A CFD Simulation for a Two-Phase Turbulent Bed Contactor

Abstract

Turbulent bed contactors (TBC) employed extensively in process industry and received much attention due to their high efficiency, and low capital and operating costs. In this paper, bed hydrodynamics including pressure drop is studied consecutively with the increase of superficial gas velocity in a TBC with various static bed heights, particle sizes, liquid flow rates and rheological liquid properties. A computational model capable of simulating hydrodynamic characteristics in a TBC at different operating conditions is constructed using ANSYS Fluent Software. The simulation results are validated against experimental data obtained. As a first stage, the results of simulations for two phases (gas-solid) for the TBC are presented. Computed pressure drop is validated against experimental data. Good agreement between the two is found for different gas velocities. This study presents a new insight into design and operational parameters that may impact TBC efficiencies.