Hydrodynamic characteristics of a pulsed spouted bed of food particulates

Pulsed spouted bed has been developed to offset some limitations posted by a conventional spouted bed and some other modified spouted beds that allow an intermittent operation, which has proved to offer many advantages over continuous spouting. However, detailed hydrodynamic behavior of a pulsed spouted bed is not yet available. The present study thus investigated the effects of various parameters, i.e., type of material, pulse frequency and static bed height, on the spouting behavior as well as other bed basic hydrodynamic characteristics viz. maximum spoutable bed height, maximum pressure drop (ΔPmax), steady spouting pressure drop (ΔPs) and minimum spouting velocity (Ums). Soybean, whole-shelled peanut and French bean were used as test materials to represent food particulates of different characteristics. Empirical correlations that can be used to predict the tested hydrodynamic behavior of the pulsed spouted bed were also developed.