Some Drying Aspects of Multistage Fluidized Beds

Multistage fluidized beds with and without downcomers to the horizontal perforated plates are used to dry food materials under different experimental conditions. The influence of various operating parameters such as inlet temperature of the heating medium, flow rate of the heating medium, material flow rate, and number of stages have been investigated. The performance of multistage fluidized beds with and without downcomers is compared and the difference in performance is explained based on stagnancy and short-circuiting of materials in each stage.