Numerical Model and Experimental Validation of the Hydrodynamics in an Industrial-Scale Sewage Sludge Bubbling Fluidized Bed Incinerator

Abstract

This paper describes a development of a numerical model and experimental validation of the hydrodynamics in industrial-scale sewage sludge bubbling fluidized bed incinerator. The numerical model and simulations are performed using commercial CFD software package ANSYS Fluent 14.5. The complex geometry of the developed numerical model represents the actual industrial-scale bubbling fluidized bed combustor. The gassolid flow behaviour inside the bed was described using the Eulerian-Eulerian multiphase model. The momentum exchange coefficients between the gas phase and solid particles were described by the Syamlal and O'Brien drag model equations. The CFD transient simulations were run for 350 seconds at the optimum operating conditions of the used fluidized bed with bed temperature of 850°C. The experiments were carried out using quartz sand with three different particle sizes having a diameters ranging from 0.5 mm to 1.5 mm and a density of 2650 kg/m³. The industrial-scale furnace was filled with bed material to a bed height of 0.85 m. The same operating parameters have been applied for both experimental and numerical studies. The hydrodynamics of the gas-solid industrial-scale bubbling fluidized bed at operating conditions are investigated in the CFD numerical model and simulations of this three-dimensional (3D) complex geometry. To estimate the prediction quality of the simulations based on the developed numerical model, the minimum fluidization gas velocity and pressure drop results obtained from the CFD simulations are validated with the experimental measurements. The generated simulation results of the pressure drop and minimum fluidization gas velocity of the industrial-scale sewage sludge incinerator based the Eulerian-Eulerian method and Syamlal and O'Brien drag model are in good agreement with the experimental measured data.