Heat recovery from the Downcomer of a pressurized circulating fluidized bed during various transient conditions

An enormous amount of heat energy is available in the cyclone and downcomer of a circulating fluidized bed (CFB). The downcomer section can thus be a major source of heat recovery. There is scope for investigation on prospects of recovering heat along the downcomer. In the present work, an attempt is made to utilize the heat from the downcomer of a laboratory-scale Pressurized circulating fluidized bed (PCFB) set up by incorporating a spiral type of heat exchanger inside it. Transient behaviour of the heat recovery for various transient operating conditions such as superficial air velocity and power input which are operated under either step and ramp increase or decrease are reported. The PCFB unit in the present study consists of a riser of 2000 mm height and 54 mm inner diameter. The length of the downcomer is 1465 mm with an inner diameter of 54 mm. The results indicated that a maximum amount of around 350 W of heat could be recovered in the downcomer. It is also observed in some cases that this heat recovery fluctuates in phase with the transients in various operating conditions while it fluctuates with delays and phase shifts in others.