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Gas‐phase combustion in fluidized beds
Author(s) -
Stubington J. F.,
Davidson J. F.
Publication year - 1981
Publication title -
aiche journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.958
H-Index - 167
eISSN - 1547-5905
pISSN - 0001-1541
DOI - 10.1002/aic.690270110
Subject(s) - combustion , diffusion flame , diffusion , chemistry , propane , particle (ecology) , fuel mass fraction , oxygen , water vapor , fluidized bed , thermodynamics , mechanics , combustion chamber , combustor , organic chemistry , geology , vapor lock , physics , oceanography
Kerosine or propane was injected near the base of a small, air‐fluidized bed of sand at 940°C. The fraction of fuel burnt within the bed was determined from a heat balance, for various particle sizes, fluidizing velocities, and bed depths. Assuming the initial formation of a train of fuel vapor bubbles, theoretical analysis indicated two stages of combustion: (1) rapid consumption of the oxygen initially between fuel vapor bubbles; (2) slow consumption of oxygen initially outside the fuel vapor region by radial diffusion of oxygen and fuel vapor, analogous to a diffusion flame. Comparison of experiment with theory gave effective radial diffusion coefficients of the same order of magnitude as the molecular diffusion coefficient. It was inferred that combustion occurs largely by a diffusion flame within the bed, with diffusion through the particulate phase being the rate‐controlling step. This explains why fuel distribution is so important in attaining efficient combustion.