Numerical study on influence of exit geometry in gas–solid flow hydrodynamics of HDCFB riser by CPFD

Abstract

The understanding of gas–solid flow is of great importance for various high-density circulating fluidized bed (HDCFB) practices. In this work, the effects of exit geometry on the gas–solid flow behavior in an HDCFB riser were numerically studied by using the computational particle fluid dynamics (CPFD) method. The simulated results were compared against experimental data on bed pressure and solid volume fraction distributions along the riser and a satisfactory agreement was found between them, which indicated the capability of the CPFD for the HDCFB riser simulation. Thereafter, simulations were conducted for the HDCFB risers with six different exit geometries and comparisons of hydrodynamics characteristics between each other were made. It was found that exit geometry significantly affected the axial solid volume fraction distribution through the whole riser. The abrupt exits gave rise to higher SRT than the smooth ones due to the solids back-mixing and packing effects. The angle between the exit duct and the horizontal plane also has a great influence on the gas–solid hydrodynamics and the abrupt exit with 15° was found to be appropriate for HDCFB riser due to its promotion on solid dispersion and reduction in solids back-mixing and packing.