Expansion of spouted beds in conical contactors

The expansion of conical spouted beds has been studied on a wide experimental base (using contactors of different geometries and solids of different diameters and sphericities). The correlation obtained for calculating the global voidage from the operation conditions is of a more general application than those previously proposed in the literature, which are generally centred on the study of voidage in the spout. The global incipient voidages are delimited for both stable regimes corresponding to two voidage ranges: spouting and jet spouting. While the correlation for calculation of expansion can be applied for the calculation of global minimum jet spouting voidage, a correlation is proposed for the calculation of the global minimum spouting voidage. This equation is applicable in a wide range of operation conditions.