Micro Fluidization: Fundamentals and Applications - Softcover

Über die Autorinnen und Autoren

Dr. Guangwen Xu is is President & Chair Professor at Shenyang University of Chemical Technology, China, and a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering (FREng), UK. Dr. Xu is an active scientist and researcher distinguished for his academic leadership and pioneering work in chemical engineering, especially thermochemical reaction processes to convert fossil and renewable resources into value-added products. He kick-started the micro fluidization research and is the key developer of micro fluidized bed reaction analyzers (MFBRA). Professor Xu established the scientific discipline of Engineering Thermochemistry (ETC) and currently takes leadership roles in the world, national, and regional ETC societies. He is the founder of the prestigious International Symposium on Gasification and its Application (iSGA) and several other international and national conferences. Dr. Xu has authored over 400 peer-reviewed publications and 130 granted patents. He has received several international, Chinese ministerial, and provincial awards for his outstanding academic contributions to the field. He is the Editor-in-Chief of the journals Carbon Resources Conversion (CRC) and Resources Chemicals and Materials (RCM) and the editorial board member of several scientific journals.

Dr. Dingrong Bai is a Professor of Chemical Engineering and Technology at Shenyang University of Chemical Technology. He has more than 30 years of experience in teaching, research, and technology development in chemical engineering, hydrogen fuels, solid waste conversion, and thermochemical conversion processes. His working experience spans academics and industries, with extensive knowledge of fluidization and particle technology. He has led several research and development projects, some of which have been successfully commercialized. He has authored nearly 200 peer-reviewed scientific papers and patents, three fluidization book chapters, and some professional and technical reports on various scientific and technological subjects. Dr. Bai’s current research interests include clean coal technologies, high-temperature fluidization, and advanced thermochemical conversion processes and systems.

Dr. Mingyan Liu is a professor of Chemical Engineering and Technology at Tianjin University (China) and the leader of the Multiphase Flow and Transfer Process Intensification Research Group of the State Key Laboratory of Chemical Engineering. As a world-leading expert in multiphase chemical reaction engineering, especially liquid-solids and gas-liquid-solids fluidization, he has been deeply involved in research on micro-liquid-solid and micro gas-liquid-solid fluidized bed reactors. He is one of the leading scientists worldwide in this new field. He was once a member of the Council of the Chinese Society of Particuology, a member of the Process Simulation Committee, and a senior member of the Chemical Industry and Engineering Society of China (CIESC). His research achievements in multiphase chemical reaction engineering, heat transfer process enhancement, and energy-saving have been well documented in his more than 100 scientific research papers and 20 patents. He has received many awards from University and National organizations and was the shortlisted IChemE Innovator of the 2011 Year Award.

Dr. Vladimir Zivkovic is a lecturer of Chemical Engineering at Newcastle University (UK) and a member of the world's largest Process Intensification Group within the Chemical Engineering Discipline at the School of Engineering. He is an active scientist and researcher in the field of particle technology & granular flow with a particular interest in the general intensification of solids processing including micro-fluidization technology where he is one of the first researchers and world leader in the field. Dr Zivkovic has authored more than 50 peer-reviewed scientific papers in high-quality international journals. He was a member of the Youth Editorial Committee and is currently an Editorial Committee Member of the Chinese Journal of Chemical Engineering (CJChE). His current research interests include the study of granular dynamics using advanced laser-based techniques, intensified toroidal fluidization (TORBED) and the application of micro-fluidized beds for carbon capture and bioprocessing

Von der hinteren Coverseite

Fluidization of solid particles is a disciplinary branch of chemical engineering with rich scientific connotations and vast industrial applications. It is the significantly important science and technology widely used in solids handling, processing, and chemical conversion (catalytically or non-catalytically) in many process industries. As it is so useful in many commercial applications, fluidization has received considerable attention over the years, and many peer-reviewed papers, conference proceedings, and technical books have been published. However, all the books published so far emphasized on large-scale fluidized beds, none of them on micro fluidized beds.

In recent years, microchemical technology has become a hotspot of rapid growing research, which has attracted increasing attention from both academy and industry. However, the research efforts have been devoted to continuous-fluid reactors ― microchannel or microfluidic reactors. These microstructured reactors process or manipulate tiny amounts of fluids (gas or liquid) continuously using channels with dimensions of tens to hundreds of micrometers. For many industrial chemical reactions involving solid particles, these microreactors cannot handle them, thus there is a need to research and develop microreactors for applications in which solid particles are involved and fluidized.

In fact, there are many recent studies devoted to size-miniatured fluidized bed reactors. Research has demonstrated that as the fluidized bed reactor is reduced in size, such phenomena as hydrodynamics, fluid/solids mixing, diffusion, heat and mass transfer, and reactor performance show distinctive and superior characteristics as compared to large-size fluidized bed reactors. Despite the scientific importance and application potential, micro fluidized bed reactors have received far less attention than microchannel reactors. This fact led us to write this book, aiming to promote the rapid development of this promising technology.

In this first-ever monograph on micro fluidized beds, the authors will systematically and comprehensively summarize the characteristics of the technology. The book is prepared in three parts. In the first part, we will provide a short description of the background and history of the micro fluidized bed research and development. Then, we will devote to summarizing and analyzing the hydrodynamic characteristics of gas-solid micro fluidized beds. We will present detailed research results of delayed onsets of minimum, bubbling, and slugging fluidization regimes, as well as of the advanced transitions to turbulent and fast fluidization regimes. Based on these results, the wall effects – the key mechanism resulting in the unique behavior of micro fluidization – are comprehensively analyzed. Following, we discuss gas and solids mixing characteristics in terms of gas residence time distribution, gas backmixing, and solids mixing. We show that the major characteristic of micro fluidized bed is the near-plug flow of fluid in the bed. This character defines the distinctions between micro fluidized beds and macro fluidized beds. Furthermore, fluidization regime maps are developed to define fluidization regimes and their transitions in micro fluidized beds.

In the second part of the book, we focus on presentations of the so-called micro fluidized bed reaction analyzer (MFBRA) – a powerful tool for catalyst screening, process development, optimization of reaction parameters, studies of reaction mechanism and kinetics, among many other purposes. We describe in detail the MFBRA’s system design characteristics, analytic methodologies, and various applications in thermochemical and catalytic reaction analysis. We will also present examples to show how the MFBRA helped the development, design, and commercialization of several industrial processes.

In the third part of the book, we present recent investigations of liquid-solid, and gas-liquid-solid micro fluidization systems. Hydrodynamics, mass transfer, and wide applications of these micro fluidized beds are discussed. Lastly, we will present future prospects for the development, research, and application of micro fluidized beds.