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CFD-DEM simulation of chemical looping hydrogen generation in a moving bed reactor

  • Shenglong Teng , YongXian Zhou , Yun Xv , Ke Zhuang , Kai Zhou , Qian Zhang , JingXin Xv EMAIL logo and Dewang Zeng EMAIL logo
Published/Copyright: April 3, 2024
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International Journal of Chemical Reactor Engineering
From the journal International Journal of Chemical Reactor Engineering Volume 22 Issue 5

Abstract

Chemical looping hydrogen generation represents a viable technology for high-purity hydrogen production and CO2 capture. Moving bed reactors are considered effective for this process, but the high cost of experiments and the complexity of the biomass gas reaction have hindered the development of hydrogen generation from biomass gas.This investigation employs Computational Fluid Dynamics-Discrete Element Method (CFD-DEM) to simulate gas-solid phase distribution and reactions within a moving bed fuel reactor, aiming to amplify biomass gas and oxygen carrier conversion rates. Findings indicate that enhancing particle flux rate and reaction temperature substantially increases the conversion efficiency of both biomass gas and oxygen carrier. Notably, achieving complete CH4 conversion presents significant challenges in biomass gasification, with CH4 conversion dictating the requisite bed height for total biomass gas conversion. Furthermore, the gas-phase equilibrium conversion rate of Fe3O4 to FeO delineates the operational limit within the moving bed. Under full reaction conditions of biomass gas, the oxygen carrier’s maximum achievable conversion ranges between 29.2  and 31.6 % at 850 °C. These insights substantially advance the application of biomass gas in the chemical looping domain and inform future design and operational strategies for reactors.

Keywords: chemical looping hydrogen generation; moving bed reactor; thermodynamic equilibrium; conversion rate
Corresponding authors: JingXin Xv, Key Laboratory of Energy Thermal conversion and control of Ministry of Education, School of Energy and Environment, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, P.R. China; State Key Laboratory of Low-Carbon Smart Coal-Fired Power Generation and Ultra-Clean Emission, China Energy Science and Technology Research Institute Co., Ltd., Nanjing 210023, China, E-mail: ; and Dewang Zeng, Key Laboratory of Energy Thermal conversion and control of Ministry of Education, School of Energy and Environment, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, P.R. China, E-mail:

Funding source: Key Programme

Award Identifier / Grant number: No. 52276105

Funding source: the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities

Award Identifier / Grant number: No. 2242023k30026

Funding source: Major Research Plan

Award Identifier / Grant number: No. 52336007

  1. Research ethics: Not applicable.

  2. Author contributions: The authors have accepted responsibility for the entire content of this manuscript and approved its submission.

  3. Competing interests: The authors states no conflict of interest.

  4. Research funding: The work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 52276105, 52336007) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (Grant No. 2242023k30026).

  5. Data availability: The raw data can be obtained on request from the corresponding author.

Nomenclature

A

pre-exponential factor

A fp,i

surface area of the particles, m2

c p

specific heat capacity, J/(kg K)

d p,i

particle size, m

d ij

distance between the centers of mass of the two particles, m

E

activation energy, kJ/mol

F drag

fluid trailing force, N

F c

collision contact force, N

F c , i j n

normal collision contact force, N

F c , i j t

tangential collision contact force, N

F i j n

normal contact force component, N

F i j t

tangential contact force component, N

F gp

pressure gradient force, N

g

gravitational acceleration, m/s2

h fp,i

convective heat transfer coefficient of the particles, J/(m2 s K)

H

thickness of the air film between the particles, m

I

rotational inertia, kg m2

κ f

thermal conductivity of the fluid, W/(m K)

m i

particle mass, kg

N

number of all particles colliding with the current particle

N p

number of particles in the current computational grid

Nu p,i

Nussel number

∇ p

pressure gradient

p f

fluid pressure, N/m2

Pr

Planck number

Q pfp,ij

conductive heat transfer from particle-fluid-particle or wall, J

Q rad,ij

radiative heat transfer from particle to particle, J

Q pp,ij

conductive heat transfer from particle to particle, J

Q fp,i

convective heat transfer from particle to fluid, J

R

gas constant

R i

distance from the particle center of mass to the contact point, m

Re p,i

Reynolds number

S

momentum exchange source term, N/m3

t

reaction time, s

T f

temperature of the fluid surrounding the particles, K

T i

particle temperature, K

u f

fluid velocity, m/s

ν i

particle translational velocity, m/s

V c

volume of the current grid, m3

V p

volume of the particles, m3

X

reduced solid-phase conversion of the oxygen carrier

Greek symbols

α

heat conductivity, W/(m K)

β

interphase momentum exchange coefficient, kg/(m s)

ε f

mesh void fraction

ε i

surface emissivities of particles

λ f

bulk viscosity of the fluid, Pa s

μ f

shear viscosity of the fluid, Pa s

δ ij

Kronecker delta

τ f

Newtonian fluid viscous stress tensor, N/m2

ω i

particle angular velocity, rad/s

ρ f

fluid density, kg/m3

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Received: 2024-01-02
Accepted: 2024-03-14
Published Online: 2024-04-03

© 2024 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

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https://doi.org/10.1515/ijcre-2024-0001
Keywords for this article
chemical looping hydrogen generation; moving bed reactor; thermodynamic equilibrium; conversion rate

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Frontmatter
  2. Articles
  3. Study on mixing characteristics of viscoplastic fluid in a rigid-flexible impeller stirred tank
  4. Emission and performance investigation of mango seed oil biodiesel supplied with n-pentanol and n-hexanol additives and optimization of fuel blends using modified deep neural network
  5. Study of chlorophyll dye from peppermint (mentha spicata) used as a sensitizer in TiO2 solar cells
  6. Dry reforming of methane over Ni–Mg–Al and Ni–Ca–Al type hydrotalcite-like catalysts: effects of synthesis route and Ru incorporation
  7. CFD-DEM simulation of chemical looping hydrogen generation in a moving bed reactor
  8. Conceptual design of a fixed bed N2O decomposition reactor with a heat pipe heat exchanger
  9. Investigation of polymers pyrolysis in a solid-gas conical spouted bed: CFD simulation
  10. CFD simulation study of internal mixing and flow of a modified airlift bioreactor
  11. Mechanism analysis and mixing characterization of variable-speed mechanical mixing enhancement
  12. Enhanced sonocatalytic degradation of Acid Red 27 with Fe2O3 catalyst: a kinetic study
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