Measurement of density distribution of a cracking catalyst in experimental riser with a sampling procedure for gamma ray tomography

By scanning a riser the number of the gamma ray trajectories and the beam width involve temporal, spatial and density resolutions as they are closely correlated parameters. Therefore, evaluation of parameters and their interaction quantification, certainly, are required in the imaging process. Measuring the density distribution of the catalyst from the FCC – fluid cracking catalytic process in an experimental riser in single beam tomographic system, density resolution is evaluated and correlated with spatial resolution. The beam width Δs inside riser is measured and a criterion for determining spatial resolution is proposed. Experiments are carried out to demonstrate resolution effects of three Δs values: 3.30 × 10−3, 6.20 × 10−3 and 12.00 × 10−3 m. The gamma beam profile is modeled and a sampling rate according to Nyquist criterion is analyzed. The 4.3%, 8.1% and 15.6% ratios of Δs/R to internal riser radius are correlated to counting time in the sampling procedure. Results are discussed by comparison with values from literature.