A developed transient gas-liquid-solid flow model with hydrate phase transition for solid fluidization exploitation of marine natural gas hydrate reservoirs

The multiphase flow characteristic is one of the most concerning problems during solid fluidization exploitation of marine natural gas hydrate reservoirs.In this research,a new transient gas-liquid-solid multiphase flow model with hydrate phase transition was developed.Meanwhile,this model considered the coupling relationship among convective heat transfer,hydrate dynamic decomposition,and multi-phase flow.The model can simulate the change of flow pattern from solid-liquid to gas-liquid-solid flow,and describe the distribution character of volume fraction of phase,wellbore temperature and pressure,and hydrate decomposition rate during transportation.The simulation results indicate that the hydrate decomposition region in the wellbore gradually expands,but the hydrate decomposition rate gradually decreases during the solid fluidization exploitation of hydrate.When mining time lasts for 4 h,and the bottom hole pressure decreases by about 0.4 MPa.Increasing NaCl concentration in seawater helps expand hydrate decomposition regions and improves the wellbore hydrate decomposition rate.When the Nacl mass fraction in seawater reaches 15%,it will raise the hydrate decomposition regions to the whole wellbore.In addition,the higher the wellhead backpressure,the lower the decomposition area and decomposition rate of hydrate in the wellbore.When wellhead backpressure reaches 2 MPa,the volume fraction of gas near the wellhead will reduce to about 12%.This work is expected to provide a theoretical basis for the development of marine hydrate reservoirs.

Flux vector splitting solutions for coupling hydraulic transient of gas-liquid-solid three-phase flow in pipelines

The gas-liquid-solid three-phase mixed flow is the most general in multiphase mixed transportation. It is significant to exactly solve the coupling hydraulic transient problems of this type of multiphase mixed flow in pipelines. Presently, the method of characteristics is widely used to solve classical hydraulic transient problems. However, when it is used to solve coupling hydraulic transient problems, excessive interpolation errors may be introduced into the results due to unavoidable multiwave interpolated calculations. To deal with the problem, a finite difference scheme based on the Steger- Warming flux vector splitting is proposed. A flux vector splitting scheme is established for the coupling hydraulic transient model of gas-liquid-solid three-phase mixed flow in the pipelines. The flux subvectors are then discretized by the Lax-Wendroff central difference scheme and the Warming-Beam upwind difference scheme with second-order precision in both time and space. Under the Rankine-Hugoniot conditions and the corresponding boundary conditions, an effective solution to those points located at the boundaries is developed, which can avoid the problem beyond the calculation region directly induced by the second-order discrete technique. Numerical and experimental verifications indicate that the proposed scheme has several desirable advantages including high calculation precision, excellent shock wave capture capability without false numerical oscillation, low sensitivity to the Courant number, and good stability.

CFD-PBE simulation of gas-phase hydrodynamics in a gas-liquid-solid combined loop reactor

The computational fluid dynamics （CFD）-population balance equations （PBE） coupled model is employed to investigate the hydrodynamics in a gas-slurry internal loop reactor with external slurry circulation. The predicted radial profiles of local gas holdup and bubble diameter are in good agreement with the corresponding experimental data. The spatio-temporal velocity profile of the gas phase reveals that the upward movement of gas is slowed down and the residence time of gas is prolonged by the downward momentum of the slurry, introduction of the external slurry can greatly improve the uniformity of gas holdup distribution in the reactor, especially in the downcomer-tube action region. Moreover, the interaction between the downward slurry and upward gas can lead to small bubble size and high interfacial area as well as good mass and heat transfer. The above results suggest the function of external slurry circulation for the internal loop reactor and would be helpful for optimizing the design and scale up of reactors.

Local Gas Phase Flow Characteristics of a Gas-Liquid-Solid Three-Phase Reversed Flow Jet Loop Reactor

The local gas-phase flow characteristics such as local gas holdup(εg), local bubble velocity (V_b) and local bubble mean diameter(d_b) at a specified point in a gas-liquid-solid three-phase reversedflow jet loop reactor was experimentally investigated by a five-pointconductivity probe. The effects of gas jet flow rate, liquid jet flowrate, solid loading, nozzle diameter and axial position on the localεg, V_b and d_b profiles were discussed. The presence of solids atlow solid concentrations not only increased the local εg and V_b,but also decreased the local d_b. The optimum solid loading for themaximum local εg and V_b together with the minimum local d_b was0.16×10^-3 m^3, corresponding to a solid volume fraction ε_S＝2.5/100.

Micromixing characteristics in a gas-liquid-solid stirred tank with settling particles

The parallel-competing iodide-iodate reaction scheme was used to study the micromixing performance in a multi-phase stirred tank of 0.3 m diameter.The impeller combination consisted of a half elliptical blade disk turbine below two down-pimping wide-blade hydrofoils,identified as HEDT + 2WH_D.Nitrogen and glass beads of100 μm diameter and density 2500 kg-m^(-3) were used as the dispersed phases.The micromixing could be improved by sparging gas because of its additional potential energy.Also,micromixing could be improved by the solid particles with high kinetic energy near the impeller tip.In a gas-solid-liquid system,the gas-liquid film vibration with damping,due to the frequent collisions between the bubbles and particles,led to the decrease of the turbulence level in the liquid and caused eventually the deterioration of the micromixing.A Damping Film Dissipation model is formulated to shed light on the above micromixing performances.At last,the micromixing time t_m according to the incorporation model varied from 1.9 ms to 6.7 ms in our experiments.

Axial Liquid Dispersion in Gas-Liquid-Solid Circulating Fluidized Bed

The effects of liquid viscosities, solid circulating rates, liquid and gas velocities and phase holdups on the axial dispersion coefficient, Dax, were investigated in a gas-liquid-solid circulating fluidized bed (GLSCFB).Liquid viscosity promotes the axial liquid backmixing when solid particles and gas bubbles are present. Increases in gas velocities and solid circulating rates lead to higher Dax. The effects of liquid velocity on Dax are associated with liquid viscosity. Compared with conventional expanded beds, the GLSCFBs hold less axial liquid dispersion,approaching ideal plug-flow reactors.

Gas dispersion and solid suspension in a three-phase stirred tank with triple impellers

The hydrodynamics is still not fully understood in the three-phase stirred tank equipped with multi-impeller due to the intensive interaction between phases.In this work,the solid critical suspension speed(NJSG),relative power demand(RPD)and overall gas holdup(ε_G)were measured in an air–water–glass beads stirred tank equipped with multi-impeller,which consists of a parabolic blade disk turbine below two down-pumping hydrofoils.Results show that either the NJSGor the specific power consumption increases when increasing the volumetric solid concentration or superficial gas velocity.RPD changes less than 10%when solid volumetric concentration ranges from 0 to 15%.ε_G decreases with the increase of solid concentration,and increases with the increase of both superficial gas velocity and the total specific power consumption.The quantitative correlations of NJSG,RPD andεGwere regressed as the function of superficial gas velocity,specific power consumption,Froude number and gas flow number,in order to provide the reference in the design of such three-phase stirred tank with similar multi-impellers.

Sludge granulation and efficiency of phase separator in UASB reactor treating combined industrial effluent

Sludge granulation and the effect of gas-liquid-solid separator （GLSS） design on the efficiency of upflow anaerobic sludge blanket （UASB） and upflow anaerobic sludge filter （UASF） reactors, operating at HRTs ranging from 3 to 12 h was investigated. VSS/TS ratio gradually increased in both the reactors with increasing sludge age （from 0.5 to more than 0.7 for UASB reactor and 0.012 to 0.043 for UASF reactor）. X-Ray diffraction analysis of the UASF sludge showed the presence of expanding clays revealing its additional absorption capability. Fuoraphyllite and albite precipitation related to excellular polymers of the microbial shell structure, showed the extended growth of microorganisms during sludge granulation. A gradual decrease （82%-69%） in COD removal with decreasing HRT was apparent in UASF reactor. In case of UASB reactor, this decrease was marginal because addition of GLSS device significantly improved （14%-20%） the overall efficiency of the UASB reactor. GLSS enhanced the efficiency of the UASB reactor by increasing the settleability of suspended particles and accelerating the coagulation of colloidal particles due to the velocity gradient.

Heat Transfer Enhancement by Fluidized Solid Particles in Gas Carrying Evaporation

Heat transfer characteristics are studied for gas carrying evaporation with fluidized solid particles in a vertical rectangular conduit. Experimental results show that heat transfer of gas carrying evaporation is enhanced and the superheat of liquid in contact with heating surface lowers remarkably by introducing solid particles. Nucleate boiling on the heating surface is suppressed to a considerable degree. The mechanism of heat transfer enhancement by fluidized solid particles is analyzed with the consideration of collisions of solid particles with the boiling vapor bubbles.

Research of air-cushion isolation effects on high arch dam reservoir

A three-dimensional （3D） finite element model of air-cushion isolated arch dam is presented with the nonlinear gas-liquid-solid multi-field dynamic coupling effect taken into account.In this model,the displacement formulation in Lagrange method,pressure formulation in Euler method,nonlinear contact model based on Coulomb friction law are applied to the air-cushion,reservoir and contraction joint domain,respectively.The dynamic response of Jinping I arch dam with a height of 305 m is analyzed using the seismic records of the Wenchuan Earthquake in 2008.Numerical results show that the air-cushion isolation reduces significantly the hydrodynamic pressure as well as the opening width for the contraction joints of high arch dam.

Hydrodynamics of three-phase fluidization of homogeneous ternary mixture in a conical conduit-Experimental and statistical analysis

Hydrodynamics of conical fluidized bed differ from that of columnar beds by the fact that a velocity gradient exists along the axial direction of the bed.The gas–liquid–solid fluidized bed has emerged in recent years as one of the most promising devices for three-phase operations.Such a device is of considerable industrial importance as evident from its wide applications in chemical,refining,petrochemical,biochemical processing,pharmaceutical and food industries.To explore this,a series of experiments have been carried out for homogeneous well-mixed ternary mixtures of dolomite of varying compositions in a three-phase conical fluidized bed.The hydrodynamic characteristics determined included the bed pressure drop,bed fluctuation and bed expansion ratios.The single and combined effects of operating parameters such as superficial gas velocity,superficial liquid velocity,initial static bed height,average particle size and cone angle on the responses have been analyzed using response surface methodology(RSM).A 25 full factorial central composite experimental design has been employed.Analysis of variance(ANOVA) showed a high coefficient of determination value and satisfactory prediction second-order regression models have been derived.Experimental values of bed pressure drop,bed fluctuation and bed expansion ratios have been found to agree well with the developed correlations.

Gas-liquid mass transfer in the gas-liquid-solid mini fluidized beds

The gas-liquid-solid mini fluidized bed(GLSMFB)combines the advantages of fluidized bed and micro-reactor,and meets the requirements for safety and efficiency of green development of process industry.However,there are few studies on its flow performance and no studies on its mass and heat transfer performance.In this paper,the characteristics of gas-liquid mass transfer in a GLSMFB were studied in order to provide basic guidance for the study of GLSMFB reaction performance and application.Using CO_(2)absorption by NaOH as the model process,the gas-liquid mass transfer performance of GLSMFB was investigated.The results show that the liquid volumetric mass transfer coefficient and the gas-liquid interfacial area both increase with the increase of the superficial gas velocity within the experimental parameter range under the same given superficial liquid velocity.At the same ratio of superficial gas to liquid velocity,the liquid volumetric mass transfer coefficient increases with the increase of the super-ficial liquid velocity.Fluidized solid particles strengthen the liquid mass transfer process,and the liquid volumetric mass transfer coefficient is about 13%higher than that of gas-liquid mini bubble column.

New measurements on hydrodynamics in a gas-liquid-solid expanded bed

The solid holdup,in a 150 mm-ID×2460 mm-height gas-liquid-solid expanded bed with air,water and glass beads(the diameter of particles is 0.6-0.8 mm)was firstly investigated based on the immersion-type online multiphase measuring instrument,and bubble behavior was studied via the BVW-2 double electrical conductivity probe.The effect of the superficial gas velocity and liquid velocity on the expanded ratio,the transition ratio,the bubble rising velocity,the gas holdup and the solid holdup was studied.It is discovered that compared with the gas velocity,the liquid velocity has stronger impact on the expanded ratio,but it is opposite for the transition ratio.The average gas holdup and solid holdup increase linearly as the superficial gas velocity goes up.Among it,the gas holdup increases greater in the center,while the solid holdup increases greater near the wall.Compared with it,when the superficial liquid velocity rises,the average gas holdup hardly changes,but the average solid holdup keeps decreasing,especially the solid holdup distributes flatter with the increase of the superficial liquid velocity.

Characterization of gas-liquid-solid fluidized beds by S statistics

The hydrodynamics of a gas-liquid-solid fluidized bed was investigated by applying the S statistics method to pressure fluctuations measured under various operating conditions in a laboratory-scale bed. S statistics tests reveal the existence of three transition velocities, especially at low gas velocities. Four distinct fluidization regimes, namely, the compacted bed, agitated bed and coalesced and discrete bubble regimes were detected. A comparison of reconstructed attractors of pressure fluctuations measured at different axial positions along the riser and with various solid loadings showed significant differences in the signals compared before fluidization, especially at minimum liquid agitation velocity. Close to the minimum liquid fluidization velocity and high liquid velocities, the variation in particle size has an insignificant effect on the bed hydrodynamics. Therefore, S statistics is a reliable method to demar- cate different fluidization regimes and to characterize the influence of various operating conditions on the hydrodynamics of gas-liquid-solid fluidized beds. The method is applicable in large-scale industrial installations to detect dynamic changes within a bed, such as regime transitions or agglomeration.

EXTERNAL-LOOP AIRLIFT MAGNETICALLY STABILIZED BED--MINIMUM STABILIZATION AND FLUIDIZATION CONDITIONS

Experimental study of an airlift with a magnetically stabilized bed in the riser bottom has been performed. External magnetic field allows easy control of magnetized bed structure and liquid circulation rate. Minimum stabilization and fluidization conditions have been determined experimentally and by a three-line graphical method. Semi-empirical data correlations of sections of the experimental curves have been performed. Scaling relationships known from non-magnetic airlift are applicable too, but with the assumption that the magnetic field affects the loop friction coefficient only.

Implementation and validation of a volume-of-fluid and discrete-element-method combined solver in OpenFOAM

Numerous gas-liquid-solid flows exist in chemical engineering and metallurgical processes. Numerical modeling is an important topic that can be used to improve the design and investigate the operating conditions of these processes. The complicated interphase interaction within such three-phase systems, which include free surfaces and discrete phases, poses challenges in the existing methods. We imple- mented a volume-of-fluid （VOF） and discrete-element-method （DEM） combined solver, which should be useful for modeling the gas-liquid-solid systems, within the OpenFOAM framework. The Du Plessis and Masliyah drag force, added mass force, and capillary force were considered for fluid-particle coupling. The VOF-DEM solver was tested in three different cases, namely, particles in pure gas, particle collision in water, and gas-liquid-solid three-phase dam break. The results were validated against previous experi- ments and good agreement was obtained between the simulations and the experiments, which indicates the accuracy and suitability of this VOF-DEM solver for gas-liquid-solid systems.

Development on test equipment of coal slurry mixing tank

A coal slurry mixing tank is a key piece of equipment in the preparation of coal slurry for direct coal liquefaction.It is a gas-liquid-solid three-phase mixing device.Based on the performance of the existing coal slurry mixing equipment,a type of test equipment for horizontal continuous coal slurry preparation was developed,but to this point has limited research results.The test equipment consists of a mixing cylinder,mixer,stirring impeller and other components.Slurry mixing experiments were undertaken using the prototype,testing the performance of the device.A mathematical model was proposed specifically for the operation of a coal slurry mixing tank that is horizontally operated with high slurry concentration and rotary flow.The flow field in the horizontal coal mixing tank was simulated with the computational fluid dynamic (CFD) method.The experimental results match well with the CFD simulation results.Results show that the test device of a coal slurry mixing tank can be used to model the mixing of pulverized coal and the solvent oil.A strong correlation was obtained.