Study of transpiring fluid dynamics in supercritical water oxidation using a transparent reactor

• Dynamic transpiring fluid processes are visually presented with simulated TWR.
• Transpiring flow is anisotropic due to both static pressure and viscous resistance.
• The novel concept of air as transpiring fluid in TWR is proposed and verified.
• The viscous permeability coefficient of the porous tube is measured using air.

The transpiring wall reactor (TWR) is considered to be one of the most promising reactors because it minimizes both corrosion and salt precipitation problems that seriously hinder the industrialization of supercritical water oxidation technologies. A transparent reactor is built to study the fluid dynamics of transpiring flow, which are the foundation of reactor design and optimization. The results showed that the transpiring flow is anisotropic with respect to the surface of the transpiring wall due to both the static pressure and viscous resistance. Finally, the novel idea of using air as the transpiring fluid instead of water is presented in an attempt to alleviate current TWR problems such as high energy consumption, high volume of pure water consumption, and temperature fluctuation in the reaction area. A series of experiments and theoretical derivations demonstrate that this novel idea is feasible.

The transpiring fluid simultaneously flows around the porous tube (around flow path) and through the porous wall into the tube (seepage flow path). The transpiring flow is anisotropic with respect to the surface of porous tube.Figure optionsDownload as PowerPoint slide