(27a) Student Workshop on Particle Technology II

Part II: Billions of pounds of bulk solids are processed and handled every year by the US process industries, yet most chemical engineers are ill-equipped to deal with the complexities of the engineering science of solids processing/particle technology. Hence, plants and products suffer with lost production, inability to achieve design production rates, off grade or off specification products, etc. During this session, we will take a look at the fun and exciting (and often counterintuitive!) world of solids processing. Specifically, we will look at some of the more common particle-based technologies examining both the important role they play in society today along with the associated technical challenges.

Demonstration of Particle Technology in Action: If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a video is worth a thousand pictures and a live demonstration is worth a thousand videos. This session will also illustrate some of the awe-inspiring and unique features in the field of particle technology through hands-on demonstrations on fluidization, hopper design, segregation, etc.

The featured demonstration unit will include a mini-circulating fluidized bed (CFB) prototype comprising a riser, standpipe, and cyclone. The cold-flow mini-CFB is capable of fluidizing particles classified as Geldart groups A, B, C and D in various fluidization regimes, such as bubbling, turbulent, transport regimes, etc.