Search

Fluid Catalytic Cracking (FCC) is one of the most important conversion processes used in refineries all over the world. It is used for the conversion of heavy oil feed with high boiling temperature to produce gasoline, diesel, propylene and other valuable products. Coke deposits on the catalyst during the catalytic conversion and deactivates it, therefore catalyst is continuously regenerated in the FCC process. The regeneration step is essential as it directly impacts the products yields. The coke combustion also generates NOx and SOx emissions which levels are highly influenced by the bed hydrodynamics, the operation parameters and the reactor configuration, and are important to quantify. For all these reasons, the understanding of the regenerator hydrodynamic and kinetic is essential. This paper presents a study on the coupling of Barracuda™ CFD code with a coke combustion kinetic model developed at IFP Energies nouvelles to simulate an industrial FCC regenerator. Regenerator operating and performance data, including catalyst samples for coke analysis, are acquired on a selected industrial unit to evaluate the model. The results provide useful insight on the regenerator performance characteristics in terms of air distribution, coke burning rate and temperature profile in the regenerator. The steady state flue gas composition and regenerator dense and dilute phase temperatures are well predicted by the CFD simulation. The CFD prediction of the bed density is underestimated compared to the industrial data. The duration required to completely regenerate the catalyst is also estimated from the results. The CFD coupled coke combustion kinetic model presented in this paper enables us to evaluate the influence of the fluidized bed hydrodynamic on the catalyst regeneration in an industrial FCC regenerator. The developed model serves as a useful tool for the evaluation of future technology development in the FCC regenerator. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In the last years, there has been a rapid growth of research and development activities on high temperature molten salts for nuclear and non-nuclear applications. The study of their heat transfer characteristics is a key issue in the current development of the molten salt reactor (MSR) that is one of the innovative nuclear reactors proposed by the Generation IV International Forum. The MSR is a sort of circulating fuel reactor (CFR), which adopts a molten halide salt mixture containing the fissile material and playing the distinctive role of both fuel and coolant. In a thermal-neutron-spectrum MSR, the reactor core is composed by a graphite matrix (neutron moderator), through which the liquid nuclear fuel flows and leads to a strong and intrinsic coupling between thermo-hydrodynamics and neutronics. This peculiar feature requires a suitable and qualified multi-physics simulation environment for a proper description of the system (fuel/coolant+graphite) behaviour. With reference to such complex and non-linear system, the present work is intended to give two different but linked contributions, in the perspective of a multi-physics modelling able to accurately describe the synergy of the involved different physical phenomena (e.g., by means of software). [(I)] On one hand, this work is aimed at establishing a useful validation framework for the assessment of computational fluid-dynamics (CFD) analyses of liquids with internal heat generation. For this purpose, an analytic approach for both fluid velocity and temperature fields in a circular pipe surrounded by a solid region has been developed. It is an extension of the approach elaborated for pipe flow in (Di Marcello, V., Cammi, A., Luzzi, L., 2010. A generalized approach to heat transfer in pipe flow with internal heat generation. Chemical Engineering Science 65, 1301−1310), in order to take into account the heat conduction in the solid domain (represented by the graphite matrix in the specific case of interest). [(II)] On the other hand, the paper presents a preliminary investigation of the thermal-hydraulic behaviour occurring in a typical graphite-moderated MSR core channel. The developed analytic approach has been conveniently applied to this case study: (i) by testing the capabilities of to evaluate the heat transfer characteristics and the hydrodynamic behaviour of such system; and (ii) by investigating the applicability of correlations for the Nusselt number to fluids with internal heat generation. For a deeper insight into the numerical solutions provided by COMSOL, a code-to-code comparison has been also carried out, adopting a dedicated CFD finite volume software (i.e., FLUENT®). As a result, a satisfactory agreement has been found between the analytic solution and the numerical computations provided by COMSOL and FLUENT for a wide range of Reynolds numbers. As concerns the Nusselt number evaluation, the correlations usually adopted for molten salts have been proved as unsuitable for the analysed system, whereas the correlation advanced in the above mentioned paper (that explicitly takes account of the internal heat source) appears more appropriate. The results of the present work are thought to be useful because they provide: (i) a “generalized” analytic approach to the heat transfer that is applicable in a more general context; (ii) an insight into the heat transfer characteristics of the considered graphite-moderated MSR core channel; and (iii) a preliminary assessment of computations that is essential in view of the adoption of multi-physics tools (like COMSOL) for more complex and representative simulations of the dynamic behaviour of the molten salt reactor, and more in general of other kinds of CFRs. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper presents a CFD modeling of hydrodynamics, heat transfer and cracking reaction in a heavy oil riser together with a bottom airlift loop mixer. By extending a validated gas–solid flow model to incorporate feedstock vaporization and 12-lump kinetic model, a three-phase flow and reaction model is established. CFD analysis is performed, and the effects of operating parameters are thus evaluated. The results indicate that the bottom airlift loop mixer causes the hot and the cool catalyst well mix and obtains a uniform catalyst temperature at riser inlet. There exists optimal product distribution, with a maximum light liquid yield at about 30.0m of up the riser. Product yields are more sensitive to injection angle than to feedstock droplet size and reaction temperature. A catalyst-to-oil ratio in the range of 7–8 and a shorter reaction time of 3.02s are preferable for a higher light liquid yield. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The hydrodynamics and heat transfer characteristics of a heat exchanger with single-helical baffles are studied experimentally as well as numerically. A heat exchanger with two-layer helical baffles is designed by using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method. The comparisons of the performance of three heat exchangers with single-segment baffles, single-helical baffles and two-layer helical baffles, respectively, are presented in the paper. The experiment is carried out in counter-current flow pattern with hot oil in shell side and cold water in tube side. Overall heat transfer coefficients are calculated and heat transfer coefficients of shell side are determined by Wilson plots technique. It shows that the heat exchangers with helical baffles have higher heat transfer coefficient to the same pressure drop than that of the heat exchanger with segmental baffles based on the present numerical results, and the configuration of the two-layer helical baffles has better integrated performance than that of the single-helical baffles. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]