Slugging Bed Height of Polyethylene Particles in a Fluidized Bed with an Expanded Section

Slugging experiments were performed in a fluidized bed of 7 cm ID and 50 cm in height to examine the maximum bed height with an expanded section. High-density polyethylene (HDPE) particles of 0.5 mm were employed as the bed materials. The slugging bed height was linearly increased with the gas velocity in the beds of uniform cross section as well as expanded section with different slope. From the results of this study, it was found that the existing correlation to predict the slugging bed height based on the heavier particles for the uniform cross section area was satisfactorily applied for the lighter particles of HDPE and for the expanded section, a slight modification was made for the particle of HDPE in the slugging bed.