AbstractSolid-liquid circulating fluidized beds (SLCFBs) offer several attractive features over conventional solid-liquid fluidized beds such as efficient liquid-solid contact, favorable mass and heat transfer, reduced back-mixing of phases, and integrated reactor and regenerator design. These unique features have stimulated theoretical and experimental investigations over the past two decades on transport phenomena in SLCFBs. However, there is a need to compile and analyze the published information with a coherent theme to design and develop SLCFB with sufficient degree of confidence for commercial application. Therefore, the present work reviews and analyzes the literature on hydrodynamic, mixing, heat transfer, and mass transfer characteristics of SLCFBs comprehensively. Suitable recommendations have also been made for future work in concise manner based on the knowledge gaps identified in the literature. Furthermore, a novel multistage SLCFB has been proposed to overcome the limitations of existing SLCFBs. The proposed model of SLCFB primarily consists of a single multistage column which is divided into two sections wherein both the steps of utilizationviz.loading (adsorption, catalytic reaction, etc.) and regeneration of solid phase could be carried out simultaneously on a continuous mode.

The present work proposes a novel radially cross-flow multistage solid-liquid circulating fluidized bed(SLCFB). The SLCFB primarily consists of a single multistage column (having an inner diameter of 100 mm and length of 1.40 m), which is divided into two sections wherein both the steps of utilization or loading(e.g., adsorption and catalytic reaction) and regeneration of the solid phase can be carried out simultaneously in continuous mode. The hydrodynamic characteristics were studied using ion exchange resin as the solid phase and water as the fluidizing medium. The loading and flooding states were determined for three particle sizes; i.e., 0.30, 0.42, and 0.61 mm. The effects of the superficial liquid velocity and solid feed rate on the solid holdup were investigated under loading and flooding conditions. The solid holdup increases with an increase in the solid feed rate and decreases with an increase in the superficial liquid velocity. An artificialintelligence formalism, namely the multilayer perceptron neural network(MLPNN), was employed for the prediction of the solid holdup. The input space of MLPNN-based model consists of four parameters, representing operating and system parameters of the proposed SLCFB. The developed MLPNN-based model has excellent prediction accuracy and generalization capability.

Liquid phase axial mixing studies have been carried out in the novel solid-liquid circulating fluidized bed (SLCFB). The SLCFB primarily consists of a single multistage column (having an inner diameter of 100 mm i.d. and length of 1.40 m) which is divided into two sections wherein both the steps of utilization, namely loading (e.g., adsorption and catalytic reaction) and regeneration of solid phase, can be carried out simultaneously in continuous mode. Weak base anion exchange resin was used as the solid phase, whereas water as the fluidizing medium. The effects of physical properties of solid phase, superficial liquid velocity, and solid circulation rate on liquid phase axial dispersion coefficient were investigated. The dispersion coefficient increases monotonically with an increase in the size of solid particle, superficial liquid velocity, and solid circulation rate. The axial dispersion model (ADM) was used to model experimental residence time distribution (RTD) data. A good agreement was found between ADM predictions and the experimental measurements. A unified correlation has also been proposed to determine dispersion coefficient as a function of physical properties of solid and liquid phases, superficial liquid velocity, and solid circulation rate based on all previous and present experimental data on multistage SLCFB.

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