This book provides a detailed overview of the plasma fluidized bed. It is an innovative tool and generally combines plasma process with another efficient reactor, fluidized bed, providing an excellent method for particulate processes over conventional technology. The development and designs of typical types of plasma fluidized beds, mainly thermal plasma fluidized beds and non-thermal plasma fluidized beds are discussed. The influencing factors on the performance of plasma fluidized beds are analyzed in detail. The mechanism, i.e. the discharge characteristics, hydrodynamics, heat transfer and mass transfer are analyzed to offer a further insight of plasma fluidized beds. Applications of plasma fluidized beds for different areas, including metallurgy extraction, green energy process, environmental protection and advanced materials are presented. The book is a valuable reference for scientists, engineers and graduate students in chemical engineering and relative fields.

Masters Theses in the Pure and Applied Sciences was first conceived, published, and disseminated by the Center for Information and Numerical Oata Analysis and Synthesis (CINOAS) * at Purdue. University in 1957, starting its coverage of theses with the academic year 1955. Beginning with Volume 13, the printing and dissemination phases of the activity were transferred to University Microfilms/Xerox of Ann Arbor, Michigan, with the thought that such an arrangement would be more beneficial to the academic and general scientific and technical community. After five years of this joint undertaking we had concluded that it was in the interest of all con cerned if the printing and distribution of the volumes were handled by an interna tional publishing house to assure improved service and broader dissemination. Hence, starting with Volume 18, Masters Theses in the Pure and Applied Sciences has been disseminated on a worldwide basis by Plenum Publishing Cor poration of New York, and in the same year the coverage was broadened to include Canadian universities. All back issues can also be ordered from Plenum. We have reported in Volume 33 (thesis year 1988) a total of 13,273 theses titles from 23 Canadian and 1 85 United States universities. We are sure that this broader base for these titles reported will greatly enhance the value of this important annual reference work. While Volume 33 reports theses submitted in 1988, on occasion, certain univer sities do report theses submitted in previous years but not reported at the time.

The fluidized-bed reactor is the centerpiece of industrial fluidization processes. This book focuses on the design and operation of fluidized beds in many different industrial processes, emphasizing the rationale for choosing fluidized beds for each particular process. The book starts with a brief history of fluidization from its inception in the 1940’s. The authors present both the fluid dynamics of gas-solid fluidized beds and the extensive experimental studies of operating systems and they set them in the context of operating processes that use fluid-bed reactors. Chemical engineering students and postdocs as well as practicing engineers will find great interest in this book.