Numerical simulation of particle growth process in a polysilicon fluidized bed reactor

An Eulerian-Eulerian model coupled with a population balance model (PBM) is adopted to investigate the growth process of polysilicon particles in a polysilicon fluidized bed reactor. A novel particle growth model, considering the effect of interphase velocity difference, is proposed and incorporated into PBM. The interphase mass transfer rate and particle growth rate are obtained based on the modified PBM. The effects of operating velocity and silane mole fraction on the particle growth rate and deposition efficiency are also analyzed. The results show that silicon fines scavenging occurs in the solid phase, especially in central and near-wall regions. Moreover, the increases of operating velocity and silane mole fraction lead to the decrease in the deposition efficiency.