Fuel particles motion

Fuel particle motion in a fluidized bed is a key issue in the design of the fluidized bed reactors. The motion when it is immersed in the bed and when it is in the freeboard describes the mixing of the fuel particle throughout the bed. Well mixing is important in thermal conversion process, improving the fuel particles reactions and avoiding hot and cold spots. The main parameters associated to the behaviour of the fuel particles in the bed are:

• Time immersed in the dense bed.

• Vertical and lateral displacement inside the dense bed.

• Time spent in the freeboard.

• Maximum height reached and lateral displacement in the freeboard.

• Lateral dispersion coefficients.

ISE research group investigates the characterization of the fuel particles motion in fluidized beds. Besides, modelling of fuel particles motion is developed based on statistical methods and numerical simulations.A Monte Carlo model was developed to describe the fuel particles behaviour in large-scale reactors. The numerical simulations are based on novel hybrid TFM-DEM model which fully couples the continuum description of the gas and dense phases with the discrete tracking of the fuel particles.

Two PhD thesis have been specifically developed in the ISE research group with the aim to study fuel particles motion inside fluidized beds.

L.M. García Gutiérrez 2014. Experimental study and Monte Carlo modeling of object motion in a bubbling fluidized bed. Carlos III University of Madrid. A. Soria Verdugo 2010. Motion of objects immersed in a bubbling fluidized bed. Carlos III University of Madrid.

• Hernández-Jiménez, F., Garcia-Gutierrez, L.M., Soria-Verdugo, A., Acosta-Iborra, A. 2015 Fully coupled TFM-DEM simulations to study the motion of fuel particles in a fluidized bed. Chemical Engineering Science 134, 57-66.

• Garcia-Gutierrez, L.M., Soria-Verdugo, A., Ruiz-Rivas, U. 2015 Optimization of the feeding ports location in a fluidized bed reactor based on Monte Carlo simulations of fuel particles. Fuel 141, 82-92.

• Garcia-Gutierrez, L.M., Soria-Verdugo, A., Marugán-Cruz, C., Ruiz-Rivas, U. 2014 Simulation and experimental study on the motion of non-reacting objects in the freeboard of a fluidized bed. Powder Technology 263 (0), 112-120.

• Garcia-Gutierrez, L.M., Soria-Verdugo, A., García-Hernando, N., Ruiz-Rivas, U. 2013 Simulation of object motion in a bubbling fluidized bed using a Monte Carlo method. Chemical Engineering Science 96, 26-32.

• Soria-Verdugo, A., Garcia-Gutierrez, L.M., Sanchez-Delgado, S., Ruiz-Rivas, U. 2011 Motion of a large object immersed in a bubbling fluidized bed. Chemical Engineering Science 66, 78-87.

• Soria-Verdugo, A., Garcia-Gutierrez, L.M., Garcia-Hernando, N., Ruiz-Rivas, U. 2011 Buoyancy effects on objects moving in a bubbling fluidized bed. Chemical Engineering Science 66, 2833–2841.

• Soria-Verdugo, A., Garcia-Hernando, N., Almendros-Ibañez, J.A., Ruiz-Rivas, U. 2011 Motion of a large object in a bubbling fluidized bed with a rotating distributor. Chemical Engineering and Processing 50, 859-868, 2011.