Numerical simulation and experimental verification of bubble size distribution in an air dense medium fluidized bed

Bubble size distribution is the basic apparent performance and obvious characteristics in the air dense medium fluidized bed (ADMFB). The approaches of numerical simulation and experimental verification were combined to conduct the further research on the bubble generation and movement behavior. The results show that ADMFB could display favorable expanded characteristics after steady fluidization. With different particle size distributions of magnetite powder as medium solids, we selected an appropriate prediction model for the mean bubble diameter in ADMFB. The comparison results indicate that the mean bubble diameters along the bed heights are 35 mm < D b < 66 mm and 40 mm < D b < 69 mm with the magnetite powder of 0.3 mm+0.15mm and 0.15mm+0.074mm, respectively. The prediction model provides good agreements with the experimental and simulation data. Based on the optimal operating gas velocity distribution, the mixture of magnetite powder and <1mm fine coal as medium solids were utilized to carry out the separation experiment on 6-50mm raw coal. The results show that an optimal separation density d P of 1.73g/cm 3 with a probable error E of 0.07g/cm 3 and a recovery efficiency of 99.97% is achieved, which indicates good separation performance by applying ADMFB.

Experiment and simulation on the pyrite removal from the recirculating load of pulverizer with a dilute phase gas-solid fluidized bed

In order to reduce the energy consumption and subsequent air pollution of coal-fired power station, based on the analysis to size and density distribution of particles from the recirculating load of the classifier of pulverizer, the separation experiment on sampling material from power plant with a dilute phase fluidized bed to remove pyrite and other minerals and numerical simulation on the separation process were done. The results show that the minimum fluidization velocity is 1.62 cm/s. Pyrite and other minerals in the material are separated. Ash of the upper and bottom layer material account for 33.34% and 73.42% respectively and sulfur content occupy 1.12% and 8.96% respectively. Scanning electron microscopy and spectroscopy tests show that sulfur in the bottom material exist in the form of pyrite. Numerical simulation on the flow field form of the dilute phase separation bed with gas-solid two phase and particle motion verifies the experimental results.

An exploratory study of three-dimensional MP-PIC-based simulation of bubbling fluidized beds with and without baffles

In this study, the flow characteristics of Geldart A particles in a bobbling fluidized bed with and without perforated plates were simulated by the multiphase particle-in-cell （MP-PlC）-based Eolerian-Lagrangian method. A modified structure-based drag model was developed based on our previous work. Other drag models including the Parker and Wen-Yo-Ergon drag models were also employed to investigate the effects of drag models on the simulation results. Although the modified structure-based drag model better predicts the gas-solid flow dynamics of a baffle-free bubbling fluidized bed in comparison with the experimental data, none of these drag models predict the gas-solid flow in a baffled bobbling floidized bed sufficiently well because of the treatment of baffles in the Barracuda software. To improve the simulation accuracy, future versions of Barracuda should address the challenges of incorporating the bed height and the baffles.

Numerical simulation of flow hydrodynamics of struvite pellets in a liquid–solid fluidized bed

Phosphorus recovery in the form of struvite has been aroused in recent decades for its dual advantages in eutrophication control and resource protection.The usage of the struvite products is normally determined by the size which is largely depended on the hydrodynamics.In this study,flow behavior of struvite pellets was simulated by means of Eulerian–Eulerian two-fluid model combining with kinetic theory of granular flow in a liquid–solid fluidized bed reactor（FBR）.A parametric study including the mesh size,time step,discretization strategy,turbulent model and drag model was first developed,followed by the evaluations of crucial operational conditions,particle characteristics and reactor shapes.The results showed that a cold model with the mesh resolution of 16 × 240,default time step of 0.001 sec and first order discretization scheme was accurate enough to describe the fluidization.The struvite holdup profile using Syamlal–O＇Brien drag model was best fitted to the experimental data as compared with other drag models and the empirical Richardson–Zaki equation.Regarding the model evaluation,it showed that liquid velocity and particle size played important roles on both solid holdups and velocities.The reactor diameter only influenced the solid velocity while the static bed height almost took no effect.These results are direct and can be applied to guide the operation and process control of the struvite fluidization.Moreover,the model parameters can also be used as the basic settings in further crystallization simulations.

3D full-loop simulation and experimental verification of gas-solid flow hydrodynamics in a dense circulating fluidized bed

Because of their advantages of high efficiency and low cost, numerical research methods for large-scale circulating fluidized bed （CFB） apparatus are gaining ever more importance. This article presents a numer- ical study of gas-solid flow dynamics using the Eulerian granular multiphase model with a drag coefficient correction based on the energy-minimization multi-scale （EMMS） model. A three-dimensional, full-loop, time-dependent simulation of the hydrodynamics of a dense CFB apparatus is performed. The process parameters （e.g., operating and initial conditions） are provided in accordance with the real experiment to enhance the accuracy of the simulation. The axial profiles of the averaged solid volume fractions and the solids flux at the outlet of the cyclone are in reasonable agreement with experimental data, thereby verifying the applicability of the mathematical and physical models. As a result, the streamline in the riser and standpipe as well as the solids distribution contours at the cross sections is analyzed. Computational fluid dynamics （CFD） serves as a basis for CFB modeling to help resolve certain issues long in dispute but difficult to address experimentally. The results of this study provide the basis of a general approach to describing dynamic simulations of gas-solid flows.

Modeling and simulation of circulating fluidized bed reactors applied to a carbonation/calcination loop

A fluid dynamic model for a gas-solid circulating fluidized bed （CFB） designed using two coupled riser reactors is developed and implemented numerically with code programmed in Matlab. The fluid dynamic model contains heat and species mass balances to calculate temperatures and compositions for a carbonation/calcination loop process. Because of the high computational costs required to resolve the three-dimensional phenomena, a model representing a trade-offbetween computational time requirements and accuracy is developed. For dynamic processes with a solid flux between the two reactor units that depends on the fluid dynamics of both risers, a dynamic one-dimensional two-fluid model is sufficient. A two-fluid model using the constant particle viscosity closure for the stress term is used for the solid phase, and an algebraic turbulence model is applied to the gas phase. The numerical model implementa- tion is based on the finite volume method with a staggered grid scheme. The exchange of solids between the reactor units constituting the circulating fluidized bed （solid flux） is implemented through additional mass source/sink terms in the continuity equations of the two phases, For model validation, a relevant experimental analysis provided in the literature is reproduced by the numerical simulations, The numerical analysis indicates that sufficient heat integration between the two reactor units is important for the performance of the circulating fluidized bed system, The two-fluid model performs fairly well for this chemical process operated in a CFB designed as two coupled riser reactors. Further analysis and optimization of the solution algorithms and the reactor coupling strategy is warranted.

Simulations of vertical jet penetration using a filtered two-fluid model in a gas-solid fluidized bed

The influence of a vertical jet located at the distributor in a cylindrical fluidized bed on the flow behavior of gas and particles was predicted using a filtered two-fluid model proposed by Sundaresan and coworkers. The distributions of volume fraction and the velocity of particles along the lateral direction were investigated for different jet velocities by analyzing the simulated results. The vertical jet penetration lengths at the different gas jet velocities have been obtained and compared with predictions derived from empirical correlations; the predicted air jet penetration length is discussed. Agreement between the numerical simulations and experimental results has been achieved.

Simulation with a structure-based mass-transfer model for turbulent fluidized beds

A structure-based mass-transfer model for turbulent fluidized beds （TFBs） was established according to mass conservation and the balance of mass transfer and reaction. Unlike the traditional method, which assumes a homogeneous structure, this model considered the presence of voids and particle clusters in TFBs and built correlations for each phase. The flow parameters were solved based on a previously proposed structure-based drag model. The catalytic combustion of methane at three temperatures and ozone decomposition at various gas velocities were used to validate the model. The TFB reactions com- prised intrinsic reaction kinetics, internal diffusion, and external diffusion. The simulation results, which compared favorably with experimental data and were better than those based on the average method, demonstrated that methane was primarily consumed at the bottom of the bed and the methane concentration was closely related to the presence of the catalyst. The flow and diffusion had an important effect on the methane concentration. This model also predicted the outlet concentrations for ozone decomposition, which increased with increasing gas velocity, lnterphase mass transfer was presented as the limiting step for this system. This structure-based mass-transfer model is important for the industrial application of TFBs.

Numerical comparison of two modes of gas-solid riser operation： Fluid catalytic cracking vs CFB combustor

Two modes of gas-solid riser operation, i.e., fluid catalytic cracking （FCC） and circulating fluidized bed combustor （CFBC）, have been recognized in literature; particularly in the understanding of choking phenomena. This work compares these two modes of operation through computational fluid dynamics （CFD） simulation. In CFD simulations, the different operations are represented by fixing appropriate boundary conditions： solids flux or solids inventory. It is found that the FCC and CFBC modes generally have the same dependence of solids flux on the mean solids volume fraction or solids inventory. However, during the choking transition, the FCC mode of operation needs more time to reach a steady state; thus the FCC system may have insufficient time to respond to valve adjustments or flow state change, leading to the choking. The difference between FCC and CFBC systems is more pronounced for the systems with longer risers. A more detailed investigation of these two modes of riser operation may require a three-dimensional full loop simulation with dynamic valve adjustment.

Extending EMMS-based models to CFB boiler applications

Recently, EMMS-based models are being widely applied in simulations of high-throughput circulating fluidized beds （CFBs） with fine particles. Its use for low flux systems, such as CFB boiler （CFBB）, still remains unexplored. In this work, it has been found that the original definition of cluster diameter in EMMS model is unsuitable for simulations of the CFB boiler with low solids flux. To remedy this, we propose a new model of cluster diameter. The EMMS-based drag model （EMMS/matrix model） with this revised cluster definition is validated through the computational fluid dynamics （CFD） simulation of a CFB boiler.