Gas and slurry flow behaviors in a CO2‐mineralization spray tower reactor

Abstract

AbstractThe spray tower reactors have provided an important solution for the scale‐up of mineralization processes with industrial solid waste to absorb CO2. In this study, numerical simulations were employed to investigate the fluid flow behaviors in a mineralization spray tower reactor (MSTR), and the average relative error of simulation and experimental results was 7.5%. The results showed that at a high liquid–gas ratio (L/G > 100 L/m3), the fluid flow behavior was dominated by the slurry flow, which was only hindered by the gas flow to a certain extent at the gas inlet. Further analysis revealed that the accumulation of slurry at the center and wall of the reactor, as well as the bias flow of flue gas, were the main reasons for the insufficient gas–liquid contact, which led to a lower CO2 absorption efficiency. The relationship between fluid flow behavior and CO2 absorption efficiency could improve the understanding of the MSTRs.