A fundamental CFD study of the gas–solid flow field in fluidized bed polymerization reactors

An Experimental Study of Pressure Drop Characteristics and Flow Resistance Coefficient in a Fluidized Bed for Coal Particle Fluidization

Liquid–solid fluidized beds have a wide range of applications in metallurgical processing, mineral processing, extraction, and wastewater treatment. Great interest on their flow stability and heterogeneous fluidization behaviors has been aroused in research. In this study, various fluidization experiments were performed by adjusting the operating conditions of particle size, particle density, and liquid superficial velocity. For each case, the steady state of liquid–solid fluidization was obtained, and the bed expansion height and pressure drop characteristics were analyzed. The time evolution of pressure drop at different bed heights can truly reflect the liquid–solid heterogeneous fluidization behaviors that are determined by operating conditions. With the increase in superficial liquid velocity, three typical fluidization stages were observed. Accordingly, the flow resistance coefficient was obtained based on the experimental data of bed expansion height and pressure drop. The flow resistance coefficient experiences a decrease with the increase in the modified particle Reynolds number and densimetric Froude number.

Computational Modeling of Fluidized Beds with a Focus on Pharmaceutical Applications: A Review

The fluidized bed is an essential and standard equipment in the field of process development. It has a wide application in various areas and has been extensively studied. This review paper aims to discuss computational modeling of a fluidized bed with a focus on pharmaceutical applications. Eulerian, Lagrangian, and combined Eulerian-Lagrangian models have been studied for fluid bed applications with the rise of modeling capabilities. Such models assist in optimizing the process parameters and expedite the process development cycle. This paper discusses the background of modeling and then summarizes research papers relevant to pharmaceutical unit operations.

CFD Modeling and Simulation of the Hydrodynamics Characteristics of Coarse Coal Particles in a 3D Liquid-Solid Fluidized Bed

In this study, a Eulerian-Eulerian liquid-solid two-phase flow model combined with kinetic theory of granular flow was established to study the hydrodynamic characteristics and fluidization behaviors of coarse coal particles in a 3D liquid-solid fluidized bed. First, grid independence analysis was conducted to select the appropriate grid model parameters. Then, the developed computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model was validated by comparing the experimental data and simulation results in terms of the expansion degree of low-density fine particles and high-density coarse particles at different superficial liquid velocities. The simulation results agreed well with the experimental data, thus validating the proposed CFD mathematical model. The effects of particle size and particle density on the homogeneous or heterogeneous fluidization behaviors were investigated. The simulation results indicate that low-density fine particles are easily fluidized, exhibiting a certain range of homogeneous expansion behaviors. For the large and heavy particles, inhomogeneity may occur throughout the bed, including water voids and velocity fluctuations.

Transient Cold Flow Simulation of Fast-Fluidized Bed Air Reactor with Hematite as an Oxygen Carrier for Chemical Looping Combustion

Chemical looping combustion (CLC) is the most reliable carbon capture technology for curtailing CO2 insertion into the atmosphere. This paper presents the cold flow simulation results necessary to understand the hydrodynamic viability of the fast-fluidized bed air reactor. Hematite is selected as an oxygen carrier due to its easy availability and active nature during the reactions. The dense discrete phase model (DDPM) approach using the commercial software Ansys Fluent is applied in the simulation. An accurate and stable solution is achieved using the second-order upwind numerical scheme. A pressure difference of 150 kPa is obtained between the outlet and inlet of the selected air reactor, which is necessary for the movement of the particle. The stable circulating rate of hematite is achieved after 28 s of particle injection inside the air reactor. The results have been validated from the experimental results taken from the literature.

Numerical Investigation of Solid-Fueled Chemical Looping Combustion Process Utilizing Char for Carbon Capture

The in-depth understanding of the gas–solid flow and reaction behaviors, and their coupling characteristics during the chemical looping combustion (CLC) process has the guiding significance for the operation and optimization of a chemical looping combustor. A three-dimensional numerical model is applied to investigate the char-fueled CLC characteristics in a fuel reactor for efficient CO2 separation and capture. Simulations are carried out in a bubbling fluidized bed fuel reactor with a height of 2.0 m and a diameter of 0.22 m. The initial bed height is 1.1 m, and hence the height–diameter ratio of the slumped bed is five. The oxygen carrier is prepared with 14 wt% of CuO on 86 wt% of inert Al2O3. In the process of mathematical modeling, a Eulerian-Eulerian two-fluid model is adopted for both of the gas and solid phases. Gas turbulence is modeled on the basis of a k–ε turbulent model. The reaction kinetics parameters are addressed based upon previous experimental investigations from literature. During the simulation, the gas–solid flow patterns, composition distributions, and reaction characteristics are obtained. Moreover, the effects of solids inventory and fluidizing number on the reaction performance are elucidated in-depth. The results have shown that the reaction rates have close relationship with the flow patterns and the distributions of gas concentrations. Compared to the steam-char gasification over sand, the application of char-fueled CLC can effectively promote the conversion of gasification products. In addition, higher CO2 concentration at the outlet can be achieved by increasing the initial solids inventory or decreasing the fluidizing number. Some calculated values are verified by the previous data, indicating that the current three-dimensional models are reasonable to study the process mechanism of char-fueled CLC.

Prediction of In-Situ Gasification Chemical Looping Combustion Effects of Operating Conditions

Chemical Looping Combustion (CLC) has been considered as one of the most promising technologies to implement CO2 capture with low energy penalty. A comprehensive three-dimensional numerical model integrating gas–solid flow and reactions, based on the authors’ previous work (Energy Fuels 2013, 27, 2173–2184), is applied to simulate the in-situ Gasification Chemical Looping Combustion (iG-CLC) process in a circulating fluidized bed (CFB) riser fuel reactor. Extending from the previous work, the present study further validates the model and investigates the effects of several important operating conditions, i.e., solids flux, steam flow and operating pressure, on the gas–solid flow behaviors, CO2 concentration and fuel conversion, comprehensively. The simulated fuel reactor has a height of 5 m and an internal diameter of 60 mm. The simulated oxygen carrier is a Norwegian ilmenite and the simulated fuel is a Colombian bituminous coal. The results of this simulation work have shown that an increase in the solids flux can promote CO2 concentration, but may also have a negative effect on carbon conversion. A decrease in the steam flow leads to positive effects on not only the CO2 concentration but also the carbon conversion. However, the reduction of steam flow is limited by the CFB operation process. An increase in the operating pressure can improve both the CO2 concentration and carbon conversion and therefore, the CFB riser fuel reactor of a practical iG-CLC system is recommended to be designed and operated under a certain pressurized conditions.

Heat transfer effect in scaling-up a fluidized bed reactor for propylene polymerization

The effects of operating conditions and scaling-up on reactor temperature control and performance in propylene polymerization fluidized bed reactors were studied by phenomenological and CFD models.

Multiphasic Reaction Modeling for Polypropylene Production in a Pilot-Scale Catalytic Reactor

In this study, a novel multiphasic model for the calculation of the polypropylene production in a complicated hydrodynamic and the physiochemical environments has been formulated, confirmed and validated. This is a first research attempt that describes the development of the dual-phasic phenomena, the impact of the optimal process conditions on the production rate of polypropylene and the fluidized bed dynamic details which could be concurrently obtained after solving the model coupled with the CFD (computational fluid dynamics) model, the basic mathematical model and the moment equations. Furthermore, we have established the quantitative relationship between the operational condition and the dynamic gas⁻solid behavior in actual reaction environments. Our results state that the proposed model could be applied for generalizing the production rate of the polymer from a chemical procedure to pilot-scale chemical reaction engineering. However, it was assumed that the solids present in the bubble phase and the reactant gas present in the emulsion phase improved the multiphasic model, thus taking into account that the polymerization took place mutually in the emulsion besides the bubble phase. It was observed that with respect to the experimental extent of the superficial gas velocity and the Ziegler-Natta feed rate, the ratio of the polymer produced as compared to the overall rate of production was approximately in the range of 9%⁻11%. This is a significant amount and it should not be ignored. We also carried out the simulation studies for comparing the data of the CFD-dependent dual-phasic model, the emulsion phase model, the dynamic bubble model and the experimental results. It was noted that the improved dual-phasic model and the CFD model were able to predict more constricted and safer windows at similar conditions as compared to the experimental results. Our work is unique, as the integrated developed model is able to offer clearer ideas related to the dynamic bed parameters for the separate phases and is also capable of computing the chemical reaction rate for every phase in the reaction. Our improved mutiphasic model revealed similar dynamic behaviour as the conventional model in the initial stages of the polymerization reaction; however, it diverged as time progressed.