Three-dimensional transient CFD simulation of lignite chemical looping gasification in a circulating fluidized bed

Abstract

In this work, a full-loop 3D computational fluid dynamics (CFD) numerical simulation of the chemical looping gasification (CLG) process of lignite in a circulating fluidized bed (CFB) was performed using a two-fluid Eulerian-Eulerian model. The results showed that the CFD simulation effectively captured the axial and radial velocities of the particles. More radial flow occurred in the bottom part of the riser and inside the cyclone. The exothermic reaction became dominant within 7s, while the heat-absorbing reaction became dominant between 7 and 15s. The aggregation regions of syngas moved up with that of the high-temperature zone, and CO was the main contributor to the syngas. The particle size in the range of 175–225 μm was inversely proportional to the size of the average heat transfer coefficient (HTC) in the riser. Extremely small particle size saturated the bed, suppressing the HTC. The peak of the HTC was 387.7 W/(m2·K), which occurred in the upper-middle region of the riser and reached. The maximum HTC average value was 180.6 W/(m2·K). Finally, experimental data were used to verify the reliability of the model.