Effect of agitation speed and fluid velocity on heat transfer performance in agitated Bunsen reactor of iodine-sulphur thermo-chemical cycle

Abstract

Agitated Bunsen reactor (ABR) is one of the reactor alternatives to carry out Bunsen reaction of iodine-sulphur thermo-chemical process for hydrogen production. It is a tubular reactor with multiple agitating blades on a common shaft to enhance the radial mixing and with an inside helical coil arrangement to remove the exothermic Bunsen reaction heat. The effective heat removal from the reactor depends on the agitation speed and velocity of fluids flowing inside the reactor and through the helical coil. Experiments are carried out in ABR, for heat transfer study with water as reactor fluid as well as helical coil fluid and also Bunsen reaction heat transfer study, by varying the operating parameters such as agitation speed, velocity of reactor fluid and velocity of helical coil fluid. It has been observed that the overall heat transfer coefficient increases with increase in agitation speed and fluid velocities. Combined effect of agitation speed and fluid velocities on heat transfer rate, in shell side/reactor side of ABR, has been presented in the form of modified correlation.