Attrition tests have been performed on an aluminate-based synthetic sorbent intended for regenerative sulphur capture from flue gas in a fluidised bed coal combustor. A comparison with lime(stone) has also been made. Single-particle crushing strength tests have been used to investigate the role of breakage caused by static mechanical stress, while impact tests have been applied to study kinetic stress. Multi-particle fluidised bed tests have been used to examine attrition by thermal shock (thermal stress), coal combustion (thermal and chemical stress) and fluidisation (kinetic stress) independently. The attrition resistance of the synthetic sorbent is much higher than that of lime(stone). It appears however that the effect of coal combustion on sorbent attrition needs further research. The morphology of the sorbents is only slightly affected by the various tests mentioned above.@en

Application of the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) to the inversion of Laplace transforms is a recent development in the solution of the equations describing the behavior of chemical reactors. Chen and Hsu (1987) used the Fast Fourier Transform for the prediction of breakthrough curves of an isothermal fixed bed adsorber. The Fast Fourier Transform method has been further developed for the calculation of breakthrough curves in non-isothermal adsorbers (Mees et al., 1989). The purpose of this work is the application of this method to a practical engineering problem involving parameter estimation.@en