Powder Technology 244 (2013) 9399

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Powder Technology
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/powtec

Review

Granular bed lter: A promising technology for hot gas clean-up

Gang Xiao, Xihui Wang, Jiapeng Zhang, Mingjiang Ni , Xiang Gao, Zhongyang Luo, Kefa Cen
State Key Laboratory of Clean Energy Utilization, Institute for Thermal Power Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Received 28 November 2012
Received in revised form 5 April 2013
Accepted 6 April 2013
Available online 15 April 2013
Keywords:
Granular bed lter
Hot gas clean-up
IGCC
PFBC

a b s t r a c t
Hot gas clean-up is important in the integrated gasication combined cycle (IGCC) and advanced pressurized
uidized-bed combustion (PFBC) technologies, which have greater efciencies and less environmental impacts.
The present work attempts to provide a general understanding of granular bed lters, a promising technology for
hot gas clean-up. Granular bed lters can be designed as xed beds, uidized beds and moving granular beds, and
in this paper, their characteristics and performances are summarized and discussed. A xed bed granular lter
has the disadvantage that gas ow must be stopped periodically for cleaning; however, its particle collection
efciency is greater than 99%. A uidized bed lter provides continuous operation, though it is less efcient at
removing small particles. Moving granular beds are promising for hot gas clean-up because typically, they operate continuously with high ltration efciencies (over 97%) and small pressure losses.
2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Contents
1.
2.
3.

Introduction . . . . . . . . . .
Basic ltration mechanism . . .
Granular bed lter categories . .
3.1.
Fixed bed . . . . . . . .
3.2.
Fluidized bed . . . . . .
3.3.
Granular moving bed . .
4.
Filtration media and performance
5.
Summary . . . . . . . . . . .
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . .
References . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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1. Introduction
The integrated gasication combined cycle (IGCC) and advanced
pressurized uidized-bed combustion (PFBC) technologies promise
electricity generation with substantially greater thermodynamic efciencies and reduced environmental impacts [1]. Since the 1990s, at
least ve coal-red IGCC commercial demonstration units for power
generation were built, including the Wabash River and TECO Tampa
power plant in America, Nuon Buggnum in Holland, Puertollano in
Spain and Nakoso in Japan. ABB Carbon, the company that built the
rst commercial PFBC unit, has produced one P800-type unit, which
was installed in the Karita power plant and six P200-type PFBC units:
two units in the Vartan power plant in Sweden and the remaining

Corresponding author. Tel.: +86 571 87953290; Fax: +86 571 87951616.
E-mail address: ceu_ni@zju.edu.cn (M. Ni).
0032-5910/$ see front matter 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.powtec.2013.04.003

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93
94
94
94
95
96
98
98
98
98

units in the Escatron power plant in Spain, Tidd in America, Wakamatsu

in Japan and Cottbus in German. The Japanese companies, MHI and
Hitachi, have produced 85-MW and 250-MW PFBC units, which were
installed in the Hokkaido and Osaki power plants, respectively [2]. For
these power systems, gasied gases at extremely high temperatures,
above 1260 C, enter gas turbines to generate power. To protect the
downstream heat exchanger and gas turbine components from fouling
and erosion while cleaning the gas stream to meet environmental emission requirements, it is critical for the power system to effectively remove particulates [3].
The objective in the development of advanced power systems is
collecting particles at temperatures between 370 C to 595 C for
IGCC and 760 C to 870 C for PFBC. However, due to the limitations
of the developed technologies, current IGCC systems can only remove
particulates by condensing or quenching the raw fuel gas with water
(wet scrubbing). Present PFBC designs use cyclone (inertial) separators upstream of the gas turbine in conjunction with an electrostatic

94

G. Xiao et al. / Powder Technology 244 (2013) 9399

precipitator (ESP) and fabric lter downstream of the gas turbine [4],
which can result in high costs and low efciency [5].
Ceramic candle lters and granular bed lters are the most promising methods in hot gas clean-up for advanced coal conversion technologies [6]. Candle lters generally have an extremely high cleaning
efciency, approximately 99.8% [7]. Several ceramic barrier lters
are nearing commercialization for a temperature range of 250 C to
400 C [8]. However, ceramic lters quickly become clogged with collected gas-entrained particles, resulting in an unacceptable increase in
pressure drop across the lter and requiring a way to clean the surface
of the lters [5,9]. In addition, a signicant number of ceramic lters
have broken in various experimental and demonstration devices,
particularly during long-term testing of the candle lter system at
the Tidd station [10]. Granular bed lters are more attractive because
they use low-cost lter media and have a constant pressure drop when
the lter is operated as a moving bed [10,11]. Experimental or pilot tests
of granular bed lters have been performed in Japan by the Coal Mining
Research Centre at the Yubari uidized-bed test facility at IGCC conditions, Electried Filter Bed (EFB) Inc. Air Pollution Technology (APT),
Combustion Power Company (CPC) and Siemens-Westinghouse [12].
There are primarily three types of operating processes: xed bed, moving bed and uidized bed [1317].
The present work attempts to provide a comprehensive understanding of granular bed lters, a promising technology for hot gas clean-up.
Several main aspects are summarized and discussed, including the basic
principles, characteristics of different types of granular bed lters and
their performances.
2. Basic ltration mechanism
The basic principle of granular ltration is the removal of suspended
particles by passage through lter media composed of granular material. As the suspension ows through the media, various forces, which
include van der Waal's force, capillary force, gravity and electrostatic
force, act on the particles and cause them to become deposited on the
surface of the granules [18]. The mechanisms of collecting particles include interception, inertial impaction, diffusion, gravitational settling
and electrostatic attraction. Except for interception, the efciencies of
the other mechanisms are primarily related to gas velocities and operation temperatures [19]. The expressions of efciencies of different
mechanisms have been presented by Liu et al. [20], Pfeffer et al.
[21], and Gal et al. [22], as listed in Table 1 where R is the interception
parameter, dc and dp are the diameters of the bed materials and particles
to be removed, respectively, d is the dimensionless construction diameter of the constricted tube, is the bed porosity, Re, St, Pe and Ga are the
Reynolds number, Stokes number, Pclet number and Galileo number,
respectively, p, and are the density of the particles, gas dynamic
viscosity and mean free path of gas molecules, respectively, k is the

Boltzmann constant, T is the absolute temperature, g is the gravitational

acceleration, uf is the supercial uid velocity, Qc and Qp are the electrical charge density on the bed materials and the particles to be removed
respectively, Kc is a positive dimensionless electrical constant, f is the
uid dielectric constant, and ER, EI, ED, EG and EEl are the single sphere
collection efciency of interception, inertial impaction, diffusion, gravitational settling and electrostatic attraction, respectively.
The total collection efciency of a single granule Et can be expressed by
Et 11ER 1EI 1ED 1EG 1EEl :

The total bed efciency [22] is

h


 i
1 exp K 1 1 L=dp Et

where K1 is a constant, and L is the depth of bed.

The effect of diffusion increases slowly as the particle size falls within
submicron ranges and is dominated by nano-particles. Interception is
important for small particles within the sub-micron to several micron
size range. For particles at sizes of tens of microns, inertial impaction
and gravitational settling should be considered [20]. According to Pfeffer
et al. [21], in order for electrical effects to be of any importance in enhancing particles deposition on granules, the following inequality
must be satised:
Kc

1=2

> R ; Kc

3=2

> Pe

; K c > Ga St:

As for the other operating variables, such as operating gas velocity,

temperature, size of ltration medium and depth of granular bed, etc.,
it is difcult to quantitatively identify the predominate mechanism.
Qualitative analysis is done to study the effects of the following parameters on ltration efciency: increasing supercial velocity results
in a compacted dust cake on the surface of the granules, which is
helpful for particle collection; the inuence of temperature is complicated and primarily includes three aspects. Firstly, increasing the
temperature decreases the viscous force between particles, leading
to re-entrainment of deposited dusts; secondly, increasing the temperature strongly increases attrition of particles, which could release
small particles; thirdly, high temperatures strengthen the diffusion
of particles. The rst two effects are negative effects, whereas the
third effect helps to remove dust. Small size of the ltration medium
usually results in a low porosity and high collection efciency. A large
bed depth is helpful at removing particles when pressure loss is not a
concern.
3. Granular bed lter categories
3.1. Fixed bed

Table 1
Efciencies of different mechanisms.
Mechanisms

Important dimensionless
parameter

Efciency

Interception

dp
dc

ER

Inertial
impaction

St

p uf dp 2 C c
9dc


 
EI 1 0:04Re St f R

Diffusion

Pe

dc uf
kT
, Dp
Cc
3dp
Dp

ED

Gravitational
settling

Ga

dc g
2uf 2

EG = Ga St

 
3
R

4:52
Pe1=2

C c dp Q c Q p
EEl = 4Kc
Electrostatic
Kc
3 f uf
attraction
!
!



2 1=2
1:041
 
dp
2
4
R
R
Cc 1
1:257 0:4 exp 0:55
, f R 0:48 4 R 2
dp
d

d
d

Fig. 1 shows a xed bed operating in a granular bed lter, in which

granules are the ltration media. A packed bed lter [23], as shown in
Fig. 1a, is the simplest structure of a xed bed, where a stainless steel
holder with a certain diameter supports a layer of silica sand or other
materials as the packed media of the bed. During the ltration process,
dirty gas ows through the media where most of the dust is trapped. As
more and more particles are deposited on the granules, a dust cake
forms, collection becomes more effective, and the pressure drop across
the lter media increases. For the regeneration process, a back ow
passes vertically through the lter bed of granules; the dust previously
retained in the lter media is entrained in the uidized gas stream, and
the lter media is regenerated. Kuo et al. [24] investigated the ltration
and loading characteristics of a granular bed lter, where Fig. 1a shows a
schematic. A parameter called the lter quality factor is dened as
ln P
qf
, which combines the effect of the penetration rate P and
P

G. Xiao et al. / Powder Technology 244 (2013) 9399

95

outer edges in a traditional panel bed lter. Squires [30] changed

the louvers slope to downward towards the outer edges. For a given
panel bed height, down-sloping louvers present a larger total gasentry sand face, allowing the equipment to occupy a smaller ground
area for a given ltering capacity. Puffback renewal of gas-entry sand
faces is more effective in down-sloping louvers than in other structures.
The xed bed suffers from a major disadvantage: gas ow must be
periodically stopped for cleaning [5].
3.2. Fluidized bed

Fig. 1. Schematic of xed bed.

pressure drop P to determine the performance of the lter media in

[24]. The results indicated that small granules result in a high collection
efciency but causes a high pressure drop. As a result, the best lter is
dependent on the size of the particles to be removed. From the stand
point of the lter quality factor, lters made of large granules perform
better, particularly when the face velocity is low. For all granule sizes,
the lter quality factor decreases as the particle size to be removed increases when the diameter is less than 0.8 m, whereas the factor increases when the diameter is greater than 0.8 m. Small granules
result in a high collection efciency but less dust capacity. To increase
the collection efciency and bed dust capacity simultaneously, Yang
and Zhou [25] proposed a dual-layer granular bed lter. Granules consist of two layers, a lower layer with small, heavy granules and an
upper layer with large, light-weight granules. The upper lter media ensures a large dust capacity because of their large size, and the lower
layer provides an extremely high ltration efciency due to the small
diameter of the lter media.
A panel bed lter [26], as shown in g. 1b, has three sets of louvers
that hold up two adjacent beds. The left is a panel bed with a ner ltration sand, and the right is a coarser backing sand. A central column of
narrowly spaced, horizontal louvers separates the ltration sand from
the backing sand, the latter being held in place between the central
louvers and the horizontal backside louvers. Vertical spacing between
an adjacent pair of central louvers is adjusted to prevent the coarser
solid from participating in the body movement of the ne solid that
puffback creates. During the ltering stage, lter cakes accumulate on
the bed's gas-entry surfaces. In the cleaning stage, the ow of dusty
gas is interrupted, and a puffback causes the lter cakes together with
the surface layers of the granular ltration medium to fall from the
gas-entry surfaces to renew for another cycle of ltration. The panel
bed lter can operate at high ltration velocities compared with that
of bag lters and maintain a high efciency at a low residual pressure
[27]. The dust cake formation process in a panel bed lter is comprehensive. At room temperature, y ash deposits goes through three periods:
penetration, lling the pits and the surface period [28]. At an elevated
temperature, e.g., 150 and 350 C, y ash deposits exhibit a more complex behavior, which is affected by the granules material and size and
the entry-gas velocity [29]. The louvers slope upward toward their

Although the xed-bed type is the most common device for granular
ltration, the uidized bed has the advantages of continuous operation
and regeneration. In the 1970s and 1980s, studies on particle ltration
by uidized beds were conducted because a new type of energy production system, such as the integrated gasication combined cycle (IGCC),
was developed [31]. A uidized bed, as shown in Fig. 2, can capture pollutants, such as acid gases [32], organic compounds [33,34], heavy
metals [33] and particulates [34]. Particles and other pollutants collide
with granules and are then trapped. Coarse particles are deposited
and become ltration medium, and at the same time, ne particles are
eluted from the uidized bed.
The phenomenon of ltering particles by a uidized bed is complex,
and the parameters that affect the control efciency of ltration vary,
including the operating ow rate [35], bed temperature [36], adhesion
of the particles [37], size of particles to be removed [38] and the bed
material diameter [31,39]. When the supercial velocity is between
0.1 and 0.8 m/s, the penetration for small particles at low air velocities
is strongly reduced by inter-particle adhesion forces. For Geldart
group A powders, the gravitational force dominates. At high supercial
velocities, the hydrodynamic forces overrule adhesion effects. It was
shown that the removal efciency increased when the temperature
increased from 36 C to 500 C when other parameters were kept
constant [40]. The strong attrition at high temperatures (e.g., 500 C)
released more small particles than that at low temperatures (e.g.,
150 C), greatly increasing the concentration of PM10 particles with a
size peak at 47 m and decreasing the collection efciency. The elutriation rate of large particles in dust-laden gas increases with the proportion of ne particles in the bed ltration media, and the collection of ne
particles in dust-laden gas is not affected by the size distribution of the
bed ltration media [39], as shown by Wey et al. [31]. Urciuolo et al. [41]

Fig. 2. Schematic of uidized bed.

96

G. Xiao et al. / Powder Technology 244 (2013) 9399

proposed a sound-assisted uidized-bed lter afterburner for dust-laden

gas clean-up. Compared with when no acoustic eld is used, an acoustic
eld of 140 dB at 120 Hz doubled the time required to saturate the lter,
quadrupled the amount of ne particulate retained by the bed and doubled the residence time of the ne particulates. The role of sound is related to an enhanced adhesion of the ne particles to the surface of the
coarse particles associated with the oscillatory motion of particles as a
result of the acoustic eld.
Fluidized-bed technology is less efcient at removing small particles; however, it is continuous in operation. Furthermore, it requires a
substantially uniform ow of gas. Any sudden surge of gas through
the uidized bed can result in not only the previously contained particulates passing through the bed but also a portion of the bed granules itself being entrained in the gas, thus particle loading the gas
stream even more [5].

3.3. Granular moving bed

Moving beds are more efcient than uidized beds at equal bed thickness and material. In terms of ow direction of the entry gas and moving
granules, moving beds are categorized as cross-ow, co-current ow and
counter-current ow granular moving bed, as shown in Figs. 3 and 4.
In moving bed cross-ow operations, as shown in Fig. 3(a),(b) and
(c), the lter bed is a vertical layer of granular material, held in place
by retaining grids or louvered walls. The dust-laden gas passes horizontally through the granular layer while lter granules move downwards
and are removed from the bottom of the moving bed lter. There are
two approaches to handle bed media for moving granular bed lters
(MGBFs), once-through and recycling. The former uses pelletization
technology to generate pellets from solid waste materials from power
plants, and these pellets are used as a once-through ltering media,
thus avoiding costly and complex recycling equipment. The pelletizing
process also generates other environmentally acceptable products and
provides the potential to incorporate gas-phase contaminant sorbents
into the ltering media. As for the recycling media operation, granules
are purchased and exhibit good attrition resistance and performance
as ltering media. The granules from an MGBF bottom are cleaned in
a cyclonic collector or during a pneumatic transportation process before
being reintroduced into feeding points, where additional energy and
instrumentation are required [42]. A trommel screen system was proposed by Chen et al. [43], employing a cylindrical separation device to
perform separation of undersized particulates from the ltration media.
The experimental results indicated that this system was suitable for a
moving granular bed lter to regenerate the ltration media.

Fig. 3. Schematic of cross-ow moving bed.

Fig. 4. Schematic of cross-ow moving bed with sub-louvers and schematic of count-ow
arrangement.

It is important to maintain a uniform ow through the lter media

without stagnant zones inside the bed. Stagnant zones of poor lter
medium lie in the area above the walls of the louvers. Problems of
wall corrosion, plaque, caking and agglomerations of the lter medium can occur in these stagnant zones. Furthermore, stagnant zones
cause a permanent increase in the gas pressure drop in the lter
over time [3]. Flow patterns in a symmetric louver-walled granular
moving bed, as shown in Fig. 3(a), have been reported by Hsiau et
al. [5] and Kuo et al. [44]. Results indicate that granular bed ow in lter channels is inuenced by the angle of the louvers and the vertical
spacing between neighboring louvers. The asymmetric louver conguration, as shown Fig. 3(b), causes asymmetric quasi-stagnant zones
but a symmetric central owing core in the moving bed lter. For
both symmetric and asymmetric louvers, when the angle of the louvers (steep-louvered wall) is small (e.g., 15), the central owing
core is the dominant ow region in the lter channel, and the stagnant zone is thin. However, in this case, dust particles entering with
ue gases may block the narrow gap between the louvers. When
the angle of louvers is large (e.g., 40), the internal ow pattern of
the lter bed is more complicated, particularly during the beginning
stage of lter operation. Four different ow regions are observed: a
quasi-stagnant zone; a transition region; a central plug ow core of
nearly uniform velocity distribution and the left and right free surface
regions where gas ows in and out. Chou and Yang [45] reported that
a curved louvered wall can not only reduce the area of the quasistagnant zone in the granular bed but also reduce the dynamic normal
stress on the louvered wall. A vertical plate placed in each stage in the
granular lter bed has been conrmed to effectively diminish the
quasi-stagnant zone adjacent to the louvered wall and reduce the wall
pressure pulsation [46]. Hsiau et al. [47] added ow-corrective elements
(central saddle roofs or horizontal tubes) in a granular moving bed with
louvered walls, as shown in Fig. 3(c). Compared with a bed with the louvered walls without placement of ow-corrective elements, the
quasi-stagnant zones are effectively diminished with the new design.
Furthermore, dust particle collection efciency is improved by adding
ow-corrective elements [19,48]. Dust cake formed on the surface of
granules has a signicant inuence on particles collection efciency.
Chen and Hsiau [49,50] investigated the formation and growth of dust
cakes and dust cake compressibility of ne y ashes on lters during
cross-ow ltration. It was found that an average increase of 1 mm in
thickness of cake made an increase of 0.686% in collection efciency
[49]. A higher supercial velocity resulted in a more compacted dust
cake, i.e. a smaller cake porosity and a larger specic cake resistance,
which enhanced the particles collection efciency [50].
Another design, as shown in Fig. 4(a), is created by placing sublouvers into the convergent channel between louvers to diminish the
stagnant zones, which was proposed by Hsiau et al. [51]. By changing

G. Xiao et al. / Powder Technology 244 (2013) 9399

efcient use of medium-sized granules for a cross-ow granular moving

bed [52]. For a certain supercial velocity, there is an optimum granule
ow rate that achieves a high efciency [19].
A counter-ow arrangement, as shown in Fig. 4(b), has been proposed by Brown et al. [18]. In this design, granular material moving
downward by gravity spills out of a centrally located dipleg to form an
interfacial region. Up to 86% particulate removal in the granular moving
bed lter occurs at this interface, where a prominent lter cake occasionally forms [53]. The lower edge of the lter cake is dispersed by
the downward ow of granular material, and the upper interface is covered by a fresh layer of granular material cascading from the dipleg
above the interface. The cyclonic ow moves downward through stators that are designed to straighten the ow and ensure a normal entrance of gas velocity through the interfacial region of the lter media.
The screen is intended to prevent the granular media from exiting
with the gas ow in case the upward gas velocity in the downcomer exceeds the minimum uidization velocity for the granules. The results of
the effect of the granular ow rate on the ltration efciency of this
structure are contradictory. Brown et al. [18] concluded that the ltration efciency increased as the granular ow rate increased, whereas
Yang et al. [54] reported that the granular ow rate had little effect on
the efciency. El-Hedok et al. [55] explained the disagreement using a
critical granular residence time tg. Granular residence times below tg
would not be expected to show ltration efciency dependent upon

Table 2
Characteristics of granule beds.
Granular
bed lters

Advantages

Disadvantages

Fixed bed

Collection efciency
exceeds 99%.
Operates continuously
with neglected pressure
drop effect.
High collection efciency
and continuous operation

Gas ow must be stopped for

cleaning from time to time.
The collection efciency is low

Fluidized bed

Granular
moving bed

97

Large footprint of the equipment,

complex medium granules ow
and high throughputs of granular
material

the louver spacing LP, the louver angle 1, inclination angle 2, the louver
length L1 and length of sub-louvers L2, the sub-louver-system moving
bed can be optimized to almost completely eliminate stagnant zones.
According to Hsu et al. [52], an apparatus with LP = 340 mm, 1 =
40, 1 = 25, L1 = 218 mm and L2 = 160 mm was tested and was determined to be the best design of the sub-louver systems. Investigating
the ow pattern of a sub-louver system moving bed showed that
sub-louvers arranged as shown in Fig. 4(a) have the most uniform velocity distribution inside the louver channel [3]. A uniform entry of dirty gas
ow results in not only a high particle collection efciency but also

Table 3
Medias used in granular bed lters with different operation modes.
Granules

Diameter
(mm)

Operation
modes

Temperature
(K)

Initial bed
depth (mm)

Flow rate
(kg/h)

Pressure drop
(kPa)

Efciency (%)

Alumina and silica

Silica sand

33.5
~0.8 and 1.5

CBGF [56]
CGBF-CLPs [57]

~823
RT

200300
25

3001200

Zeolite, Cheakpea,
and Glass bead
ZrO2 beads
Sand and perlite
particles
Sintered Bauxite
Sand

6, 9 and 16
respectively
0.3 and 0.8
0.51 and 25

Packed bed [23]

RT

25, 40, 60, 150

9799.5+
~99~99.6 and
~98.5~99.2

Packed bed [24]

Dual-layer
packed bed [25]
Panel bed [27]
Panel bed [28]

RT
RT

45.5
150

0
0

~2~7
~0.4~1.2 and
~0.1~0.9
0.43~1.13,
~0.0733, 1533
~0.78 and ~3.4
~2.1~5.1

823
RT

~500~4500

~100
99.95+ and 99.99+

Packed bed [29]

RT

63

RT
313

210

0
0.5 m/sa

~2.3~19.6,
~1.6 ~15.7 and
, ~1.7 ~15.7 and
~2~17, ~3.6~17.6
and ~1.5~13.7
~1~2

573

210

210

0.57 m/sa

300350

0.49 m/sa

Angular sand,
silicon carbide
and copper shot

0.662
~0.590.84
and 0.30.42
~0.30.42,
~0.30.42
and 0.250.42

Lapilli
Silica sand

2
~0.70.84

423
588
Packed bed [58]
FB [20]

Silica sand

~0.70.84

FB [40]

Silica sand and

activated carbon

~0.70.84
and ~1.2~1.4

FB [35]

309, 573, 673

and 773
313317

Quartz sand

MGBF [48]

300700

06.6

0.670.75

Silica sand

24

RT

RT

21.6, 27.6
and 33.6
12

~0.07~0.35

Glass bead

MGBF [59]
(cross-current)
MGBF [19]
(count-current)

~3

~90~99 and ~40~95

~99.99

~86~97
SiO2: 8589 (4 m)
080 (40 m)
Al2O3: 4060 (4 m)
070 (40 m)
Fe2O3: 6598 (4 m)
~95+ (40 m)
SiO2: 8399 (4 m)
0 (40 m)
Al2O3: 8099 (4 m)
060 (40 m)
Fe2O3: 7087 (4 m)
9499 (40 m)
080, 3080, 5088,
and 6092
7181 (both) and
6980 (Al2O3)
1657 (SiO2)
~98.8~99.5 for Al2O3
~98.6~99.8 for char
~97.3~99.4, ~98.2~99.9
and 97.799.5
~99.7

CBGF is short for circulating bed granular bed lter. CGBF-CLPs is short for circulating granular bed lter with conical louver plates. RT is short for room temperature. FB is short for
uidized bed. MGBF is short for moving granular bed lter.
a
Means gas velocity in FB.

98

G. Xiao et al. / Powder Technology 244 (2013) 9399

granular ow rate, whereas higher granular residence times might

show a strong dependence on the granular ow rate.
Co-current and counter-current designs are similar in structure but
they differ in how the granules interact with particulate-laden gas
ow. In a co-current granular moving bed lter, the dirtiest gas is ltered by the cleanest granular media, whereas the cleanest gas is ltered by the dirtiest granules [56].
Granular moving bed lters are extremely promising in hot gas
cleaning operations up to 800 C for high ltration efciency. However,
the relatively large amount of equipment, complex, medium-sized
granules ow and high throughputs of granular material are drawbacks
of granular moving bed lters. Characteristics of granular bed lters are
summarized in Table 2.
4. Filtration media and performance comparison
Granules used in granular bed lters as ltration media are as important as the structure of the bed. The criteria for choosing granular
media are based on temperature resistance, thermal shock resistance,
mechanical strength and resistance to attrition and corrosion attack
[56]. Granules mentioned in literature and their performances are
summarized in Table 3.
As shown in Table 3, a xed bed, i.e., packed bed and panel bed, has a
high collection efciency but also a high pressure drop. In addition, the
pressure drop across the granule medium layer gradually increases
with operating time as more and more collected particles deposit on
the granules and form a cake. Thus, regular backow is extremely important for a xed bed. A uidized bed operates continuously with a
negligible pressure. However, the collection efciency is low, particularly for small particles and is complex to operate. A granular moving bed
has the advantages of both the xed bed's high collection efciency
and the uidized bed's continuous operation and may be the most
promising hot gas clean-up technology for commercial use. However,
more experimental studies at high temperatures (e.g., 600 C and
above) are needed to evaluate its comprehensive performance.
5. Summary
Granular bed lters may be the most promising technology for
gasied gas clean-up at high temperatures. Granular bed lters use
low-cost lter media and operate at a reasonable pressure drop. Granular beds can be categorized as xed bed, moving bed and uidized bed
according to the operation mode. For a packed bed, lter media is important. Granules with a large diameter ensure a large dust capacity,
and small granules provide a high ltration efciency. For a panel bed,
down-sloping louvers present a large total gas-entry sand face and effective renewal of gas-entry sand faces. Operation parameters, e.g., gas
velocity, temperature and lter media diameter are important for a uidized bed, which has low collection efciency. Granular moving beds
can be operated as cross-ow, co-current ow and counter-current
ow mode. Optimization of the structure of a granular moving bed provides the possibility of a high collection efciency and convenient operation. Media that have good temperature resistance, thermal shock
resistance, mechanical strength and resistance to attrition and corrosion
attack are welcome in a granular bed. More studies at high temperatures are needed to promote the commercial use of granular bed lters.
Acknowledgments
The authors gratefully acknowledge the nancial support from the
National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51276167), the
National Science Foundation for Distinguished Young Scholars of
China (No.51125025), the National Basic Research Program of China
(No. 2010CB732200), the Natural Science Foundation of Zhejiang
Province (No. Y12E060029), and the China International Cooperation
Project (No. 2011DFR60190).

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