Studies on modelling of bubble driven flows in chemical reactors

摘要

Multiphase reactors are widely used in the process industry, especially in the petrochemical industry. They very often are characterized by very good thermal control and high heat transfer coefficients against heating and cooling surfaces. This thesis first reviews recent advances in bubble column modelling, focusing on the fundamental flow equations, drag forces, transversal forces and added mass forces. The mathematical equations for the bubble column reactor are developed, using an Eulerian description for the continuous and dispersed phase in tensor notation. Conservation equations for mass, momentum, energy and chemical species are given, and the k-(epsilon) and Rice-Geary models for turbulence are described. The different algebraic solvers used in the model are described, as are relaxation procedures. Simulation results are presented and compared with experimental values. Attention is focused on the modelling of void fractions and gas velocities in the column. The energy conservation equation has been included in the bubble column model in order to model temperature distributions in a heated reactor. The conservation equation of chemical species has been included to simulate absorption of CO(sub 2). Simulated axial and radial mass fraction profiles for CO(sub 2) in the gas phase are compared with measured values. Simulations of the dynamic behaviour of the column are also presented. 189 refs., 124 figs., 1 tab.