On the design of the RTO unit using CFD

The objective of this work is to study alternative designs for a flow mixing tank to be installed ahead of a regenerative thermal oxidation (RTO) unit in an asphalt plant. A study of the steady-state flow field in the unit was conducted applying computational fluid dynamics (CFD). The governing equations (mass, momentum, energy and turbulence) were solved using the commercial code Fluent. The simulation results provided insight into the effectiveness of the numerical predictions of conditions in the mixer and led to practical responses in terms of a better design of the industrial RTO unit.