Simulation of a Moving-Bed Reactor and a Fluidized-Bed Reactor by DPM and MPPIC in OpenFOAM^®

Abstract

Simulations are performed for a moving-bed reactor in a rotary kiln and a fluidized-bed reactor in a FINEX plant. The DEM (Discrete Element Method) and the MPPIC (Multiphase Particle-In-Cell) methods are combined with a compressible reacting flow in OpenFOAM^® 2.3.x. The computational load is reduced by the DPM (Discrete Particle Method), in which a computational parcel represents a fixed number of identical particles in the DEM. The slumping and rolling modes are reproduced by adjusting particle–particle and particle–wall friction coefficients to match the regime map in Henein et al. [1]. Validation is performed in a pilot-scale rotary kiln for reduction of iron ore with heat input from LPG (Liquefied Petroleum Gas). Simulation results in a lab-scale reactor are validated against those by commercial software and experimental data for the fluidized-bed reactor. Simulation results show good agreement with actual operating data for an industrial-scale fluidized-bed reactor in the FINEX process. Reasonable trends are reproduced for the bed burners and the collective motion of particles of different diameters in the FINEX plant.