Separation of fine binary mixtures under vibration in a gas-solid fluidized bed with dense medium

The coke-slag mixture discharged from water-air generators not only causes a serious environmental problem, but also is a potential resource. In order to obtain a high economic return, separation of fine binary mixtures in a vibrating fluidized bed with dense media was experimentally investigated. The effects of volume ratio (mono-component volume to dense medium volume or binary mixture volume to dense medium volume), the fluidization velocity and vibration parameters on separation efficiency are discussed. The experimental results show that vibration can prevent the coalescence and growth of bubbles and improve fluidization properties of particles and the stability of bed density. The major factors associated with separating efficiency are discussed. Based on the experiments, the ratio of the volume of particles to bed volume and the vibration conditions are also reported. It was found that the separation efficiency for a fine coke-slag mixture was greater than 70% and close to 80% under optimal conditions.