Numerical study of mixing and heat transfer of SRF particles in a bubbling fluidized bed

Abstract

In this article, numerical investigations on mixing and heat transfer of solid refused fuel (SRF) particles in a bubbling fluidized bed are carried out. The numerical model is based on the Eulerian–Eulerian approach with empirical submodels representing gas–solid and solid–solid interactions. The model is verified by experimental data from the literature. The experimental data include SRF vertical distribution in SRF–sand mixtures of different sand particle sizes (d_{mathrm{pm}} = 654,810 and 1110 upmum) at different fluidization velocities (u/u_{mathrm{mf}} = 1.2–2.0). We proposed magnification of drag force exerted by the gas on SRF particles based on Haider and Levenspiel (Powder Technol 58(1):63–70, 1989) drag coefficient. The proposed model shows good agreement with the experimental data at high fluidization velocities ( u/u_{mathrm{mf}} = 1.5–2.0) and poor predictions at low fluidization velocities (u/u_{mathrm{mf}} = 1.2–1.5). Heat transfer results showed that the present model is valid and gives good agreement with the experimental data of wall–bed heat transfer coefficient.