Repeatability of Gas Holdup in a Fluidized Bed Using X-Ray Computed Tomography

Characterizing the hydrodynamics in fluidized beds is important to many processes from producing biofuels to coating pharmaceuticals. X-ray computed tomography (CT) can quantify local time-averaged phase fractions in multiphase systems that are highly dynamic, like fluidized beds. This paper describes the calibration methods used to produced CT images of a 15.24 cm diameter fluidized bed, how in-house software used these CTs to calculate gas holdup, and how well multiple CTs of a dynamic fluidized bed produced repeatable results while varying bed material and superficial gas velocities. It was concluded there is a very high degree of repeatability using the calibration methods and in-house software developed.