The mass velocity of the drying gas was one and a half times as
high as the minimum fluidization mass velocity. The minimum
fluidization mass velocity was obtained by experimental measurement
of the pressure drop in the fluidized bed (Horio and Mori,
1999). The values of the minimum fluidization mass velocity were
0.010 kg/(m2 s) at 101 kPa for hot air, and 0.0015 kg/(m2 s) and
0.0019 kg/(m2 s) at 12 kPa for hot air and superheated steam,
respectively (Tatemoto et al., 2005b).