Circulating fluidized bed reactors - part 01: analyzing the effect of particle modelling parameters in computational particle fluid dynamic (CPFD) simulation with experimental validation

A CPFD hydrodynamic model was developed for a circulating fluidized bed system and the simulation results were validated against experimental data based on particle circulation rate. Sensitivity of the computational mesh was primarily tested and extended grid refinement was needed at the loopseal to match the particle circulation rate with experimental data. The particle circulation rate was independent of the range of number of computational particles used in this study. A 10% reduction of the particle circulation rate was observed as the particle-wall interaction parameter was changed from 0.85 to 0.55 and 17% increment when the close-packed volume fraction was changed from 0.56 to 0.62. The pressure constant in the particle stress model showed the greatest impact for the circulation rate with 57% increment as the constant was changed from 2.5 to 5. The highest absolute variation in the pressure was observed at the loop seal and pressure values were under predicted in all sections.