Modelling of three-phase flows with catalytic particles

Introduction

This proposal is on modelling of 3 phase gas-solid-liquid multi-component flows with catalyst particles, which are frequently encountered in industrial applications, but have not been tackled fundamentally before due to their complexity.

Background

Dense multi-phase flows have been intensively researched because of their scientifically interesting transport phenomena and industrial applications. Considerable progress has been made for gas-solid and gas-liquid two-phase flows.

However, catalytic multicomponent three-phase flows have received relatively little attention despite their importance for the production of clean synthetic fuels, base chemicals, and many other products.

Challenges

Multiphase transport phenomena in such systems are poorly understood due to their complexity. Therefore, the design of processes is cumbersome. In addition, the process operation is often far from optimal in terms of energy and feedstock utilization.

Significant improvements are required to boost the efficiency of three-phase systems, which demands a better understanding of the transport fundamentals and complex interplay with chemical reactions and availability of predictive tools.

Problem Statement

The main underlying problem is the wide range of length scales:

• Suspended catalyst particles have a size of 100-200 μm,
• Whereas the diameter of industrial reactors is 5-10 meters.

To tackle this problem, a multi-scale modeling strategy is required.

Methodology

At the finest scale, detailed models take into account the interaction between the phases. These interactions are condensed in closure laws for mass, momentum, and heat exchange that feed so-called Euler-Lagrange models, which can then be used to compute the flow structures on a much larger (industrial) scale.

Innovation

The key innovative aspect of this proposal is the integrated approach, including incorporation of multi-component chemical transformations and the validation on the basis of one-to-one comparison of the computational results with experiments.