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Computational analysis of the particle size effect on the pressure profiles and type of flow regimes of TiO2 microparticles in a fluidized bed

  • Alireza Bahramian EMAIL logo
Published/Copyright: December 2, 2021
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International Journal of Chemical Reactor Engineering
From the journal International Journal of Chemical Reactor Engineering Volume 20 Issue 6

Abstract

The effect of particle size on the pressure profiles and flow regimes of the bed containing TiO2 microparticles (MPs) was investigated in a fluidized bed. The fluidization behavior of particles with mean diameters, d p , of 170, 200, 225, and 300 μm at different gas velocities, U g , was investigated both experimental and computational viewpoints. A computational fluid dynamic (CFD) model was developed by the Eulerian–Eulerian approach to evaluate the sensitivity of the Syamlal–O’Brien, and Gidaspow drag models on the predicted results of the bed pressure profiles. The results showed that with increasing particle size, the amplitude of pressure fluctuations increases and the type of flow regime in the bed tended from bubbling to slugging flow regime. The error analysis showed that the use of the Gidaspow model led to more accurate results than the Syamlal–O’Brien model in predicting the bed pressure drop and pressure fluctuations in the slugging flow regime. However, the Syamlal–O’Brien model was more suitable for predicting the pressure profiles in the bubbling flow regime. The results were more suitable for the bed containing particles of 300 μm than the beds with d p  ≤ 225 μm. The highest and lowest deviations between the experimental data and simulation outputs were obtained at U g of 0.295 and 0.650 m/s, respectively. The findings confirmed that the mutual effects existed between the d p pressure profiles, and the type of flow regimes in the bed.

Keywords: computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation; fluidization; fluidized bed; particle size effect; pressure profile; TiO2 micronparticle
Corresponding author: Alireza Bahramian, Department of Chemical Engineering, Hamedan University of Technology, P.O. Box, 65155 Hamedan, Iran, E-mail:

  1. Author contributions: The author has accepted responsibility for the entire content of this submitted manuscript and approved submission.

  2. Research funding: None declared.

  3. Conflict of interest statement: The author declares no conflicts of interest regarding this article.

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Received: 2021-08-17
Accepted: 2021-11-13
Published Online: 2021-12-02

© 2021 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

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https://doi.org/10.1515/ijcre-2021-0216
Keywords for this article
computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation; fluidization; fluidized bed; particle size effect; pressure profile; TiO2 micronparticle

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Frontmatter
  2. Articles
  3. Removal of iron and sulphate during acid mine drainage treatment using laboratory successive alkalinity producing system and its behavioural relationship
  4. Biodegradation of acid red 3BN dye in sequential batch reactor: parameters and kinetics studies
  5. Aerobic sequential batch reactor for domestic sewage treatment: parametric optimization and kinetics studies
  6. Activated sludge bio-aerobic process to treat sugar industry effluent
  7. Catalytic thermolysis at atmospheric pressure followed by adsorption in treatment of coking wastewater
  8. Microwave-assisted preparation of polyphosphoric acid in a continuous-flow reactor
  9. Multi-objective optimization of an industrial slurry phase ethylene polymerization reactor
  10. High power microbial fuel cell operating at low temperature using cow dung waste
  11. Computational analysis of the particle size effect on the pressure profiles and type of flow regimes of TiO2 microparticles in a fluidized bed
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