Transient numerical simulation of heat recovery coke oven based on chemical percolation devolatilization model

Abstract

ABSTRACT The actual coking engineering challenge is changed into a numerical simulation calculation problem due to the difficulty in monitoring the parameters of the heat recovery coke furnace. The release law of coal volatiles is calculated using the chemical percolation devolatilization (CPD) model in this study. To explore the distribution properties of the temperature field and flow field in the furnace as well as the burning condition of the surface of the coal cake, the user-defined function (UDF) is coupled with the porous medium model, and the transient condition simulation is carried out. The accuracy of the model is verified by comparing the temperature values at different times with the actual parameters. According to the calculations, the fuel burns more fully when the equivalency ratio is close to 1, and that the flame propagation speed increases with combustion temperature. When the bulk density is 1100 kg/m3 and the air input velocity is 13.3 m/s, the reaction lasts for 15 hours and the emission of volatiles is very minimal, resulting in a poor combustion reaction. The coal cake surface’s major temperature range is 1200 K to 1400 K after 30 hours of reaction time, which is beneficial to accelerate the maturation of coke. The coal cake surface’s temperature distribution at 45 and 60 hours is lower than that of the coke. Additionally, an increase in air and flame propagation velocity can strengthen furnace disturbance, enhance the temperature and velocity distribution uniformity, hasten coke ripening, and enhance coke quality.