Modeling and Simulation of Cold Flow Fluidized Bed Reactors

Simulations of cold flow fluidized gas-solid systems have been conducted for both riser and bubbling bed reactors, alone and combined in a circulating fluidized bed reactor. An Eulerian continuum two-fluid model with the Constant Particle Viscosity closure for the stresses term was employed for the granular phase whereas an algebraic turbulence model was used for the gas phase. An in-house code was developed, based upon the Finite Volume Method applied to the governing equations with a staggered grid arrangement. The velocities for both gas and solid phases are obtained solving the 1D Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes equations using the Partial Elimination Algorithm (PEA) algorithm and a coupled solver, while a pressure correction equation allows to solve for pressure based on gas continuity.The void fraction profile is computed from the solid continuity. Cold flow simulations of fluidized systems form the basis for the modeling of chemical processes such as Sorption-Enhanced Steam Methane Reforming (SE-SMR).