Prediction of axial solid holdups in a CFB riser

A circulating fluidized bed (CFB) has been used in various chemical industries because of good heat and mass transfer. In addition, the methanol to olefins (MTO) process requiring the CFB reactor has attracted a great deal of interest due to steep increase of oil price. To design a CFB reactor for MTO pilot process, therefore, we has examined the hydrodynamic properties of spherical catalysts with different particle size and developed a correlation equation to predict catalyst holdup in a riser of CFB reactor. The hydrodynamics of micro-spherical catalysts with average particle size of 53, 90 and 140 mm was evaluated in a 0.025 m-ID x 4 m-high CFB riser. We also developed a model described by a decay coefficient to predict solid hold-up distribution in the riser. The decay coefficient developed in this study could be expressed as a function of Froude number and dimensionless velocity ratio. This model could predict well the experimental data obtained from this work.