Impact of particle size on the selection of a representative bed section for poly-dispersed fixed bed reactors
Impact of particle size on the selection of a representative bed section for poly-dispersed fixed bed reactors
Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) models are a valuable tool for the design, optimization, and scaling-up of fixed bed chemical reactors. However, the realistic representation of the catalytic bed structure and the mesh quality of the 3D geometry is of paramount importance to improve the accuracy of CFD models. For the former, computed tomography (CT) is a non-destructive method to map and generate the internal structure of experimental fixed bed reactors, enabling a direct 1-to-1 coupling between experiments and simulations. In our previous work, the internal structure of highly poly-dispersed fixed bed reactors, formed by sieved particles, was analysed. The particles that formed them displayed a wide range of sizes, shapes, and orientations. Due to the local topological complexity of these beds, meshing and simulating their entire volume would lead to exhaustive computational demands. To reduce these, a suitable sample section should be selected, which accurately represents both the bulk and the radial porosity of the full bed. Three distinct sample sections were quantified here for their accuracy, identifying that, due to the highly heterogeneous nature of the full beds, sample selection is case sensitive. In addition, compared to smaller particles, larger particles form more heterogeneous local structures, thus requiring longer sections to accurately represent the full bed. A selected 10% section was then meshed, and its hydrodynamic profile resolved, to evaluate its mesh independency. The results highlight the importance of choosing a suitable bed section and mesh size to reduce the computational demands, minimise the computational errors, and achieve the desired level of solution detail.
catalytic particles, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), computed tomography (CT), fixed bed chemical reactors, polydispersed beds, SAPO-34
24-35
Kyrimis, Stylianos
47a25c0c-7579-4e74-963e-e0d4360cd24a
Raja, Robert
74faf442-38a6-4ac1-84f9-b3c039cb392b
Armstrong, Lindsay-Marie
db493663-2457-4f84-9646-15538c653998
8 August 2023
Kyrimis, Stylianos
47a25c0c-7579-4e74-963e-e0d4360cd24a
Raja, Robert
74faf442-38a6-4ac1-84f9-b3c039cb392b
Armstrong, Lindsay-Marie
db493663-2457-4f84-9646-15538c653998
Kyrimis, Stylianos, Raja, Robert and Armstrong, Lindsay-Marie
(2023)
Impact of particle size on the selection of a representative bed section for poly-dispersed fixed bed reactors.
Journal of Fluid Flow, Heat and Mass Transfer, 10, .
(doi:10.11159/jffhmt.2023.004).
Abstract
Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) models are a valuable tool for the design, optimization, and scaling-up of fixed bed chemical reactors. However, the realistic representation of the catalytic bed structure and the mesh quality of the 3D geometry is of paramount importance to improve the accuracy of CFD models. For the former, computed tomography (CT) is a non-destructive method to map and generate the internal structure of experimental fixed bed reactors, enabling a direct 1-to-1 coupling between experiments and simulations. In our previous work, the internal structure of highly poly-dispersed fixed bed reactors, formed by sieved particles, was analysed. The particles that formed them displayed a wide range of sizes, shapes, and orientations. Due to the local topological complexity of these beds, meshing and simulating their entire volume would lead to exhaustive computational demands. To reduce these, a suitable sample section should be selected, which accurately represents both the bulk and the radial porosity of the full bed. Three distinct sample sections were quantified here for their accuracy, identifying that, due to the highly heterogeneous nature of the full beds, sample selection is case sensitive. In addition, compared to smaller particles, larger particles form more heterogeneous local structures, thus requiring longer sections to accurately represent the full bed. A selected 10% section was then meshed, and its hydrodynamic profile resolved, to evaluate its mesh independency. The results highlight the importance of choosing a suitable bed section and mesh size to reduce the computational demands, minimise the computational errors, and achieve the desired level of solution detail.
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Accepted/In Press date: 20 July 2023
Published date: 8 August 2023
Additional Information:
Funding Information:
The authors would like to thank the Industrial Decarbonisation Research and Innovation Centre (IDRIC), grant number (EP/V027050/1), for their funding. In addition, the authors would like to acknowledge the use of the IRIDIS 5 High Performance Computing Facility, and associated support services at the University of Southampton, in the completion of this work. This paper is an extension of the work presented and submitted on the proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Fluid Flow, Heat and Mass Transfer (FFHMT’23), with a DOI: 10.11159/ffhmt23.171.
Funding Information:
The authors would like to thank the Industrial Decarbonisation Research and Innovation Centre (IDRIC), grant number (EP/V027050/1), for their funding. In addition, the authors would like to acknowledge the use of the IRIDIS 5 High Performance Computing Facility, and associated support services at the University of Southampton, in the completion of this work. This paper is an extension of the work presented and submitted on the proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Fluid Flow, Heat and Mass Transfer (FFHMT’ 球甂I, with a DOI:
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 Authors.
Keywords:
catalytic particles, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), computed tomography (CT), fixed bed chemical reactors, polydispersed beds, SAPO-34
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 480944
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/480944
ISSN: 2368-6111
PURE UUID: 1bcd3b98-6b4d-401f-913e-cd3e3247c882
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Date deposited: 10 Aug 2023 17:03
Last modified: 18 Mar 2024 03:04
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Author:
Stylianos Kyrimis
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