Pulsed Fluidization of Nanosilica: Rigorous Evaluation of the Efficacy of Pulsation Frequency

Assisted fluidization techniques can significantly improve the hydrodynamics of difficult- to-fluidize solids. Among these techniques, the pulsed flow strategy is highly promising owing to its cost-effectiveness and amenability to implementation for largescale processing. Using commercial-grade, hig...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Mohammad Asif, Ebrahim H. Al-Ghurabi, Amanullah Fatehmulla
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2022-06-01
Series:Nanomaterials
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2079-4991/12/13/2158
_version_ 1797442502950649856
author Mohammad Asif
Ebrahim H. Al-Ghurabi
Amanullah Fatehmulla
author_facet Mohammad Asif
Ebrahim H. Al-Ghurabi
Amanullah Fatehmulla
author_sort Mohammad Asif
collection DOAJ
description Assisted fluidization techniques can significantly improve the hydrodynamics of difficult- to-fluidize solids. Among these techniques, the pulsed flow strategy is highly promising owing to its cost-effectiveness and amenability to implementation for largescale processing. Using commercial-grade, highly porous nanosilica that shows strong agglomeration behavior, we implemented the pulsed flow with square-wave pulsation schemes of 0.05, 0.10, and 0.25 Hz frequencies, and compared their effectiveness in each case. Besides the conventional approach of assessing their efficacy using the pressure drop data, we have proposed a new approach in this work that consists of computing the power of the overall pressure drop transient signals. Using the theoretical value, i.e., the effective bed weight per unit area as a reference, the percentage increase in the power was 27 ± 4, 71 ± 5, and 128 ± 4, respectively, for 0.05, 0.10, and 0.25 Hz pulsation frequencies. In fact, the average pressure drop values were substantially higher when the partial bed collapse occurred between successive pulsations when compared with the case of low-frequency pulsations. The pulsation frequency also affected the evolution of local bed dynamics in various bed regions during the expansion and collapse of the bed. Moreover, the local and global pressure transients have shown interesting mutual correlations which were otherwise not evident from their individual transient profiles.
first_indexed 2024-03-09T12:42:47Z
format Article
id doaj.art-5f0388e0dd0f4d2aa18a7ffd7d97f65e
institution Directory Open Access Journal
issn 2079-4991
language English
last_indexed 2024-03-09T12:42:47Z
publishDate 2022-06-01
publisher MDPI AG
record_format Article
series Nanomaterials
spelling doaj.art-5f0388e0dd0f4d2aa18a7ffd7d97f65e2023-11-30T22:16:01ZengMDPI AGNanomaterials2079-49912022-06-011213215810.3390/nano12132158Pulsed Fluidization of Nanosilica: Rigorous Evaluation of the Efficacy of Pulsation FrequencyMohammad Asif0Ebrahim H. Al-Ghurabi1Amanullah Fatehmulla2Department of Chemical Engineering, King Saud University, P.O. Box 800, Riyadh 11421, Saudi ArabiaDepartment of Chemical Engineering, King Saud University, P.O. Box 800, Riyadh 11421, Saudi ArabiaDepartment of Physics and Astronomy, College of Science, King Saud University, P.O. Box 2455, Riyadh 11451, Saudi ArabiaAssisted fluidization techniques can significantly improve the hydrodynamics of difficult- to-fluidize solids. Among these techniques, the pulsed flow strategy is highly promising owing to its cost-effectiveness and amenability to implementation for largescale processing. Using commercial-grade, highly porous nanosilica that shows strong agglomeration behavior, we implemented the pulsed flow with square-wave pulsation schemes of 0.05, 0.10, and 0.25 Hz frequencies, and compared their effectiveness in each case. Besides the conventional approach of assessing their efficacy using the pressure drop data, we have proposed a new approach in this work that consists of computing the power of the overall pressure drop transient signals. Using the theoretical value, i.e., the effective bed weight per unit area as a reference, the percentage increase in the power was 27 ± 4, 71 ± 5, and 128 ± 4, respectively, for 0.05, 0.10, and 0.25 Hz pulsation frequencies. In fact, the average pressure drop values were substantially higher when the partial bed collapse occurred between successive pulsations when compared with the case of low-frequency pulsations. The pulsation frequency also affected the evolution of local bed dynamics in various bed regions during the expansion and collapse of the bed. Moreover, the local and global pressure transients have shown interesting mutual correlations which were otherwise not evident from their individual transient profiles.https://www.mdpi.com/2079-4991/12/13/2158nanosilicafluidizationpulsed flowpulsation frequencyassisted fluidizationefficacy
spellingShingle Mohammad Asif
Ebrahim H. Al-Ghurabi
Amanullah Fatehmulla
Pulsed Fluidization of Nanosilica: Rigorous Evaluation of the Efficacy of Pulsation Frequency
Nanomaterials
nanosilica
fluidization
pulsed flow
pulsation frequency
assisted fluidization
efficacy
title Pulsed Fluidization of Nanosilica: Rigorous Evaluation of the Efficacy of Pulsation Frequency
title_full Pulsed Fluidization of Nanosilica: Rigorous Evaluation of the Efficacy of Pulsation Frequency
title_fullStr Pulsed Fluidization of Nanosilica: Rigorous Evaluation of the Efficacy of Pulsation Frequency
title_full_unstemmed Pulsed Fluidization of Nanosilica: Rigorous Evaluation of the Efficacy of Pulsation Frequency
title_short Pulsed Fluidization of Nanosilica: Rigorous Evaluation of the Efficacy of Pulsation Frequency
title_sort pulsed fluidization of nanosilica rigorous evaluation of the efficacy of pulsation frequency
topic nanosilica
fluidization
pulsed flow
pulsation frequency
assisted fluidization
efficacy
url https://www.mdpi.com/2079-4991/12/13/2158
work_keys_str_mv AT mohammadasif pulsedfluidizationofnanosilicarigorousevaluationoftheefficacyofpulsationfrequency
AT ebrahimhalghurabi pulsedfluidizationofnanosilicarigorousevaluationoftheefficacyofpulsationfrequency
AT amanullahfatehmulla pulsedfluidizationofnanosilicarigorousevaluationoftheefficacyofpulsationfrequency