Time-Resolved X-Ray Tomography of a Fluidized Bed of Geldart A Particles

This paper discusses the influence of fines on the size of bubbles moving through a 23 cm ID fluidized bed of Geldart A particles imaged with an X-ray Tomographic Scanner. In earlier work [1], the bubble distribution in a fluidized bed of Geldart B particles was shown. The current study using Geldart A particles is more challenging to the reconstruction algorithm, since there are more bubbles, and they are smaller in size. We study the influence of adding fines (i.e. particles \u3c= 45 micron) to the system. When adding a mass fraction of fines of 24%, we find a decrease of the average bubble of 40% of the size for the original powder, in line with earlier results from pressure probes and optical probes [2]. We find that the entire distribution of the bubble sizes shifts to smaller values