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Computational Fluid Dynamics Simulation of Gas–Solid Hydrodynamics in a Bubbling Fluidized-Bed Reactor: Effects of Air Distributor, Viscous and Drag Models

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submitted on 2024-05-28, 11:57 and posted on 2024-05-28, 11:57 authored by Ramin Khezri, Wan Azlina Wan Ab Karim Ghani, Salman Masoudi Soltani, Dayang Radiah Awang Biak, Robiah Yunus, Kiman Silas, Muhammad Shahbaz, Shiva Rezaei Motlagh

In this work, we employed a computational fluid dynamics (CFD)-based model with a Eulerian multiphase approach to simulate the fluidization hydrodynamics in biomass gasification processes. Air was used as the gasifying/fluidizing agent and entered the gasifier at the bottom which subsequently fluidized the solid particles inside the reactor column. The momentum exchange related to the gas-phase was simulated by considering various viscous models (i.e., laminar and turbulence models of the re-normalisation group (RNG), k-ε and k-ω). The pressure drop gradient obtained by employing each viscous model was plotted for different superficial velocities and compared with the experimental data for validation. The turbulent model of RNG k-Ɛ was found to best represent the actual process. We also studied the effect of air distributor plates with different pore diameters (2, 3 and 5 mm) on the momentum of the fluidizing fluid. The plate with 3-mm pores showed larger turbulent viscosities above the surface. The effects of drag models (Syamlal–O’Brien, Gidaspow and energy minimum multi-scale method (EMMS) on the bed’s pressure drop as well as on the volume fractions of the solid particles were investigated. The Syamlal–O’Brien model was found to forecast bed pressure drops most consistently, with the pressure drops recorded throughout the experimental process. The formation of bubbles and their motion along the gasifier height in the presence of the turbulent flow was seen to follow a different pattern from with the laminar flow.


Other Information

Published in: Processes
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
See article on publisher's website: https://doi.org/10.3390/pr7080524

Funding

Open Access funding provided by the Qatar National Library.

History

Language

  • English

Publisher

MDPI

Publication Year

  • 2019

License statement

This Item is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Institution affiliated with

  • Hamad Bin Khalifa University
  • College of Science and Engineering - HBKU

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