Investigation of particle velocity in FCC gas-fluidized beds based on different measurement techniques

The novel traveling fluidization column, designed and built to assure identical operating conditions, was deployed to compare alternate experimental measurement techniques for hydrodynamic characterization of gas-fluidized beds. This paper compares measurements of particle velocity obtained by radioactive particle tracking (RPT—non-invasive at the Ecole Polytechnique), positron emission particle tracking (PEPT—non-invasive at University of Birmingham), optical fibre probes (invasive at UBC) and borescopic high speed particle image velocimetry (invasive at PSRI) carried out with FCC particles of mean diameter 107 μm. All of the techniques provided similar trends with respect to time-average particle velocity profiles, but significant differences were observed in some cases. Analysis of the results, focusing on the physical principles of each measurement technique, provides valuable insights into the reasons for the observed discrepancies. The results also add to a unique hydrodynamic database for validation of CFD and other mechanistic models.