2022 journal article
CFD multiphase combustion modelling of oleic by-products pellets in a counter-current fixed bed combustor
COMPTES RENDUS CHIMIE, 25, 113–127.
. A transient two-dimensional multiphase model was built to study the combustion of pellets of oleic by-products (Olive Pits (OPi)) in a cylindrical counter-current 40 kW fixed bed combustor. The fixedbedismodelledasaporousmedium,whichisrandomlypackedwithsphericalparticlesofequal size. A κ − ε model for low Reynolds number flows was used for turbulence Modelling. Primary and secondary air injections were supplied at the bed (solid phase combustion) and at the freeboard zone (gas phase combustion), respectively. The mass loss history, the temperature distribution at di ff erent heightsinsidethereactorandthegasemissionsofCO,CO 2 ,O 2 ,H 2 ,CH 4 andC org werecomputed.Key parameters related to the reaction front velocity, the mass conversion rate and the progress of ignition were also computed. We show that computational results are in good agreement with experimental measurements obtained using a similar reactor fed with the same pellet types. These results also motivatetheimplementationofthepresentformulationanditsextensiontoindustrialscalefurnaces, having established the results for the comparison with pilot-scale experiments.