Hydrodynamics of Multiple Size Particles in a Liquid Fluidized Bed Classifier

A two fluid model is extended to an N-phase, multi-fluid model, in which each particulate phase represents a collection of particles with identical diameter and density. The current N-phase model is applied to a fluidized bed classifier with six different particle sizes to investigate the effects of different operating conditions—fluidizing liquid flow rate, feed voidage, and particle size distribution in the feed stream—on the particle size distribution inside the classifier and the discharge streams. The predicted volume fraction of different particle sizes is compared with the experimental data reported by Chen et al. (2002) for two columns, 191 mm and 292 mm in diameter, each having different geometries and containing glass beads of different sizes fluidized with water. A fairly good agreement is observed between the measured and predicted values for mono- and poly-dispersed systems.