Hydrodynamic models for slurry bubble column reactors. Sixth technical progress report

Abstract

The objective of this investigation is to convert the gas-solid-liquid fluidization model into a predictive design model. The IIT hydrodynamic model computes the phase velocities and the volume fractions of gas, liquid and particulate phases. Model verification involves a comparison of these computed velocities and volume fractions to experimental values. This report presents measurements of granular temperature of Air Products catalyst. The report is in the form of a preliminary paper, entitled ``Dynamics of Liquid-Solid Fluidized Beds with Small Catalyst Particles.`` The principal results are as follows: (1) For the liquid-solid system the granular temperature is much smaller than for a corresponding gas-solid system. This may be due to the larger viscosity of the liquid in comparison to air. (2) The collisional viscosity of the catalyst is correspondingly much smaller than that of catalyst particles in the air. (3) The dominant frequency of density oscillations is near two Hertz, as expected for a gas-solid fluidized bed. There exists a link between this low frequency and the high frequency of catalyst particle oscillations. The Air Products fluidized bed reactor is designed to produce methanol and synthetic fuels from synthesis gas.