Treatment of Cork Wastes in a Conical Spouted Bed Reactor

Abstract

The applicability of conical spouted bed reactors for the treatment of cork caps has been studied by means of a hydrodynamic study with homogeneous beds of cork of different size in different experimental conditions. The validity of the ranges of the geometric factors of the contactor and of the contactor-particle system for stable spouting established in previous papers and of the equation for the calculation of the minimum spouting velocity proposed for granular materials and glass spheres has been proven for beds consisting of cork. The suitable design of the conical spouted bed reactor for the combustion of cork wastes requires the previous knowledge of the ranges of the geometric factors of the contactor and of the contactor-particle system for stable spouting.