Hydrodynamic study of fine metallic powders in an original spouted bed contactor in view of chemical vapor deposition treatments

An original gas-solid contactor was developed so as to treat by chemical vapor deposition, fine (mean diameter 23 μm) and dense (bulk density 7700 kg/m³) NiCoCrAlYTa powders with large size distribution. In order to avoid the presence of a distributor in the reactive zone, a spouted bed configuration was selected, consisting in a glass cylindrical column associated through a 60° cone to an inlet tube, connected at its bottom to a grid so as to support the powders at rest. A hydrodynamic study was conducted at ambient temperature and pressure, combining pressure drop measurements and visual observations as a function of gas velocity and of the ratio H/D of the height of the bed at rest over the bed diameter. Using conventional alumina particles belonging to Geldart's group B, it was shown that this equipment is able to ensure conventional spouted bed behavior, especially for H/D ratio equal to 1. From numerous experiments conducted with the fine metallic powders of interest, it was shown that (i) conventional pressure drop curves for spouted beds are obtained for H/D ratios between 1 and 1.8, (ii) due to the large grain size distribution of particles, minimum spouted bed velocities occur in a range rather than at precise values. Visual observations reveal the presence of the spout and fountain at the minimum spouted bed velocity and for H/D equal to 1.