FLOW BEHAVIOR AND MASS TRANSFER IN THREE-PHASE EXTERNAL-LOOP AIRLIFT REACTORS WITH LARGE PARTICLES

The flow behavior and mass transfer in a three-phase external-loop airlift reactor can be improved by adding large particles. The mass transfer and liquid dispersion behavior for a three-phase external-loop reactor with large particles are studied in terms of the effect of the diameter and loading of the large particles on the liquid dispersion coefficient and mass transfer coefficient, The results showed that increasing the diameter or loading of the large particles tend to decrease dispersion and intensify mass transfer, and that an increase in the diameter of the large particles remarkably decreases the particle loop rate, while the effect of fine particles is much less notable.     

Gas–liquid mass transfer in the gas–liquid–solid mini fluidized beds

The gas–liquid–solid mini fluidized bed (GLSMFB) combines the advantages of fluidized bed and micro-reactor, and meets the requirements for safety and efficiency of green development of process industry. However, there are few studies on its flow performance and no studies on its mass and heat transfer performance. In this paper, the characteristics of gas–liquid mass transfer in a GLSMFB were studied in order to provide basic guidance for the study of GLSMFB reaction performance and application. Using CO₂ absorption by NaOH as the model process, the gas–liquid mass transfer performance of GLSMFB was investigated. The results show that the liquid volumetric mass transfer coefficient and the gas–liquid interfacial area both increase with the increase of the superficial gas velocity within the experimental parameter range under the same given superficial liquid velocity. At the same ratio of superficial gas to liquid velocity, the liquid volumetric mass transfer coefficient increases with the increase of the superficial liquid velocity. Fluidized solid particles strengthen the liquid mass transfer process, and the liquid volumetric mass transfer coefficient is about 13% higher than that of gas–liquid mini bubble column.     

Melting heat transfer along a horizontal heated tube immersed in a fluidized liquid ice bed

An experimental study was performed to determine the melting heat transfer characteristics along a horizontal heated circular tube immersed in a solid-air-liquid three-phase fluidized liquid ice bed. A mixture of fine ice particles and ethylene glycol acqueous solution was adopted as the liquid ice for the test. Measurements were carried out for a range of parameters such as airflow rate, heated tube diameter, and initial concentration of acqueous binary solution. It was found that the heat transfer coefficient for the fluidized liquid ice bed might be more than 20 times as large as that for the fixed liquid ice bed.     

Hydrodynamics and oxygen mass transfer in a packed bed split-cylinder airlift reactor containing dilute alcoholic solutions

In this article, the influences of alcohols on the hydrodynamics and oxygen mass transfer characteristics in an airlift reactor equipped with packing were investigated. The hydrodynamic parameters and mass transfer coefficient in 1 % (v/v) aqueous solutions of four aliphatic alcohols were tested. It was concluded that alcohols addition increased gas holdup and gas–liquid mass transfer coefficient. The packing installation increased mass transfer coefficient, gas holdup and liquid circulation velocity, as well.     

Heat transfer and hydrodynamic studies on two- and three-phase fluidized beds of floating bubble breakers

Heat transfer characteristics in three-phase fluidized beds of floating bubble breakers have been studied in a 0.142 m I.D. x 2.0 m high Plexiglas column fitted with an axially mounted cylindrical heater.Effects of the liquid and gas velocities, the particle size, the volume ratio of floating bubble breaker to particles on phase holdup, the vertical bubble length, and the heat transfer coefficient have been determined.In the bubble-coalescing regime, the heat transfer coefficient in three-phase fluidized beds having the volume ratio V_f/V_s of 10–15% produced a maximum increase in heat transfer coefficient of about 20% in comparison to that in the bed without floating bubble breakers. Also, bubble length and gas-phase holdups exhibited their maximum and minimum values at a volume ratio of 10–15%. The heat transfer coefficient in three-phase fluidized beds of floating bubble breakers can be estimated from the surface renewal model with isotropic turbulence theory.Heat transfer coefficients expressed in terms of the Nusselt number have been correlated with the particle Reynolds number and the volume ratio of floating bubble breakers to particles.     

An investigation on near wall transport characteristics in an adiabatic upward gas–liquid two-phase slug flow

The near-wall transport characteristics, inclusive of mass transfer coefficient and wall shear stress, which have a great effect on gas–liquid two-phase flow induced internal corrosion of low alloy pipelines in vertical upward oil and gas mixing transport, have been both mechanistically and experimentally investigated in this paper. Based on the analyses on the hydrodynamic characteristics of an upward slug unit, the mass transfer in the near wall can be divided into four zones, Taylor bubble nose zone, falling liquid film zone, Taylor bubble wake zone and the remaining liquid slug zone; the wall shear stress can be divided into two zones, the positive wall shear stress zone associated with the falling liquid film and the negative wall shear stress zone associated with the liquid slug. Based on the conventional mass transfer and wall shear stress characteristics formulas of single phase liquid full-pipe turbulent flow, corrected normalized mass transfer coefficient formula and wall shear stress formula are proposed. The calculated results are in good agreement with the experimental data. The shear stress and the mass transfer coefficient in the near wall zone are increased with the increase of superficial gas velocity and decreased with the increase of superficial liquid velocity. The mass transfer coefficients in the falling liquid film zone and the wake zone of leading Taylor bubble are lager than those in the Taylor bubble nose zone and the remaining liquid slug zone, and the wall shear stress associated falling liquid film is larger than that associated the liquid slug. The mass transfer coefficient is within 10⁻³ m/s, and the wall shear stress below 10³ Pa. It can be concluded that the alternate wall shear stress due to upward gas–liquid slug flow is considered to be the major cause of the corrosion production film fatigue cracking.     

Experiments on the local heat transfer characteristics of a circulating fluidized bed

The role of particle diameter in the heat transfer of a gas–solid suspension to the walls of a circulating fluidized bed was studied for particles of uniform size. This work reports and analyzes new experimental results for the local bed to wall heat transfer coefficient, not including the radiation component, in a long active heat transfer surface length laboratory bed, which extend previous findings and clear up some divergences. The research included determining the effects of extension and location of the heat transfer surface, circulating solids mass flux and average suspension density. An experimental set-up was built, with a 72.5 mm internal diameter riser, 6.0 m high, composed of six double pipe heat exchangers, 0.93 m high, located one above the other. Five narrow sized diameter quartz sand particles − 179, 230, 385, 460 and 545 μm − were tested. Temperature was kept approximately constant at 423 K and the superficial gas velocity at 10.5 m/s. The major influence of suspension density on the wall heat transfer was confirmed, and contrary to other authors, a significant effect of particle size was found, which becomes more relevant for smaller particles and increasing suspension density. It was observed that the extension of the heat transfer surface area did not influence the heat transfer coefficient for lengths greater than 0.93 m.The heat transfer surface location did not show any effect, except for the exchanger at the botton of the riser. A simple correlation was proposed to calculate the heat transfer coefficient as a function of particle diameter and suspension density.     

FAE炸药跌落撞击安全性数值分析

提出了冲击载荷作用下燃料空气炸药(FAE)的三相混合物材料模型. 在模型中, FAE炸药被模型化为具有一定的微观结构, 其液体组分及气体组分填充于金属固相颗粒互相搭结构成的骨架孔洞内. 另外, 材料模型中引入了气体的绝热压缩模型, 使得整个模型可以给出在冲击加载条件下FAE炸药中各组分的应力状态及温度场, 从而为合理地判定FAE装药的安全性提供了条件. FAE三相混合物材料模型作为用户自定义子程序嵌入到动力学程序AUTODYN中. 最后, 应用FAE炸药材料模型对某FAE战斗部从20\,m高处垂直跌落至钢质地板的撞击过程进行了数值模拟. 基于FAE装药在这种跌落撞击过程中的应力和温度状态,对其安全性进行了评价.      

DEM simulation of particle percolation in a packed bed

The phenomenon of spontaneous particle percolation under gravity is investigated by means of the discrete element method. Percolation behaviors such as percolation velocity, residence time distribution and radial dispersion are examined under various conditions. It is shown that the vertical velocity of a percolating particle moving down through a packing of larger particles decreases with increasing the restitution coefficient between particles and diameter ratio of the percolating to packing particles. With the increase of the restitution coefficient, the residence time and radial dispersion of the percolating particles increase. The packing height affects the residence time and radial dispersion. But, the effect can be eliminated in the analysis of the residence time and radial dispersion when they are normalized by the average residence time and the product of the packing height and packing particle diameter, respectively. In addition, the percolation velocity is shown to be related to the vertical acceleration of the percolating particle when an extra constant vertical force is applied. Increasing the feeding rate of percolating particles decreases the dispersion coefficient.     

DEM simulation of particle percolation in a packed bed

The phenomenon of spontaneous particle percolation under gravity is investigated by means of the discrete element method. Percolation behaviors such as percolation velocity,residence time distribution and radial dispersion are examined under various conditions. It is shown that the vertical velocity of a percolating particle moving down through a packing of larger particles decreases with increasing the restitution coefficient between particles and diameter ratio of the percolating to packing particles. With the increase of the restitution coefficient,the residence time and radial dispersion of the percolating particles increase. The packing height affects the residence time and radial dispersion. But,the effect can be eliminated in the analysis of the residence time and radial dispersion when they are normalized by the average residence time and the product of the packing height and packing particle diameter,respectively.In addition,the percolation velocity is shown to be related to the vertical acceleration of the percolating particle when an extra constant vertical force is applied. Increasing the feeding rate of percolating particles decreases the dispersion coefficient.     

Hydrodynamic and thermal fields analysis in gas-solid two-phase flow

The present work aims to investigate numerically the flowfield and heat transfer process in gas-solid suspension in a vertical pneumatic conveying pipe. The Eulerian-Lagrangian model is used to simulate the flow of the two-phases. The gas phase is simulated based on Reynolds Average Navier-Stokes equations (RANS) with low Reynolds number k-ε model, while particle tracking procedure is used for the solid phase. An anisotropic model is used to calculate the Reynolds stresses and the turbulent Prandtl number is calculated as a function of the turbulent viscosity. The model takes into account the lift and drag forces and the effect of particle rotation as well as the particles dispersion by turbulence effect. The effects of inter-particles collisions and turbulence modulation by the solid particles, i.e. four-way coupling, are also included in the model. Comparisons between different models for turbulence modulation with experimental data are carried out to select the best model. The model is validated against published experimental data for velocities of the two phases, turbulence intensity, solids concentration, pressure drop, heat transfer rates and Nusselt number distribution. The comparisons indicate that the present model is able to predict the complex interaction between the two phases in non-isothermal gas-solid flow in the tested range. The results indicate that the particle-particle collision, turbulence dispersion and lift force play a key role in the concentration distribution. In addition, the heat transfer rate increases as the mass loading ratio increases and Nusselt number increases as the pipe diameter increases.     

Stochastic simulations of particle-laden isotropic turbulent flow

Numerical simulations are performed of dispersion and polydispersity of particles in isotropic incompressible turbulence. The mass loading of the particles is assumed to be small; thus the effects of particles on turbulence is neglected (one-way coupling). A stochastic model is employed to simulate the carrier phase. The results of the simulations are compared with direct numerical simulation (DNS) data and theoretical results. The stochastic model predicts most of the trends as portrayed by DNS and theory. However, the continuity effect associated with the crossing trajectories effect is not captured. Also, the peaking in the variation of the particle asymptotic diffusivity coefficient with the particle time constant is not observed. For evaporating particles, the stochastic model predicts thinner probability density functions (pdfs) for the particle diameter as compared with DNS generated pdfs. The model is implemented to investigate the effects of gravity on evaporation. It is shown that the depletion rate increases with increase of the drift velocity at short and intermediate times, but an opposite trend is observed at long times. The standard deviation and skewness of the particle diameter indicate peak values in their variations with the drift velocity. Dispersion of evaporating particles decreases with respect to that of non-evaporating particles at small drift velocities; an opposite trend is observed at large drift velocities. The effects of the initial evaporation rate and the particle Schmidt number on the evaporation in the gravity environment are also studied.     

Rayleigh-Bénard convection heat transfer in nanoparticle suspensions

Natural convection heat transfer of nanofluids in horizontal enclosures heated from below is investigated theoretically. The main idea upon which the present work is based is that nanofluids behave more like a single-phase fluid rather than like a conventional solid-liquid mixture, which implies that all the convective heat transfer correlations available for single-phase flows can be extended to nanoparticle suspensions, provided that the thermophysical properties appearing in them are the nanofluid effective properties calculated at the reference temperature. In this connection, two empirical equations, based on a wide variety of experimental data reported in the literature, are developed for the evaluation of the nanofluid effective thermal conductivity and dynamic viscosity, whereas the other effective properties are evaluated by the traditional mixing theory. The heat transfer enhancement that derives from the dispersion of nano-sized solid particles into the base liquid is calculated for different operating conditions, nanoparticle diameters, and combinations of solid and liquid phases. One of the fundamental results is the existence of an optimal particle loading for maximum heat transfer across the bottom-heated enclosure. In particular, for any assigned combination of suspended nanoparticles and base liquid, it is found that the optimal volume fraction increases as the nanofluid average temperature increases, and may either increase or decrease with increasing the nanoparticle size according as the flow is laminar or turbulent. Moreover, the optimal volume fraction has a peak at a definite value of the Rayleigh number of the base fluid, that depends on both the average temperature of the nanofluid and the diameter of the suspended nanoparticles.     

Mass transfer and dispersion around an active cylinder in cross flow and buried in a packed bed

The present work describes the mass transfer process between a moving fluid and a slightly soluble cylinder, with the axis perpendicular to flow direction, buried in a packed bed of small inert particles, with uniform voidage. Fluid flow in the packed bed around the cylinder was assumed to follow Darcy’s law and, at each point, dispersion of solute was assumed to be determined by radial and axial dispersion coefficients, in the cross-stream and streamwise directions, respectively. Numerical solutions of the differential equation describing solute mass conservation were undertaken to obtain the concentration field near the soluble surface and the mass transfer flux was integrated to give the Sherwood number as a function of the relevant parameters. Mathematical expressions are proposed that describes accurately the dependence found numerically between the value of the Sherwood number and the values of Peclet number, Schmidt number and the ratio between the diameter of cylinder and the diameter of inerts.     

鼓泡流化床中流动特性的多尺度数值模拟

鼓泡流化床因其较高的传热特性以及较好的相间接触已经被广泛应用于工业生产中,而对鼓泡流态化气固流动特性的充分认知是鼓泡流化床设计的关键.在鼓泡流化床中,气泡相和乳化相的同时存在使得床中呈现非均匀流动结构,而这种非均匀结构给鼓泡流化床的数值模拟造成了很大的误差.基于此,以气泡作为介尺度结构,建立了多尺度曳力消耗能量最小的稳定性条件,构建了适用于鼓泡流化床的多尺度气固相间曳力模型.结合双流体模型,对A类和B类颗粒的鼓泡流化床中气固流动特性进行了模拟研究,分析了气泡速度、气泡直径等参数的变化规律.研究表明,与传统的曳力模型相比,考虑气泡影响的多尺度气固相间曳力模型给出的曳力系数与颗粒浓度的关系是一条分布带,建立了控制体内曳力系数与局部结构参数之间的关系.通过模拟得到的颗粒浓度和速度与实验的比较可以发现,考虑气泡影响的多尺度曳力模型可以更好地再现实验结果.通过A类和B类颗粒的鼓泡床模拟研究发现,A类颗粒的鼓泡床模拟受多尺度曳力模型的影响更为显著.      

固定床化学链燃烧氧化反应的数值模拟

基于Chimera网格采用有限体积法模拟了450个颗粒随机填充固定床中的化学链燃烧的氧化反应过程,并采用三维瞬态N-S方程,结合压力Poisson方程方法,详细分析了床层入口Re=5时的颗粒内部和外部的传质传热过程．模拟结果揭示了在大颗粒的固定床中,颗粒内部有效扩散系数对颗粒内部的传质起着决定性作用,而且颗粒表面的浓度梯度决定了总反应速率;另外,有惰性芯的结构化颗粒能有效地改善颗粒内部总的反应速率,颗粒的转化速率,并且能使床层很快地达到热平衡．模拟结果能更好地帮助我们认识固定床化学链反应器中的反应和组分传递机理．     

Particle/Turbulence Interactions, Mass Transfer and Gas/Solid Chemistry in a CFBC Riser

Gas/solid chemistry in the upper, dilute region of a circulating fluidised bed combustor (CFBC) riser is addressed. The limitations of turbulent mixing are illustrated by the example of the heterogeneous NO/CO/char reaction, relevant in CFB combustion of nitrogen-containing solid fuels. The mass transfer of the gaseous reactants to the char surface is determined, and how the conversion is influenced by the degree of mixing of the multiphase system by turbulent dispersion. Particle/turbulence interactions are taken into account by a (Lagrangian) frequency spectrum of velocity fluctuations, which determine the dispersion of the char particles described here with the Tchen–Hinze model. Chars from solid fuels characterised by fuel ratio (FR) ranging from 0.1 (wood) via 0.5 (peat) and 1 (coal A) to 2 (coal B) were considered. The effective rate of the NO/CO/char reaction is determined as a function of the size and type of the char particle, temperature, particle concentration, reactor dimensions and fluidization velocity, at atmospheric pressure. It was found that for this case the effective gas/solid conversion rate in the upper, dilute region of the riser is much lower than the gas/solid chemistry, mainly due to mass transfer limitations for char particles with sizes of typically 300 μm. The concentration of NO at the char particle surface is only a few % of that in the bulk gas phase. Strong influences were found for particle size and temperature, whilst the fluidisation velocity and the reactor size have only a small influence. It is concluded that for a typical CFB riser, for particles larger than approx. 20 μm, mass transfer has a stronger influence on the heterogeneous NO/CO/char reduction mechanism than the ``unmixedness' due to particle eddy dispersion limitations. It is recommended that this or a similar approach to turbulent dispersive mixing is implemented in CFD codes when these are used for boiler and furnace calculations. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Cold flow experiments in an entrained flow gasification reactor with a swirl-stabilized pulverized biofuel burner

Short particle residence time in entrained flow gasifiers demands the use of pulverized fuel particles to promote mass and heat transfer, resulting high fuel conversion rate. The pulverized biomass particles have a wide range of aspect ratios which can exhibit different dispersion behavior than that of spherical particles in hot product gas flows. This results in spatial and temporal variations in temperature distribution, the composition and the concentration of syngas and soot yield. One way to control the particle dispersion is to impart a swirling motion to the carrier gas phase. This paper investigates the dispersion behavior of biomass fuel particles in swirling flows. A two-phase particle image velocimetry technique was applied to simultaneously measure particle and gas phase velocities in turbulent isothermal flows. Post-processed PIV images showed that a poly-dispersed behavior of biomass particles with a range of particle size of 112–160 µm imposed a significant impact on the air flow pattern, causing air flow decelerated in a region of high particle concentration. Moreover, the velocity field, obtained from individually tracked biomass particles showed that the swirling motion of the carrier air flow gives arise a rapid spreading of the particles.     

Effect of Slow and Fast Moving Liquid Zones on Solute Transport in Porous Media

A conceptual model is developed in this article that accounts for the effect of slow and fast moving liquid zones on solute transport in porous media. The liquid phase within the porous media is divided into three zones—immobile, slow moving, and fast moving. Slow moving liquids surround the solid particles in thin layers and have lower velocity in flow. Fast moving liquids have higher velocity and are not in contact with the solid particles. Solute mass transfer occurs between the slow and fast liquids, and the slow and immobile liquids. The immobile and slow moving liquids interact with the solid matrix in the media through the mechanism of sorption and desorption. Implicit finite-difference methods are used to solve the partial differential equations that describe the slow and fast movement of solute in the porous medium. The model was validated for a laboratory column experimental data. Sensitivity analyses were conducted to ascertain the effects of the model parameters on solute movement. The effect of each parameter on retardation of the solute movement was analyzed. It was observed that the maximum retardation of solute occurs when there is high adsorption coefficient, high mass transfer rates, and high volume of slow moving liquid in the porous media.     

Foam Self-Clarification Phenomenon: An Experimental Investigation

This paper is focused on the capabilities of gas–liquid foams to attenuate acoustic waves. It is postulated that the sound attenuation phenomenon in foams is largely governed by the hydrodynamic resistance of the Plateau-Gibbs channels (PGC) to the flow of liquid through them. It is shown that the addition of solid particles to gas–liquid foams has opposite effects depending on the concentration of the added solid particles. As long as the concentration of the added solid particles is smaller than a certain critical value the sound attenuation coefficient increases and as a result in the sound velocity decreases. However, if the concentration of the added solid particles becomes larger than this critical value the attenuation coefficient decreases and the sound velocity increases. When the concentration of the solid particles reaches some critical value, the particles block the Plateau-Gibbs channels and stop the filtration. As a result the attenuation coefficient of the sound wave decreases while the sound velocity, in such three-phase foams, increases. The point at which the sound wave stops attenuating and its velocity starts to increase is known as the point of self-clarification. Based on this postulate and on the results of our preliminary tests the present study provides a plausible explanation to the above-mentioned contradicting effect, and the self- clarification phenomenon.