Publications

In this paper, researchers use Barracuda Virtual Reactor to extend existing isothermal research work and now model the thermal profile of an industrial fluidized bed reactor

In this paper, researchers use Barracuda Virtual Reactor to help determine preliminary parameters and dimensions for an industrial scale fluidized bed reactor

This paper demonstrates how Barracuda Virtual Reactor can be used to research yet unexplored applications of fluidization technology, such as industrial scale chlorination of aluminum oxide via a fluidized bed reactor,

This paper by researchers at Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha and Universidad Carlos III de Madrid demonstrates Barracuda Virtual Reactor’s ability to accurately model bubbling behavior in fluidized beds by comparing simulations to experimental data

This thesis contains the experimental results for a cold flow model for bubbling fluidized bed (BFB) and a pilot scale BFB gasifier.

This paper shows how Barracuda Virtual reactor can be used to effectively model, validate, and optimize Entrained Flow (EF) gasification Reactors

This paper focuses on the simulation of an entrained flow gasification reactor in Barracuda Virtual Reactor

Experiments were performed in a pilot-scale bubbling fluidized bed gasification reactor, and a kinetics-based model was developed simulated using Barracuda Virtual Reactor.

Experiment on the air gasification of biomass in a bubbling fluidized bed reactor was performed in a pilot-scale reactor located at the University of South-Eastern Norway (USN).

In this paper, Barracuda Virtual Reactor is used to verify the results of a continuous FBCVD (fluidized bed chemical vapour deposition) process

This paper shows how Barracuda Virtual Reactor can be used to facilitate the design of a kaolin calciner

This paper illustrates the advantages of using Barracuda Virtual Reactor, which is based on an MP-PIC method, over two-fluid models in simulating heat transfer mechanics

In this paper, researchers use Barracuda Virtual Reactor to study the gas-solid flow of Circulating Fluidized Bed (CFB) Units at variable load

In this paper, CFD modeling using Barracuda Virtual Reactor is employed to diagnose the causes of afterburn in an RFCC unit.

Researchers use Barracuda Virtual Reactor to validate experimental findings of fluidized beds with Geldart A particles

Numerical simulations in Barracuda Virtual Reactor is used to verify evaporation efficiency and ensure that wastewater from flue gas desulfurization is properly treated

In this study, machine learning was employed to elucidate the kinetics of olefins production from the direct cracking of crude oil feedstock in a dual-downer high severity fluidized bed system.

This paper analyzes and summarizes the fundamentals of CFD simulations of fluid-particle systems, specifically of fluidized beds.

Numerical granular-fluid simulations of high loaded cyclones with a concentric and with an eccentric vortex finder are performed using Barracuda Virtual Reactor to better understand their hydrodynamics.

This paper illustrates Barracuda Virtual Reactor’s ability to simulate a cold-flow model of a dual-fluidized bed (DFB).

This paper demonstrates the effectiveness of the numerical method used by Barracuda Virtual Reactor – the multiphase particle-in-cell (MP-PIC) method, which allows a detailed simulation of even large-scale units with affordable computational efforts.

In this paper, researchers demonstrate Barracuda Virtual Reactor’s ability to accurately model the relationship between particle size distributions and the hydrodynamics of pneumatic conveying systems by comparing simulation results to experimental data.

This joint paper by the China University of Petroleum and SINOPEC is part two in a two part series on the effects of internals on FCC regenerator performance.

This paper demonstrates Barracuda Virtual Reactor’s capability to model irradiated fluidized beds using a P-1 radiation model

For this study, researchers used CFD methods to perform a multivariable analysis of a dual fluidized bed

This joint paper by the China University of Petroleum, SINOPEC, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences, is part one in a two part series on the effects of internals on FCC regenerator performance.

In this paper, Barracuda is used to analyze how different particle species behave in a fully integrated regenerative calcium looping (FICaL) system

This paper presents a new model for agglomeration which provides improved predictions for particle collision outcomes

This paper by Raj Singh, Paul Marchant, and Steve Shimoda at TechnipFMC discusses how to use Barracuda Virtual Reactor to improve spent catalyst distribution in FCC regenerators.

In this paper, researchers used Barracuda Virtual Reactor to optimize the coal feed locations for a dual circulating fluidized bed reactor for chemical looping combustion.

The ability to massively reduce the runtime of Barracuda Virtual Reactor simulations through the use of a GPU is highlighted in this paper regarding the modelling of a Steam Methane Reforming (SMR) looping process.

In this paper, researchers in Poland used CFD software, including Barracuda Virtual Reactor, to predict syngas composition when carbon dioxide is added to the gasifying agent.

Researchers in Korea use the MP-PIC method to analyze the effect of various operating parameters on the yield distribution of fast pyrolysis in a bubbling fluidized bed reactor.

In this study by Barracuda Virtual Reactor distributor Adlan Omer alongside Martin Weng, the effect of air distribution from a nozzle grid on the combustion of a CFBC riser is assessed.

In this paper, Barracuda Virtual Reactor is used alongside a chemical process optimization software to analyze a biomass gasification process

CPFD and PSRI co-authored this presentation from the 2017 AIChE Annual Meeting, which highlights Barracuda Virtual Reactor simulation results of a large cold-flow FCC stripper experiment.

This paper presents a CPFD model for solid waste and biomass particle combustion in a circulating fluidized bed.

This paper compares the results of a two-fluid model (TFM) of a fluidized bed to other CFD methods, including Barracuda Virtual Reactor.

In this paper, a model developed using Barracuda Virtual Reactor is used to quantify the relationship between the flow hydrodynamics and the chemical reactions in multiphase flow-reaction systems.

The simulation results in this paper show the numerous modeling capabilities of the MP-PIC approach to identify possible performance and reliability issues of an industrial Fluid Catalytic Cracking (FCC) regenerator..

A cold flow model of an 8 MW dual fluidized bed (DFB) system is simulated using Barracuda Virtual Reactor, and then the effect of the chosen drag law on the hydrodynamics is analyzed.

In this paper, Barracuda Virtua Reactor was used to help disprove the notion that probes do not affect the data collected in circulating fluidized bed risers and prove that intrusive probe measurements consistently mispredict the behavior of the system.

Computational particle-fluid dynamics (CPFD) simulation was carried out to examine the influence of air versus O2/CO2 as the fluidizing gas on the hydrodynamics of gas-solid flow in a cold-mode circulating fluidized bed.

The MP-PIC method upon which Barracuda Virtual Reactor is based is used to simulate riser hydrodynamics of an FCC process

CPFD Software researches how to make FCC processes more economically efficient, using Barracuda Virtual Reactor to identify and diagnose issues with emissions and with afterburn.

This paper examines how CPFD simulation is used to improve overall FCCU economics.

The bed-to-wall heat transfer of a bubbling fluidized bed is simulated and analyzed using Barracuda Virtual Reactor.

Barracuda Virtual Reactor is used to simulate a scaled-up down flow reactor and to analyze the effects of changing gas velocity and solid mass flux on the cluster behavior.

Barracuda Virtual Reactor is used in conjunction with a coke combustion kinetic model to evaluate and optimize regenerator hydrodynamics in order to increase product yield.

In this paper, researchers from Inaeris and CPFD Software validated results from Barracuda Virtual Reactor simulations using cold-flow experiments of Catalytic Fast Pyrolysis (CFP) fluidized beds.

In this paper, results from a CFD study of an FCC regenerator are used to recommend hardware and operational modifications, which are subsequently modeled using CFD to quantify their benefits.

Researchers at KiOR LLC working with CPFD Software staff use Barracuda Virtual Reactor to develop a Catalytic Fast Pyrolysis (CFP) technology that emulates the FCC process.

A model using the MP-PIC method was developed to simulate a pilot-scale dual fluidized-bed biomass gasification system and was validated by experimental results; it was then used to investigate the impact of various changes on the producer gas composition.

In this paper, a hybrid model of a gas-solid fluidized bed unit is developed using Barracuda Virtual Reactor and then is validated by experimental data.

The hydrodynamics of FCC particles in a bubbling fluidized bed are predicted by both Barracuda Virtual Reactor and by a CFD model, and their results were compared.

In this paper, three cases of Barracuda Virtual Reactor models were established to validate three speculations on wear mechanisms; the simulated locations with the highest wear magnitudes are agreeable with the wear accidents reported in industry.

This paper demonstrates that Barracuda Virtual Reactor’s MP-PIC method is a reliable tool for modelling bubbling fluidized bed behavior of non-cohesive particles.

Multiphase flow simulations created using Barracuda Virtual Reactor are used to compare with experimental data for determining minimum fluidization velocity for four different sizes of particles.

Fluidized beds are susceptible to such problems as bed slugging, loss of fines, and gas bypassing. This article explains how to avoid these pitfalls.

This paper presents a constitutive equation for the thermal heat transfer associated by mass transfer, applicable to both Eulerian–Eulerian and Eulerian–Lagrangian multiphase computational fluid dynamic models.

To demonstrate the strengths and weaknesses of Barracuda Virtual Reactor, a model of a pseudo-2D fluidized bed created using it is compared to a two-fluid model (TFM).

A novel Eulerian–Lagrangian approach based on the multi-phase particle-in-cell (MP-PIC) methodology was applied in the simulation of the hydrodynamic behavior of pressurized high-flux circulating fluidized beds (DHFCFBs), and the sensitivities of key models and modeling parameters on the predictions were tested systematically.

This paper demonstrates that Barracuda Virtual Reactor is well suited for simulating dense particle laden fluids present in steam gasification systems due to its numerical solving methods for both the particles and the fluid.

O’Rourke and Snider present a new contact force model where individual particle accelerations are a blend between the particle acceleration of the original MP-PIC method, appropriate for rapid granular flows, and an average particle acceleration that applies to closely packed granular flows.

Dr. James Parker of CPFD Software demonstrates how Barracuda Virtual Reactor can be used to develop a full three-dimensional model of a chemical looping combustion system and simulate the particle–fluid hydrodynamics, thermal characteristics, and reaction efficiency.

Four models created using Barracuda Virtual Rector are compared with results from an Electrical Capacitance Volume Tomography (ECVT) sensor and from high speed pressure measurements.

Barracuda Virtual Reactor was used to simulate the gas solid flow characteristics in a circulating fluidized bed with a loop seal, and the influences of operating parameters, including loop seal aeration rate (Ql), fluidized air velocity in the riser (Ur) and total bed inventory (Mp) on the solid circulation characteristics were investigated.

Barracuda Virtual Reactor was used to simulate the gas solid flow characteristics in a circulating fluidized bed with a loop seal, and the influences of operating parameters, including loop seal aeration rate (Ql), fluidized air velocity in the riser (Ur) and total bed inventory (Mp) on the solid circulation characteristics were investigated.

In this paper researchers from the National Energy Technology Laboratory report Barracuda Virtual Reactor simulation results for adsorber performance for a dry-sorbent carbon-capture process.

This paper illustrates that a bubble-based energy-minimization multiscale (EMMS) model can be applicable to a wide variety of flow regimes, ranging from bubbling, turbulent to fast fluidization.

The full set of scaling law derived by Glicksman allows the hydrodynamic scale-up of fluidized bed reactors, but a new scale-up approach is proposed and tested that helps to avoid the dilemma in the case of catalytic reactors, where changing the catalyst particle diameter during scale-up may have consequences for the catalyst activity, selectivity and deactivation behavior.

This paper illustrates how using CFD such as Barracuda Virtual Reactor in the development phase of fluidized beds can help avoid costly mistakes, reduce time requirements, and increase the quality of the resulting process.

In this paper, CPFD modeling is used to demonstrate the causes of back-mixing in circulating fluidized bed risers.

In this paper studying water-fluidized beds, Barracuda Virtual Reactor is used to simulate concentration profiles and is found to reasonably agree with experimental data.

In this paper by researchers in Korea, a CPFD model simulation was carried out to analyze flow patterns in order to understand the mechanism of deposit formation on the cyclone duct during the residue fluidized catalytic cracking (RFCC) process.

This paper illustrates the advantages of Barracuda Virtual Reactor in modeling a low temperature post-combustion carbon capture reactor when compared to Eulerian-Lagrangian (DDPM) methods or to Eulerian-Eulerian methods.

This paper describes the development and implementation of Electrical Capacitance Volume Tomography (ECVT), which can provide more detailed understanding of multiphase flow behavior inside a Circulating Fluidized Bed (CFB) by offering a 3-D technique capable of visualizing the flow field in real-time.

This paper discusses how Barracuda Virtual Reactor was used to gain insights into potentially unexpected fluidization behaviors.

Researchers from China University of Petroleum use CPFD modeling to create a three-dimensional model for gas-solid flow in a circulating fluidized bed (CFB).

Authors: Jong, J.F. de, T.Y.N. Dang, M. van Sint Annaland, and J.A.M. Kuipers. Source: This paper was published in Powder Technology. Abstract: Fluidized bed membrane reactors gain worldwide increasing interest…

Researchers in Canada use an early version of Barracuda Virtual Reactor to predict local solid densification and asymmetric “wavy flows” in downer reactors.

In this paper, a comprehensive three-dimensional numerical model has been developed to simulate the coal gasification in a fluidized bed gasifier using a multiphase particle-in-cell (MP-PIC) method, and the formation of flow patterns, profiles of particle species and gas compositions, distributions of reaction rates and consumption of carbon mass were investigated under different operating conditions.

This paper demonstrates the advantages of the energy-minimization multiscale (EMMS) model compared to a conventional model for a full-loop industrial-scaled CFB boiler, including successfully predicting the pressure profile of the furnace.

Researchers in China and in England developed a comprehensive three-dimensional numerical model is developed to simulate forestry residues gasification in a fluidized bed reactor using a Eulerian–Lagrangian approach; the model is in good agreement with experimental data.

Quantitative and qualitative predictions of layer inversion and binary component segregation at different liquid velocities and of chaotic circulation patterns for a glass bead-water fluidized bed were carried out by Barracuda Virtual Reactor and were shown to be in reasonable agreement with experimental observations.

O’Rourke and Snider document a new method for including collisional return-to-isotropy in particle velocity distributions calculated by the MP-PIC method for numerical simulation of particle/fluid flows.

The objective of this paper is to show and discuss the applicability of optical probes to measure the bubble size and bubble rise velocity in fluidized beds.

This study describes the potential intrusive effects of CREC-GS-Optiprobes on the flow pattern in gas–solid downflow units by calculating granular flows and their interactions with the CREC-GS-Optiprobes using a CPFD (Computational Particle Fluid Dynamic) numerical scheme in three dimensions.

This paper investigates the capability of the Multiphase Particle in Cell (MP-PIC) approach for modeling a bubbling fluidized bed of Geldart A particles.

In order to create fast fluidized beds designed to maximize coal gasification yields and designed to provide an optimum syngas composition with minimum operational upsets, a comprehensive model for steam gasification is created using CPFD methods.

In this paper, an early version of Barracuda Virtual Reactor was used to validate experimental data for an acrylonitrile fluidized bed reactor.

This paper by Sam Clark of CPFD Software illustrates a multiphase simulation of a commercial-scale fluidized catalytic cracking unit with complex internal geometries and how the computational model can be used to predict wear on internal structures.

This work shows the development of a three-optical fiber probe to study the behavior of the bubble in bubbling fluidized gas-solid beds.

Snider, Clark and O’Rourke present an extension of the CPFD methodology to include an enthalpy equation that describes energy transport for fluid, and provides for transfer of sensible and chemical energy between phases and within the fluid mixture, with application to a fluidized bed coal gasifier.

O’Rourke and Snider present several improvements to a numerical model introduced by O’Rourke et al. (2009) for collisional exchange and damping in dense particle flows.

This paper by Particulate Solid Research, Inc (PSRI) discusses jet cup attrition testing, and how CFD such as Barracuda Virtual Reactor can be used to improve jet cup design.

In this paper, computational modeling of fluidized beds is used to predict the operation of biomass gasifiers after extensive validation with experimental data, and hydrodynamic results from the simulations were compared with X-ray flow visualization computed tomography studies of a similar bed.

This paper presents new capabilities and proof-testing of a collisional model previously presented in O’Rourke, Zhao, and Snider (2009) applied to liquid injection into a dense-phase fluidized bed.

Researchers from CPFD and Cristal Global present a solution of ozone decomposition in a bubbling bed using the CPFD numerical scheme. Results compared well with the experimental data reported by Fryer and Potter (1976).

This work presents a new methodology, based on the maximum entropy method, to obtain bubble characteristics in fluidized beds.

Eulerian granular multiphase model with a drag coefficient correction based on the energy-minimization multi-scale (EMMS) model was used to simulate a semi-industry scale circulating fluidized bed (CFB).

This paper reports the first quantitative comparison of magnetic resonance (MR) and electrical capacitance volume tomography (ECVT) on a 50 mm diameter gas-fluidized bed of silica−alumina catalyst support particles.

Snider, O’Rourke, and Zhao present a unified model for collisional exchange of mass, momentum, and energy between particles in gas/liquid/solid fluidized beds.

The development of the multi-phase flow algorithm MIPSA (Multi-InterPhase Slip-Algorithm) within a two-dimensional Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) code called CASCADE is summarized with its application to the modeling of lean phase circulating fluidized beds

This paper documents the development of electrical capacitance volume tomography.

Extensive lattice-Boltzmann simulations were performed to obtain the drag force for random arrays of monodisperse and bidisperse spheres.

This paper demonstrates a correlation between in-bed pressure fluctuations and information about bubble size distribution for Geldart A and B powders.

The kinetic model in this paper is based on a molecular approach and is proposed to represent the cracking reactions of industrial feedstocks on a commercial equilibrium catalyst; given that it shows the importance of the condensation and hydrogen transfer reactions for coke formation and gasoline quality, it therefore can be used for modeling a commercial FCC riser.

This paper documents how the Eulerian-Lagrangian approach can be used to simulate simultaneous evaporation and cracking reactions occurring in FCC riser reactors.

The simulation results in this paper support the idea that the average drag coefficient is an important factor for the two-fluid model and suggest that the EMMS approach could be used as a kind of multiscale closure law for drag coefficient in areas where the Wen Yu-Ergun hybrid is insufficient.

This paper by researchers at Arena-Flow LLC and Sandia National Labs demonstrate early successes in the Eulerian-Lagrangian, MP-PIC method used by Barracuda Virtual Reactor in modeling three-dimensional flow in a gas-solid riser.

This paper demonstrates a way to validate the hydrodynamics of a system with image analysis techniques.

A 3-dimensional image reconstruction technique based on neural network multi-criterion optimization (NN-MOIRT) for electrical capacitance tomography (ECT) is developed for the first time.

This paper summarizes the effects airborne particles can have on erosion.

This paper uses digital image analysis of two-dimensional fluidized beds to establish a relationship between gas velocity and both bubble shape factor distribution and bubble aspect ratio distribution.

Examples showing the application of ‘Labasys® instruments’ in R&D and production monitoring are provided for illustration in this article.

This paper reviews existing image reconstruction algorithms for ECT, including linear back-projection, singular value decomposition, Tikhonov regularization, Newton–Raphson, iterative Tikhonov, the steepest descent method, Landweber iteration, the conjugate gradient method, algebraic reconstruction techniques, simultaneous iterative reconstruction techniques and model-based reconstruction.

In this paper, Dale Snider presents the MP-PIC method, the Eulerian-Lagrangian method upon which Barracuda Virtual Reactor is based, for dense particle flow.

Explicit equations are developed for the drag coefficient and for the terminal velocity of falling spherical and non-spherical particles.

In this paper, to investigate the effects of particle properties on these meso-scale structures, for all particle types, two-fluid modeling with and without consideration of meso-scale structures were performed and compared.

In this work, a selection of widely used correlations have been critically evaluated for estimating the drag coefficient of non-spherical particles in incompressible viscous fluids.

Chemical Reaction Engineering, Third Edition, by Octave Levenspiel, helps students learn how to answer reactor design questions reliably and effectively.

This paper by Dimitri Gidaspow is useful as a reference for engineers in industry and as an advanced level text for graduate engineering students.

Fluidization Engineering, Second Edition, by Kunii and Levenspiel, expands on its original scope to encompass these new areas and introduces reactor models specifically for these contacting regimes.

This report from Los Alamos National Lab (LANL) documents the KIVA-II computer program for the numerical calculation of transient, two- and three-dimensional, chemically reactive fluid flows with sprays.

This paper by Smagorinsky establishes some of the foundational equations for understanding particle-fluid physics.