Effect of Particle Size Distributions on Minimum Fluidization Velocity with Varying Gas Temperature

The particle size distribution (PSD) is an important property that can influence the hydrodynamics and chemical conversion in fluidized bed system. The objective of this study is to investigate the effect of PSDs of particle and gas temperature on minimum fluidization velocity (Umf). Here, the silica sand with three average diameters and five PSDs including narrow cut, Gaussian, Gaussian with high standard deviation, negative skewed distribution and positive skewed distribution were used. The considered gas temperature ranged from 30 to 120 °C. The results showed that the Umf values with wide PSDs were lower than the Umf values for narrow cut particle with the same average diameter. The reason can be explained by the addition of smaller particle will improve the fluidization characteristics. The standard deviation and skewness of PSD also influenced on the Umf. The Umf was observed to decrease with increasing gas temperature. In addition, the effect of average particle diameter could also be seen. The Umf increased with the increasing of average particle diameter.