Modeling of core flow in a gas–solids riser

The heterogeneous flow structure in gas–solids riser reactors is typically represented by an upward solids flow in the core region and a back-mixing downward solids flow in the wall region. The hydrodynamic and reaction characteristics in these two regions are highly different, as most reactions with fresh catalyst solids occur in the core region and mostly spent catalyst solids are found in the wall region. Gross understanding on gas–solids riser flow can be conveniently obtained from a cross-section averaged one-dimensional modeling approach, which is probably only valid for the core region. The success of such an approach, however, has to rely on the appropriate modeling of controlling mechanisms of riser flows. Our recent studies show that commonly-employed Richardson–Zaki equation overestimates the hydrodynamic forces in the dense phase and acceleration regimes; there is also a non-negligible effect of solids collision on solids acceleration, and the wall effect should be taken into account in terms of wall boundary and back flow mixing. In this paper we propose a new mechanistic modeling to describe the hydrodynamics of upward flow of solids in a gas–solids riser, with new formula of hydrodynamic phase interactions. The modeling results are validated against published measurements of pressure and solids volume fraction in a wide range of particle property, gas velocity and solid mass flux. Parametric effects of operation conditions such as transport gas velocity and solid mass flux on hydrodynamic characteristics of riser flows are predicted.

Graphical AbstractWe propose a new mechanistic modeling to describe the hydrodynamics of upward flow of solids in a gas–solids riser, with new formula of hydrodynamic phase interactions. The predictions of our model on axial pressure gradient and solid volume fraction are satisfactorily validated against published experimental data.Figure optionsDownload as PowerPoint slide