Kinetic modeling of PM combustion with relative velocity at low-temperature and numerical simulation of continuous regenerating type PM removal device that uses a fluidized bed

Abstract

The size of particulate matter (PM) generated by combustion has decreased with the improvement of combustion technology. While small PM has a significant negative impact on the human body, it is difficult for a conventional PM removal device to collect small PM. We developed a fluidized bed type PM removal device with a focusing adhesion force. This device collects small PM effectively and can be operated as a continuous regeneration device at low temperature. To further develop this device, it is important to investigate the PM combustion characteristics in this device. The kinetic model constructed in conventional thermogravimetry could not accurately represent the combustion rates of the solid fuel in the fluidized bed. Therefore, a new thermogravimetric apparatus was constructed in this study that generates the direct collision of air with carbon to reproduce the fluidized bed combustion. The influence of the relative velocity between PM and gas on the combustion rate was investigated. The effect of relative velocity was represented as the mass transfer coefficient of kinetic model. It is observed that the combustion rate shows Arrhenius behavior, and kinetic parameters were determined by fitting. The kinetic model was applied to the numerical simulations of the PM removal device. The numerical collection efficiency was in good agreement with the experimental data. PM adhesion and combustion characteristics were investigated in numerical simulations. It is observed that the adhesion rate is high at a low void fraction and that the combustion rate is high at a high relative velocity. The PM combustion amount is high for the high adhesion and combustion rates. The total combustion amount is determined to be 55% of the total amount of PM deposition after 180 min at each set of conditions.