Investigation of radial heat transfer in a fixed-bed reactor: CFD simulations and profile measurements

Three dimensional CFD simulations with computer generated packings by DEM simulations are becoming a powerful approach for simulating heat transfer in fixed-bed reactors with small D/d ratio. To put forward this approach to be a preferred design tool in industry and academia, experimental validations are needed. In this work, profile measurement techniques and the DEM-CFD simulation approach are applied to obtain radial temperature profiles in a thin tube fixed-bed reactor packed with glass spheres and steatite rings at different packing heights and different flow rates. Good agreement is found between measured and simulated results for both packing types. The high resolution of the profile measurement provides the possibility for critical judgement of the simulations.