The influence of the initial gas distribution on the dynamics of a three-phase fluidized bed reactor

Abstract

The hydrodynamic evolution of a three-dimensional (3D) liquid-gas-solid fluidized bed reactor was studied using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations, and the results were compared with previous experimental data. The gas-solid and liquid-solid interactions were calculated using the Euler-Euler model, incorporating the kinetic theory for the solid phase. The momentum exchange coefficients for the fluid-solid interactions were calculated using the Gidaspow drag model, and the fluid-fluid interactions by using the Schiller-Naumann model. The predicted gas volume fraction agreed to the Kumar model and showed better performance with the use of higher-order discretization. Furthermore, the Peng Robinson thermodynamic correlation was used to determine the properties of the materials under high severity conditions. The results showed a consistent distribution of the phases, it was quite uniform and there was a reasonable expansion of the bed when gas injection was established as an initial condition.