Simulação computacional do escoamento gás-sólido de um leito fluidizado circulante

Abstract

Circulating fluidized beds (CFBs) are systems widely spread worldwide, and successfully applied in thermal and power generation, petrochemical and mining industries. The study of the multiphase flow hydrodynamics in CFB units, mainly by using computational fluid dynamics tools, has been recognized as an effective way to identify improvements in their components as well as in the operating conditions of either current processes or new applications. Although many works have already been published on such systems, some gaps about modeling them as an integrated equipment still remain. In this sense, there is not clarity about describing the friction regime for the particles, the assessment of interactions between the solid phase and walls, and the analysis on the effects produced by choosing particular boundary conditions in the loop-seal valve, which are usually simplified in the literature. So, in order to contribute for understanding better the behavior of the gas-solid flow in CFB systems, this research applies the finite volume method by means the ANSYS® Fluent® v. 18.0 software to analyze the influence of the mathematical modeling, as well as the choice of boundary and operational conditions on the hydrodynamics of an integrated bench-scale CFB system. The results showed that the Johnson and Jackson friction regime model applied along with a critical solid volume fraction of 0,61 led to better description of the gas-solid flow inside the CFB loop when compared to that obtained with the Schaeffer model, especially in the loop-seal region, where the bed of particles is denser. In regard of the drag models here tested, the Syamlal-O'Brien model parameterized for conditions of minimum fluidization came out the more coherent results for describing the drag phenomenon; however, it is worth to point out that all models overestimated the interaction between the gas and solid phases. On the other hand, simulations carried out using specularity coefficient closer to 0 brought better results than those employing the value of 0.6, which is usually considered for integrated CFB systems. Additionally, the models were sensitive to changes in the boundary conditions imposed on the loop-seal valve. Finally, it was noticed that the methodology here adopted, which was based not only on a quantitative analysis but also on a qualitative one contributed to identify computational modeling configurations that got to describe in a more coherent way the physics of the gas-solid flow inside of CFB systems.