Fluidization characteristics of rice husk with and without coal using a bubbling fluidized cold bed model

Abstract The fluidization behaviour was investigated using a cold flow bubbling fluidized bed setup with a column of 8 cm inner diameter. Minimum fluidization velocities ( U mf ) were experimentally determined for both mono‐component (rice husk or coal) and binary mixtures of rice husk and coal, using air as the fluidizing medium. For the binary mixtures, U mf,m was measured by varying the weight fraction and particle size of coal. It was observed that fluidization performance improved significantly with an increase in the coal weight fraction. Conversely, higher proportions of rice husk led to deteriorated fluidization behaviour due to its low bulk density and irregular particle shape. To predict the U mf,m for specific mixtures, two empirical correlations were developed for rice husk weight fractions of 20% and 40%. These correlations showed good agreement with experimental results, with relative errors within 7%.