CFD studies on the separation performance of a new combined gas–solid separator used in TMSR-SF

Abstract

In order to comply with discharge standards, a gas–solid separator is used to remove solid particles from the thorium molten salt reactor-solid fuel (TMSR-SF) system. As a key component, it directly determines system energy efficiency. However, current gas–solid separators, based on activated carbon adsorption technology, result in high pressure drops and increased maintenance costs. In the present study, a new combined gas–solid separator was developed for the TMSR-SF. Based on a simplified computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model, the gas–solid two-phase flow and the motion trajectory of solid particles were simulated for this new separator using commercial ANSYS 16.0 software. The flow and separation mechanism for this structure were also been discussed in terms of their velocity effects and pressure field distributions, and then the structure was optimized based on the influence of key structural parameters on pressure and separation efficiency. The results showed that the standard k–e model could be achieved and accurately simulated the new combined separator. In this new combined gas–solid separator, coarse particles are separated in the first stage using rotating centrifugal motion, and then fine particles are filtered in the second stage, giving a separation efficiency of up to 96.11%. The optimum blade inclination angle and numbers were calculated to be 45° and four, respectively. It implicated that the combined separator could be of great significance in a wide variety of applications.