Search for Articles:
Title / Keyword
Author / Affiliation / Email
Journal
Article Type
 
 
Advanced Search
 
Section
Special Issue
Volume
Issue
Number
Page
 
4.7
3.5
Journals
Processes
Special Issues
CFD Modeling of Complex Chemical Processes: Multiscale and Multiphysics Challenges
share announcement

CFD Modeling of Complex Chemical Processes: Multiscale and Multiphysics Challenges

A special issue of Processes (ISSN 2227-9717). This special issue belongs to the section "Chemical Processes and Systems".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 August 2020) | Viewed by 86874

Printed Edition Available!
A printed edition of this Special Issue is available here.

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Li Xi

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Chemical Engineering and School of Computational Science and Engineering, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON L8S 4L7, Canada
Interests: chemical engineering computation and modeling; computational fluid dynamics (CFD); molecular simulation; polymer materials and processing; turbulence; transport processes; fluid mixing; polymer dynamics and rheology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. De-Wei Yin

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
The Dow Chemical Company, Midland, MI, USA
Interests: experimental and computational fluid mechanics; modeling of industrial chemical processes; dimensional analysis; molecular simulation
Dr. Jae Sung Park

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE, USA
Interests: fluid mechanics; turbulence; complex fluids; electrokinetics; microscale transport; mathematical modeling; scientific computing

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Industrial chemical operations rely on a variety of fluid processes for the handling of materials and energy and the mass production of products. These operations, such as mixing, crystallization, polymerization and other reactive processes, and the complex nature of the fluids (emulsions, suspensions, particulate fluids, etc.) interact via complex coupling relations between momentum, mass, and heat transfer, and reaction kinetics. The prediction of process outcomes from operating parameters is thus a non-trivial challenge in the design, control, and optimization of such processes. Process modeling enabled by computational fluid dynamics (CFD) provides a powerful tool for the understanding and quantifiable description of such processes. CFD modeling of chemical processes is faced with unique challenges. In addition to the coupling between multiple physical processes (transport, rheology, reaction kinetics, etc.), these processes are also often intrinsically multiscale. The wide span of length and time scales of relevance can stem from the complex flow (e.g., turbulence and mixing at different scales), complex fluids (e.g., interplay between fluid microstructure and macroscopic flow), or the coupling between microscopic reaction and diffusion with macroscopic flow and mixing (e.g., emulsion polymerization in a reactor).

We cordially invite your contribution to this Special Issue, which will feature the latest developments in the CFD modeling and simulation of complex industrial processes in chemical and biological engineering, materials processing, advanced manufacturing, petroleum engineering, food and pharmaceutical processing, and other related areas. Contributions describing the application of CFD in chemical processes (either as a standalone tool or in combination with experiments and/or theory), development of new models involving CFD, innovations in numerical methods/algorithms, and the integration of CFD in the process design, control, and optimization are all welcome. Both original research and topical reviews will be considered (authors interested in contributing a review article are asked to discuss its topic scope with the Guest Editors as early as possible). Contributions that feature the methods or application of CFD for addressing the process scale-up challenge are particularly welcome.

We look forward to having the opportunity to showcase your research in the Special Issue!

Dr. Li Xi
Dr. De-Wei Yin
Dr. Jae Sung Park
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Processes is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Computational fluid dynamics (CFD)
  • process modeling
  • chemical reaction engineering
  • mixing
  • process scale-up
  • multiphase flow
  • complex fluids
  • multiphysics modeling
  • multiscale simulation

Published Papers (17 papers)

Download All Papers
Order results
Result details
Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Editorial

Jump to: Research, Review, Other

3 pages, 161 KiB  
Editorial
Special Issue “CFD Modeling of Complex Chemical Processes: Multiscale and Multiphysics Challenges”
by Li Xi, De-Wei Yin and Jae Sung Park
Processes 2021, 9(5), 775; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr9050775 - 28 Apr 2021
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1435
Abstract
After decades of development, computational fluid dynamics (CFD), which solves fluid mechanics and, more generally, transport phenomena problems using numerical analysis, has become a main-stream tool in many areas of engineering practice [...] Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue CFD Modeling of Complex Chemical Processes: Multiscale and Multiphysics Challenges)

Research

Jump to: Editorial, Review, Other

19 pages, 2848 KiB  
Article
Predicting By-Product Gradients of Baker’s Yeast Production at Industrial Scale: A Practical Simulation Approach
by Christopher Sarkizi Shams Hajian, Cees Haringa, Henk Noorman and Ralf Takors
Processes 2020, 8(12), 1554; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr8121554 - 27 Nov 2020
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 3701
Abstract
Scaling up bioprocesses is one of the most crucial steps in the commercialization of bioproducts. While it is known that concentration and shear rate gradients occur at larger scales, it is often too risky, if feasible at all, to conduct validation experiments at [...] Read more.
Scaling up bioprocesses is one of the most crucial steps in the commercialization of bioproducts. While it is known that concentration and shear rate gradients occur at larger scales, it is often too risky, if feasible at all, to conduct validation experiments at such scales. Using computational fluid dynamics equipped with mechanistic biochemical engineering knowledge of the process, it is possible to simulate such gradients. In this work, concentration profiles for the by-products of baker’s yeast production are investigated. By applying a mechanistic black-box model, concentration heterogeneities for oxygen, glucose, ethanol, and carbon dioxide are evaluated. The results suggest that, although at low concentrations, ethanol is consumed in more than 90% of the tank volume, which prevents cell starvation, even when glucose is virtually depleted. Moreover, long exposure to high dissolved carbon dioxide levels is predicted. Two biomass concentrations, i.e., 10 and 25 g/L, are considered where, in the former, ethanol production is solely because of overflow metabolism while, in the latter, 10% of the ethanol formation is due to dissolved oxygen limitation. This method facilitates the prediction of the living conditions of the microorganism and its utilization to address the limitations via change of strain or bioreactor design or operation conditions. The outcome can also be of value to design a representative scale-down reactor to facilitate strain studies. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue CFD Modeling of Complex Chemical Processes: Multiscale and Multiphysics Challenges)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

13 pages, 3723 KiB  
Article
Numerical Simulation of Combustion in 35 t/h Industrial Pulverized Coal Furnace with Burners Arranged on Front Wall
by Jiade Han, Lingbo Zhu, Yiping Lu, Yu Mu, Azeem Mustafa and Yajun Ge
Processes 2020, 8(10), 1272; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr8101272 - 10 Oct 2020
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2971
Abstract
Coal-fired industrial boilers should operate across a wide range of loads and with a higher reduction of pollutant emission in China. In order to achieve these tasks, a physical model including two swirling burners on the front wall and boiler furnace was established [...] Read more.
Coal-fired industrial boilers should operate across a wide range of loads and with a higher reduction of pollutant emission in China. In order to achieve these tasks, a physical model including two swirling burners on the front wall and boiler furnace was established for a 35 t/h pulverized coal-fired boiler. Based on Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) theory and the commercial software ANSYS Fluent, mathematical modeling was used to simulate the flow and combustion processes under 75% and 60% load operating conditions. The combustion characteristics in the furnace were obtained. The flue gas temperature simulation results were in good agreement with experimental data. The simulation results showed that there was a critical distance L along the direction of the furnace depth (x) and Hc along the direction of the furnace height (y) on the burner axis. When x < L, the concentration of NO decreased sharply as the height increased. When y < Hc, the NO concentration decreased sharply with an increase in the y coordinate, while increasing dramatically with an area-weighted average gas temperature increase in the swirl combustion zone. This study provides a basis for optimizing the operation of nitrogen-reducing combustion and the improvement of burner structures. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue CFD Modeling of Complex Chemical Processes: Multiscale and Multiphysics Challenges)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

13 pages, 3128 KiB  
Article
Research on the Pressure Dropin Horizontal Pneumatic Conveying for Large Coal Particles
by Daolong Yang, Yanxiang Wang and Zhengwei Hu
Processes 2020, 8(6), 650; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr8060650 - 30 May 2020
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 3073
Abstract
As a type of airtight conveying mode, pneumatic conveying has the advantages of environmental friendliness and conveying without dust overflow. The application of the pneumatic conveying system in the field of coal particle conveying can avoid direct contact between coal particles and the [...] Read more.
As a type of airtight conveying mode, pneumatic conveying has the advantages of environmental friendliness and conveying without dust overflow. The application of the pneumatic conveying system in the field of coal particle conveying can avoid direct contact between coal particles and the atmosphere, which helps to reduce the concentration of air dust and improve environmental quality in coal production and coal consumption enterprises. In order to predict pressure drop in the pipe during the horizontal pneumatic conveying of large coal particles, the Lagrangian coupling method and DPM (discrete particle model) simulation model was used in this paper. Based on the comparison of the experimental results, the feasibility of the simulation was verified and the pressure drop in the pipe was simulated. The simulation results show that when the flow velocity is small, the simulation results of the DPM model are quite different from that of the experiment. When the flow velocity is large, the large particle horizontal pneumatic conveying behavior predicted by the model is feasible, which can provide a simulation reference for the design of the coal pneumatic conveying system. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue CFD Modeling of Complex Chemical Processes: Multiscale and Multiphysics Challenges)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

15 pages, 5883 KiB  
Article
Experimental and Numerical Analysis of a Sustainable Farming Compartment with Evaporative Cooling System
by M. Sina Mousavi, Siamak Mirfendereski, Jae Sung Park and Jongwan Eun
Processes 2019, 7(11), 823; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr7110823 - 06 Nov 2019
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 3044
Abstract
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) relies on groundwater as well as desalinated water which are very expensive and energy-concentrated. Despite the lack of water resources, only 54% of wastewater was recycled in the UAE in 2016. In this study, a Sustainable Farming Compartment [...] Read more.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) relies on groundwater as well as desalinated water which are very expensive and energy-concentrated. Despite the lack of water resources, only 54% of wastewater was recycled in the UAE in 2016. In this study, a Sustainable Farming Compartment (SFC) with an evaporative cooling system is investigated as an alternative to reusing wastewater and the optimal design is identified experimentally and numerically. First, the applicability of the SFC was examined to reduce the ambient temperature in the system. A prototype SFC was tested in the environmentally constrained laboratory and field site considering an extreme climate condition (with high temperature and humidity) in Abu Dhabi to evaluate the temperature drop and humidity change of the SFC. The experimental results showed that the temperature of the SFC significantly decreases by 7–15 °C when the initial relative humidity is 50%. For validation, an energy modeling using dynamic numerical simulations was performed that shows statistically good agreement with the experimental results. Based on the parametric studies of the system components, the optimal cooling performance of the system in terms of locations of inlet and outlet, the variation of Reynolds number was evaluated. The study suggested an optimized design for the SFC with an evaporative cooling system. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue CFD Modeling of Complex Chemical Processes: Multiscale and Multiphysics Challenges)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

28 pages, 6424 KiB  
Article
Droplet Characteristics of Rotating Packed Bed in H2S Absorption: A Computational Fluid Dynamics Analysis
by Zhihong Wang, Xuxiang Wu, Tao Yang, Shicheng Wang, Zhixi Liu and Xiaodong Dan
Processes 2019, 7(10), 724; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr7100724 - 11 Oct 2019
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 3583
Abstract
Rotating packed bed (RPB) has been demonstrated as a significant and emerging technology to be applied in natural gas desulfurization. However, droplet characteristics and principle in H2S selective absorption with N-methyldiethanolamine (MDEA) solution have seldom been fully investigated by experimental [...] Read more.
Rotating packed bed (RPB) has been demonstrated as a significant and emerging technology to be applied in natural gas desulfurization. However, droplet characteristics and principle in H2S selective absorption with N-methyldiethanolamine (MDEA) solution have seldom been fully investigated by experimental method. Therefore, a 3D Eulerian–Lagrangian approach has been established to investigate the droplet characteristics. The discrete phase model (DPM) is implemented to track the behavior of droplets, meanwhile the collision model and breakup model are employed to describe the coalescence and breakup of droplets. The simulation results indicate that rotating speed and radial position have a dominant impact on droplet velocity, average residence time and average diameter rather than initial droplet velocity. A short residence time of 0.039–0.085 s is credited in this study for faster mass transfer and reaction rate in RPB. The average droplet diameter decreases when the initial droplet velocity and rotating speed enhances. Restriction of minimum droplet diameter for it to be broken and an appropriate rotating speed have also been elaborated. Additional correlations on droplet velocity and diameter have been obtained mainly considering the rotating speed and radial position in RPB. This proposed formula leads to a much better understanding of droplet characteristics in RPB. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue CFD Modeling of Complex Chemical Processes: Multiscale and Multiphysics Challenges)
►▼ Show Figures

Graphical abstract

21 pages, 5293 KiB  
Article
Application of CFD to Analyze the Hydrodynamic Behaviour of a Bioreactor with a Double Impeller
by Mohammadreza Ebrahimi, Melih Tamer, Ricardo Martinez Villegas, Andrew Chiappetta and Farhad Ein-Mozaffari
Processes 2019, 7(10), 694; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr7100694 - 03 Oct 2019
Cited by 20 | Viewed by 8472
Abstract
Stirred bioreactors are commonly used unit operations in the pharmaceutical industry. In this study, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) was used in order to analyze the influence of the impeller configuration (Segment–Segment and Segment–Rushton impeller configurations) and the impeller rotational speed (an operational parameter) [...] Read more.
Stirred bioreactors are commonly used unit operations in the pharmaceutical industry. In this study, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) was used in order to analyze the influence of the impeller configuration (Segment–Segment and Segment–Rushton impeller configurations) and the impeller rotational speed (an operational parameter) on the hydrodynamic behaviour and mixing performance of a bioreactor equipped with a double impeller. A relatively close agreement between the power values obtained from the CFD model and those measured experimentally was observed. Various parameters such as velocity profiles, stress generated by impellers due to the turbulence and velocity gradient, flow number, and mixing time were used to compare the CFD simulations. It was observed that the impeller’s RPM could change the intensity of the interaction between the impellers when a Segment–Rushton impeller was used. In general, increasing the RPM led to an increase in total power and the stress acting on the cells and to a shorter mixing time. At a constant RPM, the Segment–Rushton impeller configuration had higher total power and stress acting on cells compared to the Segment–Segment impeller configuration. At lower RPM values (i.e., 50 and 100), the Segment–Segment impeller provided a shorter mixing time. Conversely, at the highest RPM (i.e., 150) the Segment–Rushton impeller had a shorter mixing time compared to the Segment–Segment impeller; this was attributed to the high level of turbulence generated with the former impeller configuration at high RPM. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue CFD Modeling of Complex Chemical Processes: Multiscale and Multiphysics Challenges)
►▼ Show Figures

Graphical abstract

16 pages, 3147 KiB  
Article
Simulation Study on Gas Holdup of Large and Small Bubbles in a High Pressure Gas–Liquid Bubble Column
by Fangfang Tao, Shanglei Ning, Bo Zhang, Haibo Jin and Guangxiang He
Processes 2019, 7(9), 594; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr7090594 - 04 Sep 2019
Cited by 12 | Viewed by 5707
Abstract
The computational fluid dynamics-population balance model (CFD-PBM) has been presented and used to evaluate the bubble behavior in a large-scale high pressure bubble column with an inner diameter of 300 mm and a height of 6600 mm. In the heterogeneous flow regime, bubbles [...] Read more.
The computational fluid dynamics-population balance model (CFD-PBM) has been presented and used to evaluate the bubble behavior in a large-scale high pressure bubble column with an inner diameter of 300 mm and a height of 6600 mm. In the heterogeneous flow regime, bubbles can be divided into “large bubbles” and “small bubbles” by a critical bubble diameter dc. In this study, large and small bubbles were classified according to different slopes in the experiment only by the method of dynamic gas disengagement, the critical bubble diameter was determined to be 7 mm by the experimental results and the simulation values. In addition, the effects of superficial gas velocity, operating pressure, surface tension and viscosity on gas holdup of large and small bubbles in gas–liquid two-phase flow were investigated using a CFD-PBM coupling model. The results show that the gas holdup of small and large bubbles increases rapidly with the increase of superficial gas velocity. With the increase of pressure, the gas holdup of small bubbles increases significantly, and the gas holdup of large bubbles increase slightly. Under the same superficial gas velocity, the gas holdup of large bubbles increases with the decrease of viscosity and the decrease of surface tension, but the gas holdup of small bubbles increases significantly. The simulated values of the coupled model have a good agreement with the experimental values, which can be applied to the parameter estimation of the high pressure bubble column system. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue CFD Modeling of Complex Chemical Processes: Multiscale and Multiphysics Challenges)
►▼ Show Figures

Graphical abstract

24 pages, 5552 KiB  
Article
Comparison of Surface Tension Models for the Volume of Fluid Method
by Kurian J. Vachaparambil and Kristian Etienne Einarsrud
Processes 2019, 7(8), 542; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr7080542 - 15 Aug 2019
Cited by 46 | Viewed by 7964 | Correction
Abstract
With the increasing use of Computational Fluid Dynamics to investigate multiphase flow scenarios, modelling surface tension effects has been a topic of active research. A well known associated problem is the generation of spurious velocities (or currents), arising due to inaccuracies in calculations [...] Read more.
With the increasing use of Computational Fluid Dynamics to investigate multiphase flow scenarios, modelling surface tension effects has been a topic of active research. A well known associated problem is the generation of spurious velocities (or currents), arising due to inaccuracies in calculations of the surface tension force. These spurious currents cause nonphysical flows which can adversely affect the predictive capability of these simulations. In this paper, we implement the Continuum Surface Force (CSF), Smoothed CSF and Sharp Surface Force (SSF) models in OpenFOAM. The models were validated for various multiphase flow scenarios for Capillary numbers of 10 − 3 –10. All the surface tension models provide reasonable agreement with benchmarking data for rising bubble simulations. Both CSF and SSF models successfully predicted the capillary rise between two parallel plates, but Smoothed CSF could not provide reliable results. The evolution of spurious current were studied for millimetre-sized stationary bubbles. The results shows that SSF and CSF models generate the least and most spurious currents, respectively. We also show that maximum time step, mesh resolution and the under-relaxation factor used in the simulations affect the magnitude of spurious currents. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue CFD Modeling of Complex Chemical Processes: Multiscale and Multiphysics Challenges)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

16 pages, 4311 KiB  
Article
Computational Fluid Dynamics Simulation of Gas–Solid Hydrodynamics in a Bubbling Fluidized-Bed Reactor: Effects of Air Distributor, Viscous and Drag Models
by Ramin Khezri, Wan Azlina Wan Ab Karim Ghani, Salman Masoudi Soltani, Dayang Radiah Awang Biak, Robiah Yunus, Kiman Silas, Muhammad Shahbaz and Shiva Rezaei Motlagh
Processes 2019, 7(8), 524; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr7080524 - 08 Aug 2019
Cited by 12 | Viewed by 6398
Abstract
In this work, we employed a computational fluid dynamics (CFD)-based model with a Eulerian multiphase approach to simulate the fluidization hydrodynamics in biomass gasification processes. Air was used as the gasifying/fluidizing agent and entered the gasifier at the bottom which subsequently fluidized the [...] Read more.
In this work, we employed a computational fluid dynamics (CFD)-based model with a Eulerian multiphase approach to simulate the fluidization hydrodynamics in biomass gasification processes. Air was used as the gasifying/fluidizing agent and entered the gasifier at the bottom which subsequently fluidized the solid particles inside the reactor column. The momentum exchange related to the gas-phase was simulated by considering various viscous models (i.e., laminar and turbulence models of the re-normalisation group (RNG), k-ε and k-ω). The pressure drop gradient obtained by employing each viscous model was plotted for different superficial velocities and compared with the experimental data for validation. The turbulent model of RNG k-Ɛ was found to best represent the actual process. We also studied the effect of air distributor plates with different pore diameters (2, 3 and 5 mm) on the momentum of the fluidizing fluid. The plate with 3-mm pores showed larger turbulent viscosities above the surface. The effects of drag models (Syamlal–O’Brien, Gidaspow and energy minimum multi-scale method (EMMS) on the bed’s pressure drop as well as on the volume fractions of the solid particles were investigated. The Syamlal–O’Brien model was found to forecast bed pressure drops most consistently, with the pressure drops recorded throughout the experimental process. The formation of bubbles and their motion along the gasifier height in the presence of the turbulent flow was seen to follow a different pattern from with the laminar flow. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue CFD Modeling of Complex Chemical Processes: Multiscale and Multiphysics Challenges)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

15 pages, 5212 KiB  
Article
Computational Fluid Dynamic Simulation of Inhaled Radon Dilution by Auxiliary Ventilation in a Stone-Coal Mine Laneway and Dosage Assessment of Miners
by Bin Zhou, Ping Chang and Guang Xu
Processes 2019, 7(8), 515; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr7080515 - 05 Aug 2019
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 3294
Abstract
Inhaled radon status in the laneways of some Chinese stone-coal mines is a cause of concern. In this study, computational fluid dynamics simulations were employed to investigate three flowrates of the dilution gas (2.5, 5, and 7.5 m3/s) and radon distributions [...] Read more.
Inhaled radon status in the laneways of some Chinese stone-coal mines is a cause of concern. In this study, computational fluid dynamics simulations were employed to investigate three flowrates of the dilution gas (2.5, 5, and 7.5 m3/s) and radon distributions at realistic breathing levels (1.6, 1.75, and 1.9 m). The results showed that there are obvious jet-flow, backflow, and vortex zones near the heading face, and a circulation flow at the rear of the laneway. A high radon concentration area was found to be caused by the mining machinery. As the ventilation rate increased, the radon concentrations dropped significantly. An airflow of 7.5 m3/s showed the best dilution performance: The maximum radon concentration decreased to 541.62 Bq/m3, which is within the safe range recommended by the International Commission on Radiological Protection. Annual effective doses for the three air flowrates were 8.61, 5.50, and 4.12 mSv. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue CFD Modeling of Complex Chemical Processes: Multiscale and Multiphysics Challenges)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

13 pages, 2468 KiB  
Article
A Computational Fluid Dynamics Approach for the Modeling of Gas Separation in Membrane Modules
by Salman Qadir, Arshad Hussain and Muhammad Ahsan
Processes 2019, 7(7), 420; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr7070420 - 03 Jul 2019
Cited by 15 | Viewed by 4497
Abstract
Natural gas demand has increased rapidly across the globe in the last decade, and it is set to play an important role in meeting future energy requirements. Natural gas is mainly produced from fossil fuel and is a side product of crude oil [...] Read more.
Natural gas demand has increased rapidly across the globe in the last decade, and it is set to play an important role in meeting future energy requirements. Natural gas is mainly produced from fossil fuel and is a side product of crude oil produced beneath the earth’s crust. Materials hazardous to the environment, like CO2, H2S, and C2H4, are present in raw natural gas. Therefore, purification of the gaseous mixture is required for use in different industrial applications. A comprehensive computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model was proposed to perform the separation of natural gas from other gases using membrane modules. The CFD technique was utilized to estimate gas flow variations in membrane modules for gas separation. CFD was applied to different membrane modules to study gas transport through the membrane and flux, and to separate the binary gas mixtures. The different parameters of membrane modules, like feed and permeate pressure, module length, and membrane thickness, have been investigated successfully. CFD allows changing the specifications of membrane modules to better configure the simulation results. It was concluded that in a membrane module with increasing feed pressure, the pressure gradient also increased, which resulted in higher flux, higher permeation, and maximum purity of the permeate. Due to the high purity of the gaseous product in the permeate, the concentration polarization effect was determined to be negligible. The results obtained from the proposed CFD approach were verified by comparing with the values available in the literature. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue CFD Modeling of Complex Chemical Processes: Multiscale and Multiphysics Challenges)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

12 pages, 2789 KiB  
Article
Influence of Particle Charge and Size Distribution on Triboelectric Separation—New Evidence Revealed by In Situ Particle Size Measurements
by Johann Landauer and Petra Foerst
Processes 2019, 7(6), 381; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr7060381 - 19 Jun 2019
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 4446
Abstract
Triboelectric charging is a potentially suitable tool for separating fine dry powders, but the charging process is not yet completely understood. Although physical descriptions of triboelectric charging have been proposed, these proposals generally assume the standard conditions of particles and surfaces without considering [...] Read more.
Triboelectric charging is a potentially suitable tool for separating fine dry powders, but the charging process is not yet completely understood. Although physical descriptions of triboelectric charging have been proposed, these proposals generally assume the standard conditions of particles and surfaces without considering dispersity. To better understand the influence of particle charge on particle size distribution, we determined the in situ particle size in a protein–starch mixture injected into a separation chamber. The particle size distribution of the mixture was determined near the electrodes at different distances from the separation chamber inlet. The particle size decreased along both electrodes, indicating a higher protein than starch content near the electrodes. Moreover, the height distribution of the powder deposition and protein content along the electrodes were determined in further experiments, and the minimum charge of a particle that ensures its separation in a given region of the separation chamber was determined in a computational fluid dynamics simulation. According to the results, the charge on the particles is distributed and apparently independent of particle size. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue CFD Modeling of Complex Chemical Processes: Multiscale and Multiphysics Challenges)
►▼ Show Figures

Graphical abstract

21 pages, 15966 KiB  
Article
In Situ Measurements and CFD Numerical Simulations of Thermal Environment in Blind Headings of Underground Mines
by Wenhao Wang, Chengfa Zhang, Wenyu Yang, Hong Xu, Sasa Li, Chen Li, Hui Ma and Guansheng Qi
Processes 2019, 7(5), 313; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr7050313 - 24 May 2019
Cited by 19 | Viewed by 3854
Abstract
In order to gain a knowledge of the heat emitted from a variety of sources at the blind heading of an underground gold mine, the present study conducts an in situ measurement study in a blind heading within the load haul dumps (LHDs) [...] Read more.
In order to gain a knowledge of the heat emitted from a variety of sources at the blind heading of an underground gold mine, the present study conducts an in situ measurement study in a blind heading within the load haul dumps (LHDs) that are operating. The measurements can provide a reliable data basis for the setting of numerical simulations. The results demonstrate that the distances between the forcing outlet and the mining face (denoted as Zm), as well as the heat generation from LHDs (denoted as QL), has brought significant impacts on the airflow velocity, relative humidity, and temperature distributions in the blind heading. Setting Zm to 5 m could achieve a relative optimal cooling performance, also indicating that when the LHD is fully operating in the mining face, employing the pure forcing system has a limited effect on the temperature decrease of the blind heading. According to the numerical simulations, a better cooling performance can be achieved based on the near-forcing-far-exhausting (NFFE) ventilation system. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue CFD Modeling of Complex Chemical Processes: Multiscale and Multiphysics Challenges)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

19 pages, 8189 KiB  
Article
CFD Optimization Process of a Lateral Inlet/Outlet Diffusion Part of a Pumped Hydroelectric Storage Based on Optimal Surrogate Models
by Xueping Gao, Hongtao Zhu, Han Zhang, Bowen Sun, Zixue Qin and Ye Tian
Processes 2019, 7(4), 204; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr7040204 - 10 Apr 2019
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 3531
Abstract
The lateral inlet/outlet plays a critical role in the connecting tunnels of a water delivery system in a pumped hydroelectric storage (PHES). Therefore, the shape of the inlet/outlet was improved through computational fluid dynamics (CFD) optimization based on optimal surrogate models. The CFD [...] Read more.
The lateral inlet/outlet plays a critical role in the connecting tunnels of a water delivery system in a pumped hydroelectric storage (PHES). Therefore, the shape of the inlet/outlet was improved through computational fluid dynamics (CFD) optimization based on optimal surrogate models. The CFD method applied in this paper was validated by a physical experiment that was carefully designed to meet bidirectional flow requirements. To determine a good compromise between the generation and pump mode, reasonable weights were defined to better evaluate the overall performance. In order to find suitable surrogate models to improve the optimization process, the best suited surrogate models were identified by an optimal model selection method. The optimal configurations of the surrogate model for the head loss and the velocity distribution coefficient were the Kriging model with a Gaussian kernel and the Kriging model with an Exponential kernel, respectively. Finally, a multi-objective surrogate-based optimization method was used to determine the optimum design. The overall head loss coefficient and velocity distribution coefficients were 0.248 and 1.416. Compared with the original shape, the coefficients decrease by 6.42% and 40.28%, respectively. The methods and findings of this work may provide practical guidelines for designers and researchers. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue CFD Modeling of Complex Chemical Processes: Multiscale and Multiphysics Challenges)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

Review

Jump to: Editorial, Research, Other

26 pages, 7667 KiB  
Review
CFD Modeling of Gas–Solid Cyclone Separators at Ambient and Elevated Temperatures
by Mohammadhadi Nakhaei, Bona Lu, Yujie Tian, Wei Wang, Kim Dam-Johansen and Hao Wu
Processes 2020, 8(2), 228; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr8020228 - 15 Feb 2020
Cited by 39 | Viewed by 17476
Abstract
Gas–solid cyclone separators are widely utilized in many industrial applications and usually involve complex multi-physics of gas–solid flow and heat transfer. In recent years, there has been a progressive interest in the application of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to understand the gas–solid flow [...] Read more.
Gas–solid cyclone separators are widely utilized in many industrial applications and usually involve complex multi-physics of gas–solid flow and heat transfer. In recent years, there has been a progressive interest in the application of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to understand the gas–solid flow behavior of cyclones and predict their performance. In this paper, a review of the existing CFD studies of cyclone separators, operating in a wide range of solids loadings and at ambient and elevated temperatures, is presented. In the first part, a brief background on the important performance parameters of cyclones, namely pressure drop and separation efficiency, as well as how they are affected by the solids loading and operating temperature, is described. This is followed by a summary of the existing CFD simulation studies of cyclones at ambient temperature, with an emphasis on the high mass loading of particles, and at elevated temperatures. The capabilities as well as the challenges and limitations of the existing CFD approaches in predicting the performance of cyclones operating in such conditions are evaluated. Finally, an outlook on the prospects of CFD simulation of cyclone separators is provided. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue CFD Modeling of Complex Chemical Processes: Multiscale and Multiphysics Challenges)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

Other

1 pages, 168 KiB  
Correction
Correction: Vachaparambil, K.J. Comparison of Surface Tension Models for the Volume of Fluid Method. Processes 2019, 7, 542
by Kurian J. Vachaparambil and Kristian Etienne Einarsrud
Processes 2020, 8(2), 152; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr8020152 - 25 Jan 2020
Viewed by 1645
Abstract
In Equations (2) and (3) [...] Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue CFD Modeling of Complex Chemical Processes: Multiscale and Multiphysics Challenges)
Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:
 
Displaying articles 1-17
Back to TopTop