Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Degree

Master of Engineering Science

Program

Chemical and Biochemical Engineering

Supervisor

Briens, Cedric L.

2nd Supervisor

Berruti, Franco

Joint Supervisor

Abstract

The Jiggle Bed Reactor (JBR), a batch fluidized bed microreactor, is inexpensive and easy to operate with a small amount of solids. The main goal of this thesis was to provide practical tools for the design and operation of JBR systems that will ensure good gas-solids mixing.

A model was developed to predict the piston motion. The model uses four empirical parameters that change depending on the equipment characteristics. Two parameters characterize the gas supply to the piston and two parameters are used to describe the frictional forces on the piston. The model was validated with high speed video.

Experiments were conducted to study the effect of the reactor motion on the gas-solid mixing in the JBR. A good correlation between gas-solid mixing in the reactor and the maximum acceleration of the piston was identified: good gas-solid mixing was achieved with maximum accelerations greater than 55 m/s2.

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