Hydrodynamic modeling of a circulating fluidized bed

Hydrodynamics plays a crucial role in defining the performance of circulating fluidized beds (CFB). The numerical simulation of CFBs is very important in the prediction of its flow behavior. From this point of view, in the present study a dynamic two dimensional model is developed considering the hydrodynamic behavior of CFB. In the modeling, the CFB riser is analyzed in two regions: The bottom zone in turbulent fluidization regime is modeled in detail as two-phase flow which is subdivided into a solid-free bubble phase and a solid-laden emulsion phase. In the upper zone core–annulus solids flow structure is established. Simulation model takes into account the axial and radial distribution of voidage, velocity and pressure drop for gas and solid phase, and solids volume fraction and particle size distribution for solid phase. The model results are compared with and validated against atmospheric cold bed CFB units' experimental data given in the literature for axial and radial distribution of void fraction, solids volume fraction and particle velocity, total pressure drop along the bed height and radial solids flux. Ranges of experimental data used in comparisons are as follows: bed diameter from 0.05–0.418 m, bed height from 5–18 m, mean particle diameter from 67–520 μm, particle density from 1398 to 2620 kg/m 3, mass fluxes from 21.3 to 300 kg/m 2 s and gas superficial velocities from 2.52–9.1 m/s.