Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

) Particle technology is used in many industries especially the chemical and materials industries. Fluidization is a very efficient method in handling powdered particles and many types of fluidized bed reactors have been developed. In the past 30 years, high-velocity fluidized bed reactors were found to be more efficient and such high-velocity reactors include the turbulent fluidized bed reactors and the circulating fluidized bed reactors. Turbulent bed reactors provide high reaction intensity and compact size as well as high mass transfer, but suffers from particle backmixing, while circulating bed reactors have less backmixing and high mass transfer, but are bulky and costly to build. The first proposed research project is to continue an endeavour to develop a new circulating turbulent fluidized bed reactors that combine the benefits of both. ) In recent years, fluidization technology finds more and more applications in the biochemical and environmental industries, given its high mass transfer efficiency and the ability to handle a large quantity of particulate materials. The second proposed research project is to further develop a new type of gas-liquid-solid circulating fluidized bed reactors for applications in the biochemical and environmental industries. ) The third proposed research project is to study in more fundamentals on the fluidization and handlability of Geldart C ultrafine powders (less than 30 microns). Those powders are extremely difficult to handle because of the extremely strong interparticle forces, that make the particles agglomerate together. However, they are extremely useful in many industrial applications such as powder coating, pulmonary drug delivery and tablet coating, including applications using nano-sized particles. ) The applicant has had extensive past experience in fluidization and particle technology and the proposed research will provide extensive training opportunities for highly qualified personnel for Canada.