SOLIDS-FLUID CONTACTING APPARATUS WITH SCREEN AT FLUID OUTLET

摘要

A screen (14) is mounted in an apparatus for contacting particulate solids with a fluid. The apparatus comprises an elongate column (10) for holding a bed of particulate solids for contact with a fluid, the column being designed to be oriented substantially vertically in use and having a fluid inlet (11) near the bottom for admitting a fluid into the column and a fluid outlet (13) near the top for permitting the fluid to exit the column after passing upwardly through a bed of particulate solids in the column. The purpose of the screen (14) is to screen solids from the fluid exiting the column through the fluid outlet (13). The screen (14) comprises a plurality of vertical screen wires (15), and the screen is located within the column such that all of the fluid passing through the column passes through the screen (14) and thence through the fluid outlet (13). Each pair of adjacent vertical screen wires (15) defines a substantially vertical screen slot (20) therebetween. The opening of each vertical screen slot (20) at the surface of the screen (14) which is upstream in the sense of a fluid flowing through the column (10), passing through the screen (14), and exiting through the outlet (13) during operation of the column (10), has a width suitable for screening solids from the exiting fluid and has a length which is substantially greater than its width.