Apparatus for the treatment of powdery or granular material

Apparatus for use in treatment of powdery and granular substances comprising:

• a vertical, rotationally symmetrical vessel with respect to its vertical axis, said vessel having a head portion;
• a cylindrical wall being disposed in said vessel against said head portion and symmetrical with respect to said vertical axis, said cylindrical wall being spaced from inner side surfaces of said vessel to provide a larger inner chamber and a smaller annular outer chamber within said vessel;
• vortex-introducing inlet means disposed in said head portion of said vessel and directed downwardly into said inner chamber for passing the substances into said inner chamber of said vessel in a vortex flow condition;
• 1 first gas inlet means directed downwardly into said inner chamber and disposed uniformly around said vortex-introducing inlet means for providing a substantially axially parallel flow of a downward-moving gas stream to carry the substances;
• spray nozzle means disposed in said head portion within said inner chamber of said vessel for spraying the substances with liquid and molten material;
• said inner chamber having a selected vertical length to allow the sprayed substances to be undisturbed for a preselected time interval;
• said vessel having a conical lower portion disposed below said cylindrical wall for constriction of the sprayed substances downwardly toward a smaller bottom portion of said vessel;
• fluidized layer bed means disposed between said conical lower portion and said bottom portion of said vessel for closing off downward movement of the sprayed substances to said bottom portion;
• second gas inlet means directed upwardly through said bottom portion of said vessel and said bed means for delivering a counterflow of an upward-moving gas stream into said vessel;
• said first and second gas inlet means being directed toward each other;
• and
• gas outlet means disposed within said outer chamber adjacent to said head portion of said vessel to provide an exit from said vessel for said counterflow of the upwardmoving gas stream.