Since the late 1970s there has been an explosion of industrial and academic interest in circulating fluidized beds. In part, the attention has arisen due to the environmental advantages associated with CFB (circulating . fluidized bed) combustion systems, the incorporation of riser reactors employing cir culating fluidized bed technology in petroleum refineries for fluid catalytic cracking and, to a lesser extent, the successes of CFB technology for calcina tion reactions and Fischer-Tropsch synthesis. In part, it was also the case that too much attention had been devoted to bubbling fluidized beds and it was time to move on to more complex and more advantageous regime,S of operation. Since 1980 a number of CFB processes have been commercialized. There have been five successful International Circulating Fluidized Bed Confer ences beginning in 1985, the most recent taking place in Beijing in May 1996. In addition, we have witnessed a host of other papers on CFB funda mentals and applications in journals and other archival publications. There have also been several review papers and books on specific CFB topics. However, there has been no comprehensive book reviewing the field and attempting to provide an overview of both fundamentals and applications. The purpose of this book is to fill this vacuum.
