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At least 289 records · Page 16

Accurate models of the added mass force of a uniform random distribution of spherical particles or bubbles

The added mass force resulting from the acceleration of a body in a fluid is of fundamental and practical interest in dispersed multiphase flows. Euler–Lagrange (EL) and Euler–Euler (EE) simulations require closure terms for the added mass force in order to accurately couple the conserved variables between phases. Presently, a more thorough understanding of the added mass force in a multi-particle system is developed based on potential flow resulting in a resistance matrix formulation analogous to Stokesian dynamics. This formulation is then used to generate a dataset of added mass resistance matrices for large systems of randomly generated particles. This methodology is used to create a volume fraction corrected binary model for predicting the added mass force in large systems as well as generate statistics of the added mass force in such systems. This work provides clarification to the theory of the added mass force for particle clouds, and modelling options that may be implemented in existing EL and EE codes.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Experimental Investigation of the Heat Transfer between Finned Tubes and a Bubbling Fluidized Bed with Horizontal Sand Mass Flow

The sandTES technology utilizes a fluidized bed counter current heat exchanger for thermal energy storage applications. Its main feature is an imposed horizontal flow of sand (SiO2) particles fluidized by a vertical air flow across a heat exchanger consisting of several horizontal rows of tubes. Past international research on heat transfer in dense fluidized beds has focused on stationary (stirred tank) systems, and there is little to no information available on the impact of longitudinal or helical fins. Previous pilot plant scale experiments at TU Wien led to the conclusion that the currently available correlations for predicting the heat transfer coefficient between the tube surface and the surrounding fluidized bed are insufficient for the horizontal sand flow imposed by the sandTES technology. Therefore, several smaller test rigs were designed in this study to investigate the influence of different tube arrangements and flow conditions on the external convective heat transfer coefficient and possible improvements by using finned tubes. It could be shown that helically finned tubes in a transversal arrangement, where the horizontal sand flow is perpendicular to the tube axes, allows an increase in the heat transfer coefficient per tube length (i.e., the virtual heat transfer coefficient) by a factor of 3.5 to about 1250 W/m2K at ambient temperature. Based on the literature, this heat transfer coefficient is expected to increase at higher temperatures. The new design criteria allow the design of compact, low-cost heat exchangers for thermal energy storage applications, in particular electro-thermal energy storage.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗

Bubbling Water–Treating DBD Plasma Device Optimization Using Experimental and Computational Methods

A dry air atmospheric pressure volume dielectric barrier discharge is employed to fix nitrogen in water. Producing nitrate for use as nitrogen fertilizer is the primary motivation. A 0D chemistry model is developed and informed by the electrical, and geometric characteristics of the device and the plasma gas temperature. Modeled ozone and nitrate densities are compared to those measured experimentally in the plasma effluent and treated liquid for a range of gas temperatures. Modeled and measured ozone densities are in good agreement; however, the model lacks the liquid chemistry to properly represent the measured nitrate density. A gas temperature-based shift from ozone to NO x producing regimes is observed in both experiment and model, and the reactions responsible are evaluated.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Modeling hydrodynamic and biomass pyrolysis effects of recycled product gases in a bubbling fluidized bed reactor

Fast pyrolysis of biomass in a fluidized bed reactor is typically conducted in a nitrogen gas environment. Recycling product gas can improve the economics of operating such a system by reducing reliance on pure process streams, but much less is known about how recycling pyrolysis product gas may affect fluidization behavior and pyrolysis kinetics. Therefore, gas effects in a fluidized bed biomass pyrolysis reactor were investigated using engineering correlations, low-order models, and CFD simulations for N 2 , H 2 , CO, CO 2 , and CH 4 carrier gas mixtures. Here, our findings reveal viscosity of a gas mixture can be significantly underestimated depending on the model and correlation. Furthermore, fluidization characteristics such as U mf and gas-solid convective heat transfer can be greatly affected by the gas properties. By utilizing H 2 as the fluidizing gas (instead of N 2 ), while maintaining a constant fluidization ratio (U s /U mf ), the bio-oil yields can be increased ~5%. This is due to the lower density H 2 producing similar hydrodynamics as N 2 at higher gas flow rates. These higher flow rates result in shorter gas residence times, and as a result, less secondary reactions that convert bio-oil to light gases and char. Model results also suggest that bio-oil yield is not significantly affected by the type of carrier gas used, with bio-oil yield varying by ~2% across different gas mixtures while maintaining constant flow rate. In conclusion, this indicates that recycled pyrolytic gas can be used as the carrier gas for biomass pyrolysis.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗

Enriched hydrogen production over air and air-steam fluidized bed gasification in a bubbling fluidized bed reactor with CaO: Effects of biomass and bed material catalyst

Gasification is one of the methods of generating biopower or biofuels from biomass waste. In this study, a benchscale fluidized bed reactor was used for biomass air and air-steam gasification. Gasification was performed under constant operating conditions (~780 °C, equivalence ratio = ~0.32) to investigate the effect of biomass (switchgrass, pine residues) and bed materials (sand, CaO+ sand, Al 2 O 3 , and CaO + Al 2 O 3 ). All gasification products, such as synthesis gas (syngas), contaminant gases, tar, and biochar (solid) were comprehensively analyzed. The composition of biomass significantly impacted CO and H 2 yield from volatile combustible matter and fixed carbon. Further, the presence of CaO made the condition favorable for the water-gas shift (WGS) reaction combined with the CO 2 carbonation reaction, which increased H 2 concentration. Additional steam with CaO increased H 2 concentration closer to 50% (N 2 free condition) through the combination reactions of steam hydrocarbon reforming and WGS by producing 44 g H 2 /kg dry biomass and 143 g CO /kg dry biomass . The usage of steam reduced the overall yield of contaminant gases, whereas the usage of CaO or Al 2 O 3 decreased the amount of gasification tar by approximately 5.8–6.5 g tar /kg dry biomass . In conclusion, this study can provide valuable experimental data for biomass waste to produce better quality syngas.

08 HYDROGEN↗