Abstract
Biomass & sand mixtures are used in a circulating fluidized bed reactor/fast fluidized bed reactor. Hydrodynamics of the system is important in the operation and design of fluidized bed reactor. In this study, hydrodynamics of biomass (cotton stalk, maize stalk and saw dust) and sand mixture was investigated in a bench scale cold test rig. The particle size of sand and biomasses were -30, +60 mesh. Superficial velocity was plotted against the pressure drop per unit bed height to determine the minimum fluidization velocity. The pressure drop per unit bed height increased sharply to a maximum value and then eventually dropped as the bed became fully fluidized. Velocities were calculated for various biomass compositions of 0.50, 0.75, 1.0 and 1.25 % and compared with the predicted values by published correlations. The experimental and estimated values were in close agreement.