Arrangement for the treatment, particularly the drying, of particulate matter by entrainment in a gas

摘要

An arrangement is disclosed which is suitable for the treatment of particulate matter entrained by a gas, a preferred application being to the drying of particulate matter. The arrangement includes a treatment zone having an inlet region for the introduction of a stream of particulate matter which is entrained by a gas. Means defining a flow path for the substantially uniform entrainment of the particulate matter by the gas is provided upstream of the inlet region. The means includes a first section having an arcuate part and which communicates with a source of the gas. This first section has an upstream portion of circular cross-section and a downstream portion of rectangular cross-section and includes a region wherein the flow path cross-sectional area decreases in downstream direction. The flow path-defining means further includes a second section of rectangular cross-section communicating with the downstream portion of the first section and also includes a third section arranged intermediate the second section and the inlet region of the treatment zone and which communicates with the second section and the inlet region. The third section comprises an upstream part of rectangular cross-section and a downstream part of circular cross-section and has a region wherein the flow path cross-sectional area increases in downstream direction. Feeding means is provided for feeding particulate matter into the flow path-defining means. The feeding means communicates with the second section of the flow path-defining means. The arrangement makes it possible to achieve a uniform distribution of particulate matter in a treatment zone and is particularly applicable to treatment zones of larger diameter where a uniform distribution of the particulate matter over the cross-section of the zone is often difficult to achieve.