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Lithium orthosilicate has the highest absorption capacity among other materials used to capture carbon dioxide (CO2) at a higher temperature. To design a CO2 adsorption system consisting of lithium orthosilicate pebble bed, effective thermal conductivity and heat transfer coefficient data are necessary, and till date, these are not reported in the literature. In the present study, experiments were conducted to estimate the effective thermal conductivity and heat transfer coefficient of lithium orthosilicate pebble bed in CO2–air medium. Effects of CO2 concentration in air, bed temperature, and gas flowrate on the hydrodynamic as well as heat transfer properties of the pebble bed of lithium orthosilicate pebbles were also studied. The effective thermal conductivity and heat transfer coefficients were found in the range of 0.2–0.75 Wm−1K−1 and 14–63 Wm−2K−1, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Application of pure Li 4 SiO 4 packed fluidized bed for high temperature CO 2 capture. • Gamma ray densitometry to obtain real-time dynamics of packed fluidized particles. • Numerical model based on experimental results of Gamma ray densitometry experiments. • Effective thermal conductivity doubles after operating in packed fluidization mode. • Total solid weight gain in packed fluidized bed 120% that of unary packed bed. Lithium orthosilicate (Li 4 SiO 4) is steadily emerging as the default solid sorbent for high temperature CO 2 capture in industrial settings. Li 4 SiO 4 is also one the few materials qualified to serve as both catalyst and sorbent in sorption enhanced steam reforming process for high purity carbon neutral H 2 production. Application of packed fluidization technique to enhance CO 2 uptake in packed bed of pure Li 4 SiO 4 particles has not been reported until now. Gamma ray densitometry (GRD) technique is employed to non-intrusively obtain average voidage of Li 4 SiO 4 packed fluidized bed as a function of operating time and axial bed coordinate. Based on the experimental results of GRD technique, a numerical model is developed to obtain the transient cross-sectional profiles of internal bed temperature and gas phase CO 2 concentration as high temperature carbonation of Li 4 SiO 4 progresses in packed fluidized bed. The numerical model is validated using experimentally obtained internal bed temperature and breakthrough curves. Temporal variation of bed effective thermal conductivity has been evaluated from model temperature profiles. It was observed that the time averaged effective thermal conductivity and net solid weight gain of packed fluidized bed is around 1.7–2.3 and 1.1–1.3 times that of unary packed bed respectively at specified process parameters for high temperature CO 2 capture. Comparative plot for net solid weight gain and time averaged effective thermal conductivity (ETC) in lithium orthosilicate packed fluidized bed and unary packed bed [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Packed pebble bed of ceramic solid breeder materials viz. lithium titanate or meta-titanate ( Li 2 TiO 3 ), lithium orthosilicate ( Li 4 SiO 4 ) etc. is being considered for fusion blankets. During the breeding of tritium, helium will be produced and also it is proposed to flow helium from outside through the bed to extract tritium, as well as to remove thermal energy from the bed. Experimental determination of thermal property data of the pebble bed under helium gas flow is important for the blanket design. Such study of determination of effective thermal conductivity with flowing helium condition was not performed previously. Though, it is known that with an increase in gas flow rate, the effective thermal conductivity of pebble bed increases, it is necessary to conduct experiments to know the exact values and the degree of variation. Model and experimental setup used in our previous study was used to for this present work. Effects of process parameters viz., helium gas flow rate, bed temperature, pebble size etc. on the effective thermal conductivity of the bed have been studied. Correlations have been developed from these experimental data to estimate effective thermal conductivity at different particle Reynold’s number and bed temperature. It was found that with the use of helium, the effective thermal conductivity of bed increases by many folds. Experimental details and results are discussed in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Packed fluidization is a novel technique, in which small particles are allowed to fluidize in the interstices of relatively large and stationary packing to enhance heat transfer rates of a unary packed bed of same size pebbles. In the present study, heat transfer in unary packed bed and binary packed fluidized bed were investigated and compared in terms of the effective thermal conductivity. In the experimental works, large pebbles (size: 3–10mm) of two different materials viz. lithium titanate and alumina and small particles (size: 231–780μm), also of two different materials viz., lithium titanate and silica were used. It was found that the heat transfer in unary packed bed is enhanced due to the packed fluidization and in terms of the effective thermal conductivity; the enhancement was up to 260%. It was found that the volume fraction of small particles, operating gas velocity, particle to pebble size ratio and the type of materials have a significant effect in enhancing the effective thermal conductivity and heat transfer rates. It was also found that 60% (v/v) of small particles in the interstitial voids of packing pebbles can give much improved effective thermal conductivity keeping all other operating parameters same. Possible mechanism for heat transfer enhancement due to packed fluidization has been proposed. Based on the results for different particle and pebble sizes, materials and process variables viz. particles to pebble size ratios, operating gas velocity ratios, volume fraction of small particles in the interstices and bed wall temperatures, we could arrive at optimum conditions for determining effective thermal conductivity and a correlation to estimate the same. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In many industrial processes, solid particles of different sizes are mixed in different volume or mass fractions for various applications, primarily to reduce void volume or to increase the density of the mixture. A few of these processes include; production of high density ceramics, mortar, concrete, graphite, bricks and carbon blocks. Experiments were carried out with alumina and lithium titanate pebbles (size≥1mm) and particles (size<1mm) of different sizes and volume fractions in cylindrical and rectangular vessels to study the variation of void fraction with volume fraction of component pebbles and with large pebble to small pebble or pebble to particle size ratio. It was observed that the variation of void fraction with volume fraction of smaller pebbles or particles is ‘V-shaped’. Thus there exists a minimum void fraction and two different volume fractions of smaller pebbles or particles which can give same void fraction. The effect of void fraction on the effective thermal conductivity of binary bed of lithium titanate and alumina pebbles and particles of different sizes and volume fractions was investigated. From the experimental results it was found that the binary particulate bed has higher effective thermal conductivity that that of a unary particulate bed. Effective thermal conductivity of binary particulate bed is the maximum when its void fraction is the minimum. The binary particulate bed with less volume fraction of small particles has higher conductivity than that of the binary bed of higher volume fraction of small particles and having same void fraction. This is due to the fact that with increase in volume fraction of small pebbles or particles, the number of small-to-small and large-to-small pebbles and or particles contact point increases resulting in higher resistance to heat transfers. The experimental details and results are discussed in this paper. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Lithium titanate is a promising solid breeder material for the fusion reactor blanket. Packed lithium titanate pebble bed is considered for the blanket. The thermal energy; that will be produced in the bed during breeding and the radiated heat from the reactor core absorbed must be removed. So, the experimental thermal property data are important for the blanket design. In past, a significant amount of works were conducted to determine the effective thermal conductivity of packed solid breeder pebble bed, in helium atmosphere, but no flow of gas was considered. With increase in gas flow rate, effective thermal conductivity of pebble bed increases. Particle size and void fraction also affect the thermal properties of the bed significantly. An experimental facility with external heat source was designed and installed. Experiments were carried out with lithium-titanate pebbles of different sizes at variable gas flow rates and at different bed wall temperature. It was observed that effective thermal conductivity of pebble bed is a function of particle Reynolds number and temperature. From the experimental data two correlations have been developed to estimate the effective thermal conductivity of packed lithium-titanate pebble bed for different particle Reynolds number and at different temperatures. The experimental details and results are discussed in this paper. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The following figure shows the effect of induction heating temperature on the effective thermal conductivity of packed bed filled with 10 mm lithium titanate pebbles. • Numerical investigation to study effect of process and operating parameters on effective thermal conductivity of pebble bed with non-uniform internal heat generation using experimental inputs was done. • In house fabricated Li 2 TiO 3 pebbles of size: 1-10 mm were used. • Empirical equations were developed and to study spatial variation of power generated by Induction Heating Furnace and were optimized using experimental inputs. • Finite Difference Method based mathematical model was developed to estimate k e f f with average accuracy of around 79 %. • Empirical correlation was proposed to predict k e f f with average accuracy of 75–83 %. Test Blanket Module (TBM) of the fusion reactor has the vital role of removing heat generated from the fusion reactor along with the heat generated internally due to tritium breeding reaction. In the initial startup phase of fusion reactor, neutron flux has a climbing ramp nature and heat gets generated in discrete locations of TBM due to non-uniform nature of neutron irradiation. Thus, there is need to establish mathematical method to estimate Effective Thermal Conductivity (ETC) of packed bed with randomly scattered internal heat sources. Novel Induction Heating technique was used to simulate above mentioned conditions in packed bed of Li 2 TiO 3 pebbles. An input-output FDM (Finite Difference Method) based model has been developed to estimate ETC of packed beds with non-uniform and discrete Internal Heat Generation (IHG). The inputs to the FDM based model are experimental results along with various operating and process parameters of the packed bed system under consideration. Also, an empirical correlation has been proposed to yield ETC of above mentioned packed bed systems valid for bed voidage of 0.44-0.47. The experimental and analytical methods used for this study are detailed in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]