Modeling of fuel mixing in fluidized bed combustors

This paper presents a three-dimensional model for fuel mixing in fluidized bed combustors. The model accounts for mixing patterns which were experimentally shown to govern mixing in risers with geometry and operational conditions representative for furnaces in fluidized bed combustors. The mixing process is modeled for three different solid phases in the furnace and the model, which includes the return leg, can be applied both under bubbling and circulating regimes. The semi-empirical basis of the model was previously validated in different large-scale fluidized bed combustors and is combined with a model for fuel particle conversion to obtain the fuel concentration field. Model results are compared with experimental data from the Chalmers 12 MWthMWth CFB combustor, yielding a reasonable agreement.