CPFD Software has been invited to speak at the 2022 NETL Multiphase Flow Science Workshop. The workshop will provide an excellent source of information regarding the state-of-the-art in multiphase theory development, experimental techniques, mathematical models, including techniques and research in model verification, validation, and uncertainty quantification. There will be strong industrial and educational outreach activities, including industry participation with student presentations from a variety of US universities.
Dr. James Parker will speak on “Application of MP-PIC method to Ebullated Bed Reactors”.
Presentation Summary: “Application of MP-PIC method to Ebullated Bed Reactors”
Ebullated bed reactors are industrially-significant yet difficult to operate units for hydrocracking within refineries. Within an ebullated bed reactor, a solid particle catalyst is fluidized by a liquid phase containing a discrete bubble phase. The behavior of these three-phase systems is the result of the interaction between the multiphase hydrodynamics, mass transfer, heat transfer, and chemical reaction mechanisms and there is therefore a strong interest in the development of CFD models to simulate these systems at industrial-scale for the purpose of understanding and optimizing the unit performance.
In this work, the MP-PIC method is used to simulate gas bubble and particle dynamics within an ebullated bed reactor. The MP PIC model, which has been used successfully for the modeling of industrial-scale gas-solid and liquid-solid fluidized beds on engineering timeframes, has been modified to consider discrete gas bubbles within a liquid phase. The discrete bubbles, which change volume as a function of pressure and temperature, are coupled with the standard MP-PIC calculations for solid particles as wells as models for multi-component evaporation, gas absorption, and reaction chemistry to model a full-scale ebullated bed hydrocracker. Simulations are compared with the available experimental data.
About Dr. 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.