Gas-Solid Reactor

Models
Quak Foo Lee
Department of Chemical and Biological
Engineering
University of British Columbia

Gas-Solid Reactors

Packed beds

Bubbling fluidized beds

Turbulent fluidized beds

Circulating (fast) fluidized beds

The Packed Bed Reactor

The flow and contacting can be simply

represented by the plug flow model.
In reality, flow can deviate significantly
from this ideal.
Near the vessel walls, the voidage is
much higher than in the vessel interior.
Gas slides up close to the wall giving a
velocity profile (see next slide).

Real Velocity Distribution

in a G/S Packed Bed

First-Order Catalytic
Reaction

First-Order, Plug Flow

Dispersed Plug Flow

Info Needed to Relate

Output to Input of a
Process Vessel

The Bubbling Fluidized Bed

(BFB)

Class 1 model plug flow

Class 2 model the two-region

models

Class 3 model based on the

Davidson bubble

Class 1 Model Plug

Flow

The earliest performance studies on

G/S (heat transfer, mass transfer,
catalytic reactions) all assumed plug
flow of gas through the BFB.
However, experiments show that
serious bypassing of fluid occurs and
that the plug flow model should not
be used to represent the flow of gas
in BFBs.

Class 2 The Two-Region

models

The rising bubbles were the cause of

the great deviation from plug flow
model.
This model has dense and lean solid
regions, the lean representing the
rising bubbles.

Class 3 Based on the

Davidson Bubble

Each rising bubble dragged a wake

of solids up the bed.

Gas Flow Around and Within a

Rising Gas Bubble in a Fine
particle BFB

Different Combinations of
Assumptions Give a Variety of
Models

K-L BFB Model

The Turbulent Fluidized

Bed, TFB

When the gas velocity through a BFB is increased,

bubbling becomes more vigorous and pressure fluctuations
become more intense until a point is reached where the
character of the bed changes.
Distinct bubbles are no longer seen, the bed becomes more
uniform with many small scale turbulent eddies.
In addition, the pressure fluctuations fall dramatically to a
low level. This is the turbulent bed, the TFB.
Here, solid carryover is minor and can be dealt with
internal cyclones.
At even higher gas velocities, u < 1.5 m/s, solid carryover
increases greatly and the vessel enters the fast
fluidization.

Commercial TFB
Reactors

The Circulating Fluidized

Bed -- CFB

For very fine catalyst solids and even

higher gas flow rates, these solids are
carried out of the bed by the gas, and the
bed has to be replenished.

Two arrangement: an upflow of solids and

a downflow of solids.

Reactor Performance of a
CFB

To determine the reactor

performance of a CFB, we need to
know:
The vertical distribution of solids in the
vessel,
The radial distribution of solids at all
levels of the vessel, and
How the gas contacts the solids in the
vessel.

The Two Board Types of

CFB

Various CFB Systems

Two Models for the Vertical

Distribution of Solids

The CFB at Various Flow

Rates of solids, but at Fixed
Flow rate of Gas

The Distribution of Solids in

the CFB
K-L Model

First-order, Ignores the

Annular Flow of Wall Solids

Some Challenge
Questions

For packed beds, how do we predict and measure

the non-uniform gas/liquid velocity?

In BFBs, how do we handle the growing size

distribution of nonsperical coalescing and splitting
bubbles?

In CFB, hwhere are the solids, how does the gas

contact the solids?

In all these contactors, how does the gas

distributor influence the behavior in the reactor?

Final Comments
With the need to design real performing
units, whether packed beds, BFBs, TFBs,
or CFBs, we find that we often must turn
to some of the simpler idealized predictive
engineering models. In all cases, we
should use good judgment in our choice of
models.

References

Levenspiel, O., G/S reactor modelspacked beds, bubbling

fluidized beds, turbulent fluidized beds and circulating (fast)
fluidized beds, Powder Technology, 122:1-9 (2002)