Experimental investigation of aerosol filtration in magnetically stabilized fluidized bed filters

An experimental investigation was conducted to further examine the use of magnetically stabilized fluidized filters (MSFFs) for removing aerosols from gas streams. Unlike the earlier work of Albert and Tien (paper presented at A.I.Ch.E. meeting, Washington, 1983) which primarily used very shallow beds, this study used filters with reasonably long bed height (11 cm). It was found that a bed became less stable as the amount of deposited aerosols within the bed increased; this ultimately led to a failure to maintain the state of homogeneous fluidization and the collapse of the fluidized bed. Prior to the onset of instability the bed operated in a steady-state manner with a filter coefficient value approximately one-third of that of an equivalent fixed-bed filter.