(561g) Minimum Spouting Velocity of Food Particles in a Gas-Solid Spouted Bed

Designing an apparatus to investigate the hydrodynamics of particles in a spouted bed is the aim of this study. Spouted beds are widely used devises in many fields such as pharmaceutical, food and powder industries. The floatation and circulation of particles occurs by means of applying an air jet from a nozzle at the bottom of the particles bed. The interaction between the particles motions and the air flow field is the most important phenomenon in these devises. Spouted beds have some advantages in contrast to conventional fluidized beds in fluidizing very large or small particles but the creation of static dead zones is a drawback. In this study, an experimental device is designed to investigate the behavior of different food particles in a spouted bed. Studied particles include mung bean, maize and yellow pea with known diameter, density and porosity are subjected to various air flow rates from a nozzle and the minimum spouting velocity as a key parameter in its operation is measured and compared with available empirical equations.