CFD modeling of conical spouted beds for processing LDPE/Al composite

Abstract

Several routes of reusing carton packaging waste have been proposed along the years. Pyrolysis of carton waste has been highlighted due to obtain high value-added products such as paraphinic oils and aluminum. Recently, the spouted bed has been investigated as a promising reactor for pyrolysis of solids. By suitably setting up pyrolysis, a fully investigative procedure of three phase (air-LDPE/Al-sand) flow dynamics in the conical spouted bed is needed. Thus, this research aims at analyzing the fluid dynamics behavior of conical spouted beds comprised mixtures of sand and LDPE/Al composite. Eulerian-granular multiphase model for describing the air-particle mixture flow in a conical spouted bed is used. By using the computational fluid dynamics and bi-dimensional structured grid, the solution of model equations is obtained. In addition, the following models are tested: laminar, mixture k-ε, per phase k-ε and disperse k-ε models. Based on data analyses, it can be identified that disperse k-ε model describes better air-particles flow in conical spouted beds comprised sand and LDPE/Al composites mixtures. The results show that bed pressure drop and fountain height are in agreement with those predicted by disperse k-ε model.