimum fluidization
velocities with predicted data by the correlations of the present
work and in the literature. The present correlation predicts the
experimental results reasonably well, with a mean relative error
of 13.2%. While the predictions by Cheung et al.17 and Rao

Experimental data of minimum fluidization velocities for

five kinds of biomass particles (wood chip, mung beans,
millet, corn stalk, and cotton stalk) and binary mixtures of
biomasses with three kinds of fluidization mediums (silica
sand, CFB cinder, and aluminum oxide) were obtained in a
rectangular fluidized bed (cross-sections of 0.4 0.4 m in
a dense region and 0.5 0.5 m in a freeboard region, with
a height of 4.4 m). New correlations were developed for
predicting the values of minimum fluidization velocities based
on the experimental data.
The notable findings are that the minimum fluidization
velocity of long thin biomass increases with an increasing
diameter and aspect ratio of length/diameter, while long thin
biomass with the aspect ratio over a certain value could not be
fluidized, and the minimum fluidization velocity of the binary
mixture increases with an increasing density and diameter of
fluidization medium and an increasing mass fraction of biomass.
Besides, the present proposed correlations could predict the
minimum fluidization velocities of biomass particles and the
binary mixture of biomass with fluidization medium reasonably
well.
Acknowledgment. Financial support from the National Natural
Science Foundation of China (50676021 and 50706007) is sincerely
acknowledged.

Nomenclature
dp ) sphere mean diameter or volume sphere equivalent diameter,
mm
dpe ) effective particle diameter of binary mixtures, mm
dpt ) transection diameter of the long thin particle, mm
dp1, dp2 ) effective particle diameter of composition in binary
mixtures, mm
k ) parameter in the UMF correlation
ub ) minimum fluidization velocity of larger particles, m/s
us ) minimum fluidization velocity of small particles, m/s
umf ) minimum fluidization velocity, m/s
UMF ) minimum fluidization velocity

4176 Energy & Fuels, Vol. 22, No. 6, 2008

Zhong et al.

w1, w2 ) weight of composition in binary mixtures, kg

X ) parameter in the UMF correlation, m/s
x ) mass fraction of biomass in the binary mixture
xb ) mass fraction of the larger particles in the binary mixture
x1, x2 ) mass fraction of composition in binary mixtures

Fg ) gas density, kg/m3

Fp ) particle density, kg/m3
Fpe ) effective particle density, kg/m3
F1, F2 ) particle density of composition in binary mixtures, kg/m3
g ) gas viscosity, kg m-1 s-1

Greek Letters
R ) parameter in the UMF correlation

EF800495U