Abstract
We propose a numerical methodology to combine detailed microkinetic modeling and Eulerian–Eulerian methods for the simulation of industrial fluidized bed reactors. An operator splitting-based approach has been applied to solve the detailed kinetics coupled with the solution of multiphase gas–solid flows. Lab and industrial reactor configurations are simulated to assess the capability and the accuracy of the method by using the oxidative coupling of methane as a showcase. A good agreement with lab-scale experimental data (deviations below 10%) is obtained. Moreover, in this specific case, the proposed framework provides a 4-fold reduction of the computational cost required to reach the steady-state when compared to the approach of linearizing the chemical source term. As a whole, the work paves the way to the incorporation of detailed kinetics in the simulation of industrial fluidized reactors.
Highlights
Catalytic gas−solid fluidized reactors are of great interest in the chemical and energy industry
We extend the operator splitting to the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) Euler−Euler modeling of fluidized bed systems coupled with detailed microkinetic modeling of the gas-phase and heterogeneous kinetics
The second showcase proves the applicability of the validated framework in an industrial scale reactor configuration
Summary
Catalytic gas−solid fluidized reactors are of great interest in the chemical and energy industry These systems allow for the operation of challenging processes in the context of the fuels synthesis (e.g., Fischer−Tropsch,[1,2] biomass gasification3,4), fuel upgrading (FCC5−8), and anhydrides production.[9,10] they represent a promising reactor configuration for novel green and sustainable processes, e.g., chemical looping combustion[11,12] for CO2 capture, methane conversion to nanostructured carbon materials and hydrogen,[13,14] and oxidative coupling of methane −OCM−15,16 for natural gas valorization. The description of the gas−solid multiphase flow inside the reactor and its complex interplay with the chemical phenomena are pivotal to the detailed analysis of these systems.[21]
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