Effect of fin type baffle on the particle hydrodynamics, separation and misplacement in a liquid solid fluidized bed separator

Abstract

Use of fluidization phenomenon is increasing day by day in the mineral beneficiation. Owing to the physical properties of the mineral particles, misplacement happens during the segregation. The present study aims at understanding the effect of fin type vertical baffle along with parameters such as superficial velocity, overflow height, feed composition and Mean Particle Size Ratio (MPSR) on the particle misplacement and separation in a liquid solid fluidized bed separator. The particle misplacement was evaluated quantitatively using "Misplacement Index". It was found that the fin type vertical baffles have negligible or no effect on the particle misplacement. Moreover, change in the superficial velocity, overflow height, feed composition and MPSR substantially affects the particle misplacement. Further, there exists a critical feed composition where the misplacement is low. In addition to this, there also exists a critical MPSR where the fluidized bed operates in a completely mixed state and the point could be considered as the starting of the layer inversion. (C) 2018 The Society of Powder Technology Japan. Published by Elsevier B.V. and The Society of Powder Technology Japan. All rights reserved.