Simulation study on the effect of air distribution on the bed height and bubble formation in bubbling fluidization reactor

Abstract

This paper describes the numerical study on the effect of inlet air distribution in the Bubbling Fluidized Bed (BFB) riser of diameter 0.18 m and 1.44 m of length using a 3-hole orifice plate. A 2D model has been developed and meshed using Gambit software version 2.4.6 and was simulated using CFD code, fluent version 6.3. Laminar model has been used for the modeling and Eulerian-Eulerian multiphase model coupled with kinetic theory of granular flow was employed. For the drag, Gidaspow Drag Model was used to calculate the phase interaction between the gas and solid particles. The simulation results obtained for the validation purpose showed good agreement with the results available in the literature. The model with orifice plate gives a better and clear bubble shape with improved turbulent and better mixing compared to the model without the orifice plate. The model with orifice plate is also more realistic and ideal as compared to the model without the orifice plate.