ENTRAINMENT AND ELUTRIATION FROM

FLUIDIZED BEDS"
DA1ZO KUNII** AND OCTAVE LEVENSPIEL***
Dept. Chem. Eng., Univers 'ty of Tokyo ', Illinois
Institute of Technology
A simple model is proposed to account for the entrainment of solids and elutriation (selective
removal) of fines from fluidized beds. This mode! fits the reported findings, provides physical meaning
to the parameters of the reported experimental correlations, and indicates the pertinent factors contro-
lling the removal of solids from vigorously bubbling beds.

Introduction b. Entrainment below the TDHand the influence

of the properties of the dense phase on this
entrainment; by Zenz and Weil16), Lewis et
For design of fluidized beds we need to know the
rate of entrainment of solids from a bed, and its al.5\ Blyakher and Pavlov2), Andrews".
variation with location of the exiting gas stream. c. Elutriation above and below theYagiTDH;and by Aochi13),
Leva4),
This paper deals with these phenomena. Let us Osberg and Charlesworth7),
first define a number of terms used in connection Thomas et al.10)> Wen and Hashingern), Sanari
with this aspect of fluidization. and Kunii9).
A fluidization vessel usually consists of two zones, Let us discuss briefly the reported findings of these
a dense bubbling phase having a more or less dis- phenomena. Later these various aspects will be tied
tinct upper surface separating it from a lean or together with a simple model.
dispersed phase. The section of the vessel between
the surface of the dense phase and the exiting gas
Entrainment at or above the TDH
stream from the vessel is called the freeboard and
its height is called the freeboard height, H. The Under entrainment conditions Zenz and Weil16)
purpose of the freeboard is to allow the solids to envisioned the bed as a saturation feed device such
separate from the gas stream, and as its height is that the freeboard above the TDH is a pneumatic
increased entrainment lessens. Eventually a free- conveying tube for the transportation of solids. For
board height is reached above which entrainment a single size of solids experiments in pneumatic con-
becomes nearly constant. This is called the trans-
veying show that there exists a maximumparticle
port disengaging height, TDH. concentration which can be held in suspension by a
For a freeboard height less than the TDH, the flowing gas without collapse of the solids into a
size distribution of solids in the freeboard changes dense slugging mass. According to Zenz and Weil16)
with position. Whenthe gas stream exits above the this limiting condition is given by a correlation which
TDHthen both the size distribution and entrain- can then be used to estimate the entrainment rate
ment rate become nearly constant and are given by Fs[gms/sec] above the TDH. For a bed of fine
the saturation capacity of the gas stream under solids of wide size distribution under flow conditions
pneumatic transport conditions. Elutriation refers where u^>Ut for almost all sizes of soilds, Zenz and
to the selective removal of the fines from a mixture, Weil1(O propose an approximate procedure to esti-
and this may occur either below or above the TDH. mate entrainment.

Previous Investigations Entrapment below the TDH

Representative investigations into the various as-
pects of entrainment and elutriation can be classified Bubbles of gas rise through the dense phase, erupt
at the surface and project solids into the freeboard
as follows :
a. Entrainment at or above the TDHbased on the
above. Assuming that the energy of particles at the
surface of the dense phase follows the Maxwell-
saturation carrying capacity of the gas stream ; Boltzmann distribution, Andrews15 calculated that
by Zenz and Weil16). the entrainment rate should decreace closely ex-
Received on May 8, 1968 ponentially with freeboard height.
University of Tokyo, Tokyo In their study Zenz and Weil16) noted that the
Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago intermittent bursting action of bubbles causes sharp

84 JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING OF JAPAN

velocity fluctuations just above the surface of the
Table I Numerical values of a and SFq taken from
dense bed. These fluctuations dissipate with height Lewis et al.5)
and the gas velocity smoothes to the average velocity
1 , nu. Uer"1! ^o/A [gms/cm2-sec]
at
Blyakher
the TDH.
and Pavlov2) studied the effects of grids Solids xJ^/Il^J
tor at-o->locm for ^>8cm
r iA o and
,,,
positioned in the freeboard of conical vessels. Their 0.075mmglass n^ ftQ nav aiw co / \
^nV.PrP« 0.6-^0.8 0.07~0.11{uq=52cm/sec)
observations show that such grids effectively smooth spheres
out the velocity fluctuations above the dense bed, 0mm
talyst
reduce entrainment at given freeboard height and Lmis the height of static bed.
sharply lower the TDH. 0.070mmcracking nc_~ .
catalyst
A1C: / ^a / \
0.6->0.4 0.15 (mo=40cm/sec)
Lewis et al.5) made a thorough study of the com- Table 2 Values of 8[gm/cm3]in Eq. (4) from
plex interaction of the many variables on entrain- Lewis et al.5)
ment. Their experiments were limited to beds of Column diam. cracking catalyst glass spheres
narrow cuts of fine particles (ll sizes, 4 different [cm] 0.070mm 0. 075mm
materials) and they examined in particular the role 5.1 - 0.036
of the dense phase on entrainment. Their findings 7.6 0.031 0.053
14.6 0.020 0.083
are briefly summarized below and in Fig. 1.
For a given freeboard height, H, the bulk density
of dispersed phase decreases with height, and raising
the freeboard increases the bulk density at any
level. When the freeboard height is greater than
the TDH or high enough so that entrainment is
negligible then the bulk density at any level becomes
maximumpR and these conditions are referred to
as complete reflux.
At complete reflux the bulk density at any level
I above the dense bed is given by
Pr = pRQe~al (1)
where a is a constant and Pro is the bulk density
of lean phase just above the surface of the dense
bed.
At conditions other than complete reflux Lewis et
al.5) found that the bulk density is some fixed value
less than at complete reflux and that this is inde- Fig. I Density of lean phase as a function of level
pendent of level in the bed, thus in the bed and the freeboard hight
Pr ~~ P - constant throughout the freeboard (2)
Qualitatively the rate of entrainment varies the
same way as does the bulk density of the lean Elutriatfon
phase. Thus at given uo the entrainment varies
with freeboard height by Elutriation refers to the selective removal of fines
F = 9*e-aB (3) by entrainment from a bed consisting of a mixture
where £Fo is a constant whose significance is treated of particle sizes. Now, the rate of elutriation of
later and a is the same constant as in. Eq.(l). solids of size dv from a mixture is characterized by
Examples of numerical values of a and £Fo are given the net upward flux of this size of solid as follows,
in Table. 1. (Rateofremovalofsolids\ /-^.. £kj\

The overall effect of gas velocity and freeboard

gms/cm/ sec / V /
height on entrainment was correlated by Lewis et
al.by If W.{<dp) is the weight of solids of size dv and W
F_ = Be-wu9>'+an2 igm/cm^ (4)* is the weight of all solids in the bed, then Eq.(5)
where B is given in Table 2 and becomes, in symbols,
b = 8.86 x 10*p,1/2dP [cm/sec]

where c*(gms/cm2*sec) is an elutriation (rate) con-

stant. In a mixture a;* varies with size of solids;
The original equation for Eq. (4), namely Eq.(ll) in ref. a large value of a:* corresponds to a rapid removal
5, gives -: =Be-tt/Uoy~+aH^ Since thig contraciicts Eq. rate for fine solids, and £*=0 means that the par-
AtUo
ticular size of solid is not removed at all by entrain-
(l) in ref. 5 which has F^e~aH, the original equation ment. The elutriation rate is also defined by
seems to have left out the square brackets. The corrected /Rate of removal of\ _ /Weight
\solidsofsize dp ) \ofsolidinthebed/
of that size\
equation is shown here.
dW(dP) TTw , s . n
or ^ =fcW(dp) (7)

VOL.2 NO.1 1969 . 85

 suggested that the velocity factor should be the
difference between the superficial gas velocity and
the terminal velocity of fine particle ut. Note both
correlations do not include explicitly any term relat-
ing to the coarse size. Elutriation has been studied
in batch systems4'7ll0>11'13:> and in steady flow sys-
tems9ll3).

A Model for the Entrapment of Solids from Dense

Fluidzed Beds
Lewis et al.5) describe the entrainment process in
the following terms. Burstinginto bubbles
agglomerates of particles
of gas project
the space above the
bed, and as the air flow rate is increased this action
Fig. 2 Effect of coarse sand,in a twe-sized mixture;
becomes more violent with agglomerates projected
from Sanari and Kunii9) successively higher into the freeboard. These agg-
lomerates are frequently broken up to form a dis-
persed phase as well as streams of particles in seem-
ing random motion. Some particles are seen to
moveupward, others downward.
This behavior is understandable if we note that
measureable entrainment occurs only when Uo^umf.
These are conditions where practically all the gas
passes through the bed in large bubbles whose velo-
cities are considerably in excess of ut. These ener-
getic intermittent bursts of gas cause the initial
dislodgement of solids and the subsequent breakup
of agglomerates.
With this picture as a basis let us develop a rather
simple model to account for the various aspects of
entrainment from a dense bubbling bed. This is
illustrated in Fig. 3. First consider one size of solid
being fluidized.
Postulate 1. Three distinct phases are present
above the dense phase (in the freeboard)
Fig. 3 Model to accout for entrainment and phase 1: gas stream with completely dispersed so-
elutriation from fluidized beds lid. These solids are transported pneu-
matically with velocity ui.
phase 2: projected agglomerates moving upward
Comparing definitions we see that with velocity ui.
.At
K =fC
phase 3: descending agglomerates and parcels of
- -*^ (8)

a:(sec"1)
W
is also called an elutriation constant. It
thick dispersion moving downward with
velocity m.
varies proportionately with the sectional area of the Postulate 2. At any level in the bed the rate of
bed and inversely with bed height, while k* is una- dissipation of agglomerates to form dispersed solid
ffected by these changes as long as the quality of of phase 1 is proportional to the concentration of
fluidization remains the same. In most applications agglomerates of solids at that level.
either constant can be used, however in certain Postulate 3. Upward moving agglomerates occa-
steady operations dealing with particle growth or sionally reverse direction and move downward, and
shrinkage k is preferred since it can be used directly the frequency of this change from phase 2 to phase
in the governing population balance equations. 3 at any level is proportional to the solids concent-
An underlying assumption of Eq.(5) requires inde- ration in phase 2 at that level.
pendent behavior of the different particle sizes of a If we let £Fi, £F2, Ss(gms/sec) be the mass flow
mixture. That this is reasonable is suggested by rate of each phase and Ci, C2, Cz(gm/cm3) be the
the experiments of Sanari and Kunii9), who found weight of each phase in unit volume of freeboard,
that changing the coarse had on appreciable effect then the net upward flow of solids F is
on the entrainment of the fines. Fig. 2 illustrates F= £Fi + £F2 - £F3 (10)
these findings. where
Yagi and Aochi13) and Wen and HashingerU) both Si=AtCim, $2=AtC2u2, £F3=AtCsm (ll)

86 JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING OF JAPAN

Also the average concentration of solids or bulk 1 , x
density p.at any level is a °c Or auo = constant
Uq (23)
P=Ci+C2+Cz (12) The above relation may justify the experimental
findings of constant auQ for changing uo reported by
Now, a mass balance
of solids\
for phase 1 gives
transfer of solids from Lewis et al5).
f increase 1
-(
)
phases 2 and 3 into 3
\in phase
for phase 2 Also comparing Eq.(4) to Eq.(2l) gives
EF0 = AtuQBe-Cb/Uo>2 (24)
(
decrease of ;olids\ _ /
transfer of solids from phase
in phase 2 to phases 1 and 3 This model also gives the bulk density of solids
for phase 3 in the freeboard. Thus for fluidizing conditions
(increase of solids in phase 3) = where i'VS'oCl the concentration at any height for
/transfer of solids from\ _ /transfer of soilds from\
Vphase2to3 ) \phase3to1 ) conditions of total reflux can be found to be
To write these mass balances in symbols introduce _£Fo
rate coefficients to apply to postulates 2 and 3, At -+- H=oo (25)

namely KCsec"1) for the transfer from phases 2 and

3 to 1, and i^Csec"1) for the transfer from phase 2 For a height of freeboard H the average concent-
to 3. Then the above three mass balances become ration or bulk density of solid at all levels I is
related to pR at that same level by
pM - p = -%..±e- (26)
dCt These two equations are of the same form as Eqs.
" U2~dT (13) (1) and (2) which are given by Lewis et al.5). In
= {K+K*)C2
dCs particular Eq.(26) indicates that throughout the free-
dl m-
= KCz - K*Ci
board the concentration of solids is a fixed amount
At the freeboad height, H, the gas stream leaves less than the corresponding value at infinite reflux.
the vessel, so there should be no downward flow,
£F3=0 hence Application of the Entrainment Model to Elutriation
Cs=0 at l=H (14) Phenomena
Letting the flow rate of solids projected from the
bed surface be £Fo we then have at this level Extending this model to a binary system and assu-
Ci=0 and C2=3o/Atuo at I=0 (15) ming the weight fraction of fines in the projected
Solving Eq.(13) with the boundary conditions of agglomerates Xs is the same as in the bed, Eq.(l6)
Eqs.(l4) and (15) gives is modified
CF)flne,
to give
1 - Fi/ffo =1
F./3* =1 (16) 3oXs l1-!)1-^ <27)
On the other hand Eq.(5), written for the one size
where being elutriated, becomes
CFOflneB = K*AtX. ' (28)
(17) Combining Eqs.(27) and (28) gives
1+ 1+- w
K
a= U2
1+ 1+ For very large height of freeboard, Eq.(29) reduces
U2 K*

(18)

Us
and Fs is the mass flow rate corresponding to the to
*
saturation capacity of the flowing gas stream. (30)
K
AtX,
For conditions of normal entrainment muchsolid while for conditions of normal entrainment with
is projected from and returns
Fs ^:
to the bed, thus
insufficient height of freeboard, namely for UoX?^
30 Fs, Eq.(29) becomes
hence from Eq.(17) *_ 3"o -
(19) * - A;e- (31)

El = 1+U3
In all the previously reported elutriation experi-
(20)
ments freeboard heights were used which were thou-
For the freeboard height H appreciably less than ght to be sufficiently large for this factor not to
the TDH Eq.(16) reduces to influence the elutriation rate. If this assumption
F = $oe~aH (21) were true then according to Eq.(30) the observed
mass flux of fines would correspond to the saturation
X* (lUi \ +-IM
ifo/ -^ui (22) carrying capacity of the gas stream, and £* would
This expression provides a physical interpretation change inversely proportional to the weight fraction
of the parameters £Fo and a reported by Lewis et of fines in the bed, or Xs. Fig.4 reported by Wen
al.5) in Eq.(3), and also suggests how they may be and Hashinger shows that this assumption is approa-
ched in beds consisting primarily of fines, Xs>0.4.
affected by the gas flow rate. Thus if it is reaso-
nable to take ui proportional to uq then On the other hand practically all the findings when
VQL2 NO.1 1969 87
 Nomenclature
At = sectional area of bed [cm2]
a = constant defined by Eq. (3) [cm"1]
Ci, C2, C3 = the weight of phase 1, 2 and 3 respectively
in unit volume of freeboard [gm/cm3]
F = net upward flow rate of solids [gm/sec]
Fs = saturation carrying flow rate of fine
solids [gm/sec ]
£?o = flow rate of solids projected from the
dense bed surface [gm/sec]
£?i, 9^, 3s - mass flow rate of phase 1, 2 and 3
H
respectively
= height of freeboard [cm]
[ gm/sec ]
I = distance from the dense bed surface [cm]
uq, umf, ut = superficial gas velocity based on sectional
area of bed, minimumfluidization velocity
Fig. 4 Effect of initial fraction of fines on elutriation and terminal velocity respectively [cm/sec]
u\y u%,uz =velocity of solids in phase 1, 2 and 3 [cm/sec]
constant, original figure reproted by Wenand Hashingerll"* W = weight of dense bed [gm]
Xs = weight fraction of fines in dense bed
X<0.2 show a;* and fc to be independent of Xs. Greek letters
This suggests that the freeboard in those experi- tc = elutriation constant defined by Eq. (7) [sec"1]
ments was not high enogh to eliminate this effect. «* = elutriation constant defined by Eq. (5)
Thus the reported findings may be expected to be [gm/cm2 - sec]
higher than the saturation carrying capacity of the p - bulk indensity of solids at any level
the freeboard [gm/cm3]
gas stream, or the minimum elutriation expected, Pr = bulk density of solids for conditions of
and the variation of the elutriation rate with free- total reflux [gm/cm3 ]
board height may be expected to be approximated
by Eq.(3l). In this range of conditions any study Literature cited
of elutriation should include the freeboard height 1) Andrews, M.: Ind. Engng. Chem., 52, No.1, 85 (1960)
as a variable in addition to the other fluidizing con-
ditions normally considered. 2) Blyakher,
6, No.l, I. G.
47 (1966)and V. M. Pavlov: Intern. Chem. Engng,
3) Hyman, D. : Sc. D. thesis,
dge (1952)
Mass. Inst. TechnoL, Cambri-
Conclusion 4) Leva, M.: Chem. Engng Progr., 47, 39 (1951)
5) Lewis, W.K., E.R. Gilliland and P.M. Lang: Chem.
A simple model suggested by observation is shown Engng Progr. Symposium Series, 38, 58, 65 (1962)
to tie together diverse phenomena related to the 6) May W.G. and F.R. Russel: paper presented at the
removal of solids from fluidized beds such as ent- North Jersey section of the A. C. S (Jan. 25, 1954)
7) Osberg,
Progr.,
G. L. and
47, 566
D. H. Charlesworth: Chem. Engng
(1951)
rainment and elutriation from fluidized beds, the
density of solids in the freeboard, the variation of 8) Othmer,
(1956)
D.F. : "Fluidization", Reinhold Pub. Co., N.Y.
all these quantities to the freeboard height, the role
9) Sanari, T. and D. Kunii, unpublished paper
of the TDHand the saturation carrying capacity of 10) Thomas, W.J., P.J. Grey and d S.B. Watkins: British
the fluidizing gas. Chemical Engineering, March, 176 (1961)
Eqs.(16)~(18) of this model provide a physical ll) 6, Wen,
220
C.Y.
(1960)
and R.F. Hashinger: A. I. Ch. E. Journal,
interpretation for the parameters obtained from ex- 12) nery,
Yagi, Japan),
S. and 16,D. 288Kunii:(1952)Kagaku Kikai (Chemical Machi-
perimental correlations on entrainment, and also
suggest how variations in experimental condition 13) Yagi, S. and T. Aocni: paper presented at the Society of
may affect the entrainment. Chemical Engineers (Japan) , Spring Meeting (1955)
14) Engineering,
Yagi, S. andJapan),D. Kunii: Kagaku Kogaku (Chemical
19, 500 (1956)
Finally, Eq.(27) gives physical meanings to the
elutriation constant, and shows that it is closely 15) 372,Yagi, 380 S. (1961)
and D. Kunii: Chem. Engng Sci., 16, 364,
related to the mass flux of total solids projected from 16) 472Zenz(1958)
F.A. and N.A. Weil: A. I. Ch. E.Journal, 4,
the bed as well as the height of freeboard.

88 JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING OF JAPAN