Internal Combustion Engines as Fluidized Bed Reactors

Using an internal combustion engine as a chemical reactor could provide high throughput, high chemical conversion efficiency, and reactant/product handling benefits. For processes requiring a solid catalyst, the ability to develop a fluidized bed within the engine cylinder would allow efficient processing of large volumes of fluid. This work examines the fluidization behavior of particles in a cylinder of an internal combustion engine at various engine speeds. For 40 micron silica gel particles in a modified Megatech Mark III transparent combustion engine, calculations indicate that a maximum engine speed of about 60.8 RPM would result in fluidization. At higher speeds, the fluidization behavior is expected to deteriorate. Experiments gave qualitative confirmation of the analytical predictions, as a speed of 48 RPM resulted in fluidized behavior, while a speed of 171 RPM did not. The investigation shows that under certain conditions a fluidized bed can be obtained within an engine cylinder.