“…With the development of fluidization techniques, the solid-liquid flows exhibit more and more merits in industrial applications, such as improved interphase contact efficiency, ease in handling large quantity of particles, and uniform temperature distribution, etc. (Liang et al 1996;Zhu et al 2000;Zheng 2004;Limtrakula et al 2005;Hashizume and Morita 2008). These characteristics have led to the fact that solid-liquid fluidized beds rapidly gain popularity in many industrial processes, such as synthesis of chemicals, petroleum refining, hydrometallurgy, food technology, biochemical processing, water treatment, etc.…”