Heat Transfer in Large Particle Bubbling Fluidized Beds

The potential use of fluidized bed combustion of coal as a means of meeting air quality standards with high-sulfur fuels has motivated the development of theoretical models of heat transfer in large particle gas fluidized beds. Models of the separate contributions of emulsion and bubble phase heat transfer have been developed by Adams and Welty [1] and Adams [2, 3, 4] and have been substantiated by experimental data for a horizontal tube immersed in a two-dimensional cold bed obtained by Catipovic [5, 6]. The consolidation of these models to predict local and overall time-average heat transfer to immersed surfaces requires information regarding emulsion phase residence time and bubble phase contact fraction for the particular geometry of interest. The analytical procedure to consolidate these models is outlined in the present work, then applied to the case of a horizontal tube immersed in a two-dimensional atmospheric pressure cold bed. Measurements of emulsion phase residence time and bubble phase contact fraction obtained by Catipovic [5] are used in the calculations for particle diameters ranging from 1.3 to 6 mm. The results agree favorably with experimental data and further substantiate the fundamental assumptions of the model.