Validation of a Novel Scaling Methodology for CFD Simulations of a Spouted Fluidized Bed with γ-Al2O3 Particle

Abstract

Chemical-looping combustion (CLC) is a next generation combustion technology that shows great promise as a solution for the need of high-efficiency low-cost carbon capture from fossil fueled power plants. The spouted fluidized bed setup provides several advantages when solid coal is used as fuel for CLC. The Lagrangian particle tracking approach known as Discrete Element Method (DEM) coupled with a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) solution of the flow field provides an effective means of simulating the behavior of a spouted fluidized bed. Given the high computing cost of CFD-DEM, it is necessary to develop a scaling methodology based on the principles of dynamic similarity that can be applied to a CFD-DEM simulation to expand the scope of this approach to larger CLC systems up to the industrial scale. A novel scaling methodology based on the terminal velocity was proposed and shown to improve the accuracy of the simulation results compared to existing scaling methodologies in the literature in a cold-flow simulation of a spouted fluidized experiment with glass beads. In this paper, the scaling methodologies are applied to a spouted fluidized bed consisting of γ-Al2O3 particles to affirm the validity of the proposed scaling law for materials with different physical properties than glass bead.