In the present work, Fluidized bed reduction of NiO–WO₃ precursors was investigated isothermally at temperatures 973–1273 K. The reaction progress was monitored by analysis of H₂O evolved during the reaction process using a gas chromatograph instrument. A theoretical model based on intrinsic chemical reaction rate constants and thermodynamic equilibria was developed to estimate the apparent reaction rate constant for the reduction reaction. In developing the model, the particles are considered to be in a completely mixed condition and gas flow is described as plug flow. The proposed model is also suitable for scale-up calculations.
The interfacial chemical reaction model was found to fit the experimental results. The apparent activation energy values of the reduction process at different stages were calculated accordingly. The present investigation proved that the fluidized bed technique can be successfully utilized in bulk production of intermetallics containing W and a transition metal (or a composite material) wherein the process conditions would have a strong impact on the particle size of the end product.