CPFD Software has been invited to speak at Fluidization XVII, taking place May 21-25, 2023 in Edinburgh Scotland.
CPFD’s staff are authors on two presentations:
- Today’s Tools in the Scale up and Optimization of Today’s Fluidized Processes will be presented by James Parker at 3:45 PM on Monday, May 22, 2022 in Modelling Session 2: Systems Modeling. This work is co-authored by Ray Cocco (PSRI) and Peter Blaser (CPFD Software).
- The Development of Improved Particle Drag Force Correlations for CFD Simulation will also be presented by James Parker at 4:00 PM on Wednesday, May 24 in Modelling Session 6: Coarse Grained Simulations.
Additional information about each presentation can be found in the abstracts, below.
We look forward to seeing you in Edinburgh. Learn more or register for Fluidization XVII here.
Abstract: Today’s Tools in the Scale up and Optimization of Today’s Fluidized Processes
Commercial fluidized beds have been around for a century with the development of the fluidized bed gasifier by Fritz Winkler. Historically, designing and scaling up these units was Edisonian because tools, concepts, and understanding were limited. Commercialization usually required several pilot scale units differing by conservative increases in size, yet the hydrodynamics were often poorly understood.
Today that is no longer the case. Cold flow modeling, probe development, and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) have reduced the number of pilot units needed, increased the scaling factors between iterations, and decreased the time to commercialization.
Today, the most effective methodology is to complement experiments with modeling in all stages of the scientific method. At the start, simple experiments provide vital inputs for the models. Well-defined models, in turn, are used to explore hypotheses and are valuable tools in building and managing the design space for additional and more sophisticated experiments. During and after the data collection, the models are further used to assist in the data analysis. What the models do not capture is equally important as what the models do capture, providing insights into the importance of phenomena beyond those used during model formulation. Key scale parameters are determined from both experimental and modeling results, along with invaluable engineer experience. Finally, the models once again become a vital tool in designing pilot, process demonstration, and full commercial-scale plants. The combination of these tools, used in the correct sequence, saves years of development efforts.
Multiple examples are presented, including fluidized catalytic cracking (FCC), gasification, and pyrolysis of waste plastic. Recent trends are explored whereby numerous sustainability applications are increasingly turning to fluidized processes.
The impact of today’s tools on the urgency of commercialization for today’s sustainability, renewables, and decarbonization applications is discussed, accelerating solutions for some of our most critical challenges.
Abstract: The Development of Improved Particle Drag Force Correlations for CFD Simulation
The particle drag force correlation is often the most important factor in a fluidized bed CFD simulation. While commonly-used drag models capture the basic functional dependencies on Reynolds number and voidage, the real-world particle dynamics may also be affected by particle characteristics such as the particle shape, the full-size distribution, and surface properties. These additional factors, which are often difficult or expensive to measure, can be a source of error in the particle drag force correlation and a CFD simulation as a whole. Therefore, in common practice, the accuracy of a particle drag force model is improved through iterative tuning based on experimental bed density, entrainment rates, or other fluidization characteristics.
The goal of this work is to reduce the computational time and cost of CFD tuning by developing particle drag force correlations which can be directly improved based on easily-obtained experimental pressure drop or minimum fluidization data. Model accuracy before and after tuning is demonstrated using the wide range of liquid-solid bed expansion and settling data that is available in literature. The same data sets are used for comparison with particle drag force models that commonly used in CFD.
About James Parker
James oversees the software development of Barracuda Virtual Reactor and CPFD’s computational research of multiphase modeling techniques. Prior to his appointment as CTO, James was Principal Chemical Engineer for CPFD Software and used Barracuda Virtual Reactor on a wide range of fluidization modeling projects for refining, polyolefin, biomass, coal, and polysilicon applications. James has a PhD in Chemical Engineering from Oregon State University where his research included the development of numerical methods for multiphase flow.
About CPFD Software
CPFD Software is advancing multiphase simulation and technology. Our flagship product, Barracuda Virtual Reactor®, is a physics-based engineering software package that simulates the three-dimensional, transient, fluid-particle hydrodynamics, heat balance, and chemical reactions in industrial fluidized bed reactors and other fluid-particle systems.
Virtual Reactor™ enables researchers and engineers working with fluid/particle processes to explore abroad range of ideas, reduce physical testing costs, and minimize development risk, all while accelerating commercialization, scale-up, and overall time to market. For clients who already operate industrial units, Virtual Reactor allows engineers to determine the root cause of underperformance, reduce the risk of changes through virtual testing, and optimize solutions, all while maximizing reliability, uptime, and regulatory compliance initiatives
The Virtual Reactor technology can be accessed via software licensing, services, or custom collaborative arrangements