ScienceAsia 2 (1976): 010-015 |doi: 10.2306/scienceasia1513-1874.1976.02.010

CURRENT INTERESTS IN FLUIDIZATION RESEARCH

J.P. COUDERC and S. DAMRONGLERD

Summary: Recently, interests in fluidization have been reinforced by the world-wide problems of energy costs and energy savings. Indeed fluidization presents a very interesting field of study in thermal properties which can be exploited to solve many different problems. This promotes the development of new researches in that field as well as those connected with the theoretical bases for pilot plant developments.

          For gas-solid chemical reactions or catalytic reactions, the problems involved in flulidization are always acute. Bubbling is a complicated phenomenon that remains poorly known. The right approach for research in industry seems to be to study particular cases, to accumulate experimental evidence and to try to discover empirical rules.

          Liquid fluidization is evidently much more simple than gas fluidization, bubbles are avoided. However, little is known on the subject which has not been extensively studied. This situation is apparently changing in the last few years. Most of the interest have been devoted to the fundamental study of mass transfer which are introduced in many industrial operations such as dissolution, crystallization, ion exchange, and adsorption.

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a Institut du Genie Chimique, Toulouse, France.
b Department of Chemical Technology, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok.

Received 26 December 1975