Combustion of isolated bubbles in an elevated-temperature fluidized bed

Combustion of isolated bubbles was investigated with a laboratory-scale fluidized-bed reactor. Two different combinations of oxygen and argon were employed as the fluidizing gas. Single bubbles of methane were injected into an incipiently fluidized bed maintained at elevated temperatures. Gas composition inside the bubbles was measured using a suction probe connected to an on-line mass spectrometer, and the temperature of the bubbles was monitored using a fast-response thermocouple. The effects of bed particle type, particle size, bubble size, bed temperature, and oxygen concentration in the emulsion phase were examined for bed temperatures between 923 and 1203 K. A theoretical model of homogeneous combustion within the bubble phase was developed for comparison to the experimental results. The model accounted for the heat and mass transfer between bubble and emulsion phases, but only considered combustion within the bubble. The results indicated that small bubble size and high oxygen concentrations in the emulsion phase enhanced bubble-phase combustion. The bed temperature also proved to be an important parameter, with higher temperatures promoting bubble combustion, but unlike some other investigations, no critical ignition temperatures were observed in either experiments or model results. The fluidized bed's particle size and particle composition influence the heat and mass-transfer coefficients, and therefore the bubble-phase combustion, but these have a smaller influence than bed temperature and bubble size. Model results for bubble-phase gas composition and temperature compared favorably with the experimental measurements.