Contraction behavior of a liquid-solid fluidized bed has been investigated numerically. Based on a simple hydrodynamic model proposed by Brandani and Zhang (2006), a case study for solid particles with a density of 3,000 kg/m^3 and a diameter of 2.5× 10^-3 m is simulated in a two-dimensional fluidized bed (0.50 m height and 0.10 m width). Due to the continuity of numerical computation, there is a transition region between two zones of different solid holdups when the liquid velocity is suddenly changed. The top, middle and bottom interfaces are explored to obtain a reasonable interface height. The simulated results show that the steady time of the middle interface is more close to Gibilaro's theory and suitable for describing the contraction process of a phase interface. Furthermore, the effect of liquid velocity and particle diameter is simulated in the other two-dimensional fluidized bed (0.10 m height and 0.02 m width) where the solid particles are glass beads whose properties are similar to those of the catalyst particles used in the alkylation process. The results also show good agreement with Gibilaro's theory, and that larger particles lead to a more obvious bed contraction.
Yao XiuyingGuan YanjunChang JianZhang KaiJiang Jianchun
In this study, the mercury adsorption characteristics of HBr-modified fly ash in an entrained-flow reactor were investigated through thermal decomposition methods. The results show that the mercury adsorption performance of the HBr-modified fly ash was enhanced significantly. The mercury species adsorbed by unmodified fly ash were Hg Cl2,Hg S and Hg O. The mercury adsorbed by HBr-modified fly ash, in the entrained-flow reactor,existed in two forms, Hg Br2 and Hg O, and the HBr was the dominant factor promoting oxidation of elemental mercury in the entrained-flow reactor. In the current study, the concentration of Hg Br2 and Hg O in ash from the fine ash vessel was 4.6 times greater than for ash from the coarse ash vessel. The fine ash had better mercury adsorption performance than coarse ash, which is most likely due to the higher specific surface area and longer residence time.
Yongsheng ZhangLilin ZhaoRuitao GuoNa SongJiawei WangYan CaoWilliam OrndorffWei-ping Pan
Flow characteristics, such as flow pattern, gas holdup, and bubble size distribution, in an internal loop reactor with external liquid circulation, are simulated to investigate the influence of reactor internals by using the computational fluid dynamics (CFD)-population balance equations (PBE) coupled model. Numerical results reveal that introducing a downcomer tube and a draft tube can help to improve the mass and heat transfer of the reactor through enhanced liquid circulation, increased gas holdup and reduced bubble diameter. The hydrodynamic behavior in the internal loop reactor with external liquid circulation can be managed effectively by adjusting the diameter and axial position of the draft tube.
Under the Eulerian-Eulerian framework of simulating gas-solid two-phase flow, the accuracy of the hydrodynamic prediction is strongly affected by the selection of rheology of the particulate phase, for which a detailed assessment is still absent. Using a jetting fluidized bed as an example, this work investi- gates the influence of solid rheology on the hydrodynamic behavior by employing different particle-phase viscosity models. Both constant particle-phase viscosity model (CVM) with different viscosity values and a simple two-fluid model without particle-phase viscosity (NVM) are incorporated into the classical two- fluid model and compared with the experimental measurements. Qualitative and quantitative results show that the jet penetration depth, jet frequency and averaged bed pressure drop are not a strong func- tion of the particle-phase viscosity. Compared to CVM, the NVM exhibits better predictions on the jet behaviors, which is more suitable for investigating the hydrodynamics of gas-solid fluidized bed with a central jet.