A rotating fluidized bed in a static geometry can be obtained
by the tangential injection of the fluidization gas via multiple
gas inlet slots in the outer cylindrical wall of the fluidization
chamber. A combination of tangential and radial fluidization is
created by forcing the fluidization gas to leave the fluidization
chamber via a chimney, quasi-centrally positioned in the fluidization
chamber. An experimental investigation on fluidization
chambers of two different diameters (24 cm and 36 cm) and
with two different types of particles (1G-Geldart D-type polymer
particles and 1G-Geldart B-type salt particles) is
presented. Whereas the polymer particles can form a dense
uniform bed, the salt particles tend to form a less dense and less
uniform bubbling bed. Bubbles are transported both tangentially
and radially in rotating fluidized beds in a static geometry.
With both types of particles, channeling and slugging occur at
too low solids loadings. Both with channeling and slugging, the
fluidization gas bypasses particle dense zones, for channeling
resulting in a strongly non-uniform distribution of the gas and
solids in the longitudinal direction, for slugging in the tangential
direction. The hydrostatic gas phase pressure profiles along the
outer cylindrical wall of the fluidization chamber are a good
indicator of channeling and slugging. A sufficiently high solids
loading is crucial to obtain a stable and uniform rotating
fluidized bed in a static geometry, the fluidization gas flow rate
having only a minor effect.