LAUSR

In general, multiphase reactors with different configurations are used in various industries, a fluidized bed reactor has found extensive application in wastewater treatment and other biochemical processes. For the design and development of three-phase fluidized bed reactors, knowledge of the hydrodynamic parameters such as bed voidage is essential. In this paper, an attempt has been made using water, glycerol with different concentrations, and mono ethanolamine as Newtonian liquid and different concentrations of carboxy methyl cellulose as non-Newtonian liquids and seven different particles to study the effect of fundamental and operating variables on bed voidage in a three-phase fluidized bed. The dependency of the bed voidage on various parameters such as the gas and liquid flow rates, particle size and shape, and the physical and rheological properties of liquids are analyzed. The bed voidage increases with fluid flow rates and decreases with an increase in particle diameter and sphericity and it increases with an increase in the viscosity of Newtonian liquids and fluid consistency index of non-Newtonian liquids. On the basis of the experimental results, a generalized correlation has been developed to predict bed voidage in a fluidized bed using Newtonian and non-Newtonian liquids. The experimental results showed good agreement with those predicted according to the developed correlation, with a wide range of operating conditions.