(Gas) - Liquid - Solid circulating fluidized bed reactors: Characteristics and applications

Accepting considerable advantages of circulating fluidized beds(CFBs) over the conventional fluidized beds, there has been numerous studies on CFBs concentrating primarily on the development of gas - solid circulating fluidized beds(GSCFBs). However a substantial amount of research has also been devoted to other two types of CFBs, namely liquid - solid and gas - liquid - solid circulating fluidized beds(LS and GLSCFBs). In this effort, an attempt has been made to summarize and review the research and progresses made on the last two types of CFBs since the highlighting of their hydrodynamics and potential applications in various industries by Zhu et al.[Can. J. Chem. Eng. 2000, 78,82 - 94]. The issues associated with its hydrodynamics, scale-up, and design have been discussed with a re-emphasis on its potential application for various cost-effective processes.