Three-dimensional modelling of the multiphase hydrodynamics in a separated-gasification chemical looping combustion unit during full-loop operation

Abstract

Separated-gasification chemical looping combustion (SG-CLC) is a clean utilization technology for fossil fuels, which can separate CO2 during high-performance combustion process with low degradation of oxygen carrier and zero-energy penalty. As an important part of the optimization, modelling and prediction of the multiphase hydrodynamics in the SG-CLC unit were conducted in this work. This unit consists of a gasifier (GR), a reduction reactor (RR) and an air reactor (AR). For thorough understanding of the flow behaviors of three phases (gas, oxygen carrier and sand phases), a three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model for SG-CLC system was first implemented. The main purpose is to predict multiphase hydrodynamics at the fuel side of this SG-CLC system due to its significant effects on combustion efficiency. The axial pressure profile predicted by the CFD model was validated by experimental data to demonstrate its feasibility. Then, based on this model, the hydrodynamics of different phases at fuel side (GR and RR) were investigated under fundamental condition, which indicated the gas-solid flow mechanism in circulation establishment process. Furthermore, effects of the operation condition on the hydrodynamics properties were investigated. The local gas-solid slip velocity in RR was fitted as the function of superficial fluidizing number Nr and axial position, which showed high accuracy for the prediction in this system.