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5 Mineral processing and clean coal technology

Copyright 2004 Taylor & Francis Group plc, London, UK

Developments of dry separation with fluidized beds

Yuemin Zhao, Zhenfu Luo, Qingru Chen, Maoming Fan & Xiuxiang Tao
School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou,
Jiangsu, P.R. China

ABSTRACT: The gas-solid fluidized bed is of many characteristics, one of which is the pseudofluid property
with a special density. A particular interest of our review is the discussion of separation research development of
gas-solid fluidized beds. The fundamental and importance of dry mineral processing using gas-solid fluidized
beds are introduced. On the basis of analyzing parameters which affect the stability and separation performance
of fluidized beds, such as the structure of air distributor, properties of medium solids and operating conditions
of fluidizing media (air) etc., the separation research status of gas-solid fluidized beds is reviewed in detail. The
recent developments, especially the fluidized bed with an external field assisted, including a vibrated fluidized
bed and a magnetically fluidized bed, are also reviewed. Lastly, the study direction on mineral separation with
fluidized beds is suggested.

1 PREFACE in the world. Fundamental in some degree had been

The research and development of fluidization tech-
nologies have been commonly devoted a lot of
attention since fluidization technologies were firstly
applied in industry. Today, the fluidization technolo-
gies have been universally used in broad fields, such as
chemical engineering, petroleum, energy and material,
etc. Due to characteristics and advantages of fluidiza-
tion technologies, they will still be the most active field
in the chemical engineering subject in a longish time
from now on.
As the important part of fluidization application
technologies, the separation study on fluidization has
been made great progress recently, especially in coal
separation using gas-solid fluidized beds in China
(Lockhart 1990, Luo 2001a). Coal is the main fos-
sil energy source in China. About 70 percent of once
energy sources is coal, in which 80 percent of raw
coal are burned directly to generate electricity. Only
20 percent of raw coal was separated. Hence, resource
waste and environment pollution are serious, such as
acid rain and SO2 . The SO2 emission capacity reaches
19.47 million tons in 2001. So, it is necessary to
increase the proportion of separated coal (clean coal).
However, about more than 2/3 of coal resource dis-
tributes in arid areas in China, where the coal can not
be separated with wet process. So, it is very essen-
tial to research and develop the dry and high efficient
beneficiation technology in China. The dry and high
efficient beneficiation technology is also important
for other countries because water resource is precious
contributed by researchers from USA, Russia, and
Canada since 1960. In China, the dry beneficiation
technology with an air dense medium fluidized bed had
firstly been come into industrial application in 1994
supported by Chinese government and companies.
2 CURRENT DEVELOPMENT OF DRY
SEPARATION WITH AIR-DENSE MEDIUM
FLUIDIZED BED
2.1 Principle of coal dry preparation with
air-dense medium fluidized bed
The air dense medium fluidization is the process (Luo
2002a) in which tiny particle media are transformed
from a fixed state into a pseudofluid state by fluidiz-
ing air. As shown in Figure 1, an air distributor is
installed at the bottom of vessel. Fluidizing air is intro-
duced from the bottom of vessel through air distributor
into the particle fixed bed. With the increase of veloc-
ity of fluidizing air, the fluidization of particles bed
goes through three stages: fixed bed, fluidized bed,
and transported bed. The principle of beneficiation
with air-dense medium fluidized beds is the applica-
tion of pseudofluid properties of gas-solid fluidized
beds, especially the bed density, to separate coal. The
experiments show that the two phases of gas-solid in a
completely gas-solid fluidized bed move in much the
same way as the boiling liquid, and present pseudofluid
properties in many aspects as below. The levels of two

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chap-103 10/8/2004 15: 2 page 530
Figure 1. An air-dense medium fluidized bed.
connected fluidized beds make an even level automat-
ically. The upper surface of the fluidized bed keeps
horizontal when the vessel is inclined. The pressure
difference between two arbitrarily points in the flu-
idized bed equals almost to hydrostatic head between
these two points. Particles in the fluidized bed will
erupt through a hole on the wall of vessel. Material
whose density is lower than that of fluidized bed will
float up to upper surface, and material whose density
is higher than that of fluidized bed will sink down to
the bottom of the bed, i. e. the stratification process
according to density obeys to Archimedes Principle
(Figure 1), that is
Where = density of the fluidized bed; 1 = density
of the floats;2 = density of the sinks, and
Where s = density of medium solids in the flu-
idized bed, kg/m3 ; = porosity of the fluidized bed,%;
W = the total weight of medium solids in the fluidized
bed, N; A = the area of sectional plane of the flu-
idized bed, m2 ; H = height of the fluidized bed, m;
and g = acceleration of gravity, m/s2 .
In the practical air-dense medium fluidized bed,
light and heavy feedstock are separated by density in
fluidized beds. The lower density material floats to
the top and the higher density material sinks down
near the bottom, then the two qualified products are
obtained after separating and removing the magnetite.
However, the separation of feedstock is affected not
only by the density, but also by viscous misplaced
effect of the fluidized bed and motional misplaced
effect of the medium solids. This makes the misplace-
ment between the higher density material and the lower
density material. The viscous misplaced effect and
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Copyright 2004 Taylor & Francis Group plc, London, UK
the motional misplaced effect become serious as the
decreases of grain size of the feedstock. So, the sep-
aration efficiency of fine material is lower than that
of coarse material in the common air-dense medium
fluidized bed.
2.2 Fundamental study on dry separation with
air-dense medium fluidized beds
Forming a stable and uniform fluidized bed, suitable
for mineral separation will be affected by many param-
eters including properties of medium solids (size and
size distribution etc.), structure of vessel (air distrib-
utor and shape), and operation of fluidizing gas (air
pressure and velocity). They can be classified as the
primary unstable and secondary unstable parameters,
respectively.
The air distributor, which uniformly distribute the
air flow across the bed section, is one of the important
parts in a fluidized bed system. Douglas and Walsh
(1996) developed a type of dry heavy medium gravity
separator with an air distributor of small and uniform
holes. A kind of air distributor made of one layer of
plate with 1.5 mm holes and three layers of filter cloth
was designed (Chen 1982). The test results showed that
the filter cloth played an important role for pressure
drop of the air distributor. A type of two-stage com-
pound air distributor was also developed (Chen 1988).
This distributor distributes air uniformly and forms
a micro-bubbling fluidized bed. All the results above
show that a uniform and stable fluidized bed with a
good fluidization performance can be formed when
the pressure drop of air distributor higher than that
of bed.
Medium solids is a key parameter to affect the
characteristics of fluidized bed. We can learn from
Equation (2) that the bed density is determined mainly
by the density and shape of medium solids. As it
should be, medium solids need to be chosen according
to technical requirements, such as a suitable density
and easy to be recovered, etc. Douglas et al (1996)
chose ferro-silicon powder as medium solids to form
a fluidized bed with the bed density of 3.3 g/cm3
for separating the mixture of quartz (2.65 g/cm3 ) and
garnet sand (4.0 g/cm3 ). They used mixtures of mag-
netite and sand as medium solids with fluidized bed
density ranging from 1.3 g/cm3 to 2.2 g/cm3 for coal
beneficiation. Fluidizing properties with magnetic
pearls, magnetite powder, quartz sand and the mix-
tures as medium solids were studied (Chen 1996).
They designed and formed a 100 mm fluidized bed
using magnetite (0.0430.074 mm) as a medium solids
to separate 1.170.58 mm, 3.332.36 mm, and 9.53
6.35 mm coal. The test results showed that the coarser
the coal is, the shorter the time needed is. For the same
density medium solids, its size distribution determines
the rate of expansion of a fluidized bed to a great
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degree under the same operating conditions. The finer Table 1. Main parameters of three types of separation
the medium solids is, the larger the bed expansion rate apparatus.
is and therefore the smaller the bed density will be.
Hence, the bed density can be adjusted in some degree Type CFC CBC-100 KZ2050
by changing the size distribution of medium solids.
Scale Pilot plant Pilot plant Industrial
Both Douglas and Chens experimental results showed
plant
what mentioned above to be true. Feedstock 20(25)6(0.8) 15025 506
Operating parameters such as fluidization number size, mm
(a rate of working gas velocity to minimum fluidizing Surface <6 <6 <5
gas velocity) and air pressure affect the fluidization moisture, %
quality significantly, including the size of bubbles, Sharpness of 0.040.20 0.060.11 0.050.07
bed pressure fluctuation and density stability. Douglas separation
et al (1996) used 0.100.08 mm ferro-silicon powder (Ep Value)
as medium solids to form a uniform fluidized bed in a Capacity, t/h 205.7 100 50
Length, mm 190 2000
88.9 mm vessel when fluidization number was 2. In
Width, mm 5400 5000
this case, the separation efficiency was the best. Chen Height, mm 600 350
et al (1988) chose 0.150.30 mm magnetite powder Removal of The float by By two By a
as medium solids and the test results showed that the float and sink overflow conveyors single
fluidization number should be 1.41.6 in a 100 mm products and the sink respectively conveyor
fluidized bed vessel. by conveyor
Structure shape and depth of the bed are determined
by forming a high quality fluidized bed, the size of
separated material and transportation manner of prod-
of limestone or sand mixed with hematite or magnetite,
ucts. Chen et al (1988) developed several fluidized
to separate coal from mineral matter ranging from
bed experimental apparatuses with different shapes
25 mm to 0.6 mm. The former Russia developed CBC-
and sizes. The typical model is the fluidized bed with a
100 separator with air-dense medium fluidized beds.
cross-section of 150 mm 200 mm. The fluidized bed
Chen et al (1993) established a 5t/h pilot plant of
density is measured with different pressure transmit-
coal dry beneficiation and 50t/h coal dry beneficiation
ters, such as U-shaped pipe differential manometers,
system (using KZ2050 separation apparatus) with air-
an optical fiber density meter, and electric-resistance-
dense medium fluidized beds. The main parameters
strain differential pressure transmitters, etc.
of three types of separation apparatus are shown in
Luo (2002a) and Chen et al (1988) have studied the
Table 1.
influence of structure of air distributor, inlet air pres-
sure, flow rate, and medium solids characteristics on
fluidization uniformity, and have successfully created
3 RECENT DEVELOPMENT OF DRY
a stable gas-solid fluidized bed which has a homoge-
SEPARATION WITH FLUIDIZED BEDS
neous bed density distribution and approximately the
same as a particular fluidized bed.
Because dry separation with fluidized beds doesnt
need water, more and more researchers pay much
attention to this advantage and make a variety of
2.3 Study on continuous separation apparatuses
advances in the field.
with air-dense medium fluidized beds
Luo (Luo 1996, 2001b) studied into the density sta-
There are three typical beneficiation pilot plants with bilization and separation mechanism in fluidized beds,
air-dense medium fluidized bed in Canada, the former and developed a three size fraction distribution theory
Russia, and China, respectively. Beeckmans (1982) of air-dense medium fluidized beds. Segregation and
and his co-workers (Dong 1990) in the University of mixing behavior of binary particles and formation of a
Western Ontario in Canada have developed a counter- double-density fluidized bed were studied (Wei 1998).
current fluidized cascade (CCFC). Fluidizing air is Three products can be produced in a fluidized bed
controlled at a velocity only a little higher than the cascade separator at 1.49 g/cm3 and 1.85 g/cm3 separa-
minimum fluidizing velocity, and feedstock is segre- tion density, respectively. Rosensweig et al (1987) have
gated vertically according to density in the fluidized conducted numerous experiments to demonstrate the
bed. An enhanced separation is achieved by creat- feasibility of separating solids by density difference
ing opposing horizontal motions in the upper and in magnetically stabilized fluidized beds. A cross-
lower strata of the fluidized bed, by means of mov- flow magnetically stabilized fluidized bed, 700 mm
ing baffles or paddles attached to an endless chain, long, 510 mm high, and 254 mm wide, using 0.84
whereby a re-circulation of partially separated compo- 1.19 mm composite particles of 70% stainless steel
nents occurred. The CCFC uses a fluidizing medium and 30% alumina as medium solids, was used to

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chap-103 10/8/2004 15: 2 page 532
perform a continuous separation for feedstock. The
bed was fluidized by air flow at a superficial gas
velocity of about 1090 mm/s in an applied DC mag-
netic field of 75Oersted. Solid feed were a mixture
of coal (1.39 g/cm3 ) as light component and lime-
stone (2.71 g/cm3 ) as the heavy component. The size
of the feed solids ranged from 4 mm to 13 mm. A
feed mixture of nearly equal weight of coal and lime-
stone was separated into a coal-rich float product and
a lime-rich sink product. Both product streams were
considerably enriched in their major component. The
coal and lime recoveries were 90.6%, 97.5% respec-
tively. Owing to a high content of <6 mm fine coal
in raw coal (some of which is more than 70%), the
formation mechanism, beneficiation mechanism and
efficiency of vibrated fluidized bed for <6 mm coal
were studied (Luo 2003). On the basis of investigating
properties of the vibration fluidized bed and separating
technical requirement, a vibrated fluidized bed model
equipment (2000 mm long, 80 mm wide and 200 mm
high) for fine coal cleaning was manufactured. The
experimental results under continuous beneficiation
conditions show that the <6 mm coal can be benefici-
ated with the vibrated fluidized bed model equipment
efficiently. The beneficiation density can be adjusted
within 1.452.2 g/cm3 , the lower limit of beneficiation
can reach 0.5 mm, and the E value is 0.08. Recently,
Luo (2002b) and Fan et al (2001) studied the charac-
ter of magnetic medium solids (magnetic pearls) and
the fluidization character of magnetic pearls magneti-
cally stabilized fluidized bed. A certain magnetic field
can efficiently restrain the formation of gas bubbles in
the magnetic pearls fluidized bed. NAC high-speed
camera was adopted to study the mechanism of mag-
netic field restraining the formation of gas bubbles in
the magnetic pearls fluidized bed. A density model
of magnetic pearls mixed with a coal slime mag-
netically stabilized fluidized bed was established for
bed density forecasting. Gravity concentration tests
showed that magnetically stabilized fluidized beds can
efficiently separate 16 mm fine coal with a 0.05 E
value.
4 CONCLUSIONS
Dry beneficiation technology with air-dense medium
fluidized beds has many advantages such as high sepa-
ration efficiency and requiring no water. The available
air-dense medium fluidized bed is currently used for
separation of 50-6 mm coarse coal in China. However,
there is a big content of 6-0 mm fine coal in raw coal,
some of which are up to 70%. In addition, the pyrite is
mainly embedded in fine coal, so it is urgent to develop
a new fluidized bed separating method to separate fine
coal. The fluidized bed with external assisted field,
including a vibrated fluidized bed and a magnetically
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Copyright 2004 Taylor & Francis Group plc, London, UK
fluidized bed, is of a better fluidization quality and
thus suitable for separation of fine coal. Fundamental
studies on coal separation using a vibrated fluidized
bed and a magnetically fluidized bed have been made
great progress. However, further researches on a pilot
and industrial scale are needed.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors wish to thank the National Natural Science
Foundation of China (Nos. 90210035, 59974030 and
50025411) for financing the project.
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