Hydrodynamics of a gas-driven inverse liquid-solid fluidized bed

A novel reactor named gas-driven inverse liquid-solid fluidized bed (GDFB) was developed in this research. It adopts gas as the driving force to benefit chemical processes requiring minimum liquid flow. The column is divided into a riser section for upward gas flow and a downer section as the main fluidized bed for light particles. The inverse fluidization occurs in the downer, where hydrodynamics and their influencing factors were studied. In the solid-baffle system, four fluidization regimes were observed, including the packed bed, semi-fluidized bed, fully-fluidized bed, and circulating bed. Moreover, the meshed-baffle system possesses some distinct characteristics, and the shifted bed regime was found between the fully-fluidized bed and the circulating bed.