CFD-DEM coupling simulation of fixed bed reactor with small diameter ratio

Abstract

Fixed bed reactor as a commonly used catalytic device and adsorption equipment in the chemical industry has attracted widespread attention. This paper presents a simple and feasible method which combines CFD with DEM to simulate the fixed bed reactor with the diameter ratio ranges in 2–8. The variation of the void ratio with different diameter ratios obtained from the model used in this paper was in comparison with the theoretical results derived by de Klerk and Dixon. The maximum error between the simulated results and the theoretical results was less than 10%, indicating that the model used in this study had a high degree of confidence. On this basis, the effects of the diameter ratio on the distribution of velocity and pressure were investigated. The distribution of velocity and pressure at different diameter ratios illustrated that when the diameter ratio was 5, the velocity distribution was uniform, and the pressure drop was relatively insignificant, which was beneficial to the reaction process. The model used in this paper could provide a new and concise method for the design and verification of fixed bed reactor.

Graphical Abstract

Keywords:

• CFD-DEM
• diameter ratio
• void ratio
• flow field simulation

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The authors are grateful for the supports by National Natural Science Foundation of China (51578239), Scientific Research Projects of Shanghai, China (17DZ1202802), Shanghai Youth Science and Technology Talents Sailing Program, China (20YF1409800) and China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2019TQ0094).