Numerical analysis of oxidation performance of basalt fiber bundle thermal flow-reversal reactor

Abstract

• Using low-dimensional devices and mixed runners to enhance heat transfer. • Reducing the self-sustained concentration to 0.1%. • Gas processing capacity per unit volume increased by 1.03–2.5 times. • The benefit of carbon emission reduction is increased by at least 1.95. • The efficiency of waste heat utilization is increased by 2.5 times. This paper uses Ansys Fluent software to conduct a two-dimensional numerical study on the oxidation performance of basalt fiber bundle thermal flow-reversal reactor (TFRR). The influence of inlet methane concentration, inlet flow rate and circulation period on the oxidation performance of TFRR is analyzed. The results show that the maximum temperature in the reactor increases significantly with the increase of inlet concentration and flow rate. At the same time, the lower limit of the concentration that can be handled by the reactor was studied, and it was found that the basalt fiber bundle TFRR can completely treat the gas with the concentration of 0.1%, under the operating parameters of t c = 80 s, v in = 0.65 m/s or t c = 60 s, v in = 1.0 m/s. In addition, the device was compared with the honeycomb ceramic TFRR in terms of economic efficiency. It was found that the clean development mechanism(CDM) emission reduction benefit of the former was 1.95 times than that of the latter, and the economic benefit of waste heat utilization was 2.5 times than that of the latter.