(82c) Computational Fluid Dynamics Modeling of Different Structured Reactor Packing for Process Intensification

In this paper, Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) has been used to model temperature distribution, gas flow behavior, and pressure drop within three configurations of structured fixed-bed reactor packing: rod-shape packing with multiple channels (A), cake-shape packing (B) with multiple channels, and ceramic foam (C). It was found that all three configurations showed similar phenomena of the vortices on the outer edge just before the packing material. This is due to the flow encountering a sudden resistance causing the flow to change directions and swirl causing an increase in mixing of the two gasses. Although these vortices increased the mixing of the gasses, for Configuration A, the fluids would no longer be able to mix after entering the small channels because they were segregated from the rest of the flow. Configuration B was analyzed under the premise that each inserted disk would create a set of vortices to mix the fluid but would not segregate each flow through the rest of the length. The fluid will mix between each inserted disk and more disks can be added to further increase the mixing until a uniform concentration is achieved. Pressure drop determination by experimental validation was obtained.