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Application 1020

Reactor design supported by computational fluid dynamics (CFD)

The performance of a reactor for heterogeneous chemistry depends on the liquid flow it creates, and the mass-transfer rates it can achieve. Simulations help us investigate in high detail how a rotating bed reactor performs in any configuration.

Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is an important tool during development and optimization of SpinChem® rotating bed reactors (RBRs). With CFD, we are able to fine-tune the design and deployment of our products for different applications. Predictions of reaction rate, mixing time and power requirement are helpful in advance of the fabrication of a tailored solution.

Reach out to SpinChem for a discussion about your applications, and we will help you discover whether a rotating bed reactor could improve your processes.

This image illustrates the flow in a cross section of the liquid around a SpinChem® RBR S2 in a flower baffled Vessel V2, simulated with computational fluid dynamics using Ansys softwareThis image illustrates the flow in a cross section of the liquid around a SpinChem® RBR S2 in a flower baffled Vessel V2, simulated using Ansys Fluent. The characteristic flow pattern emerges, where the liquid is drawn into the central inlets in the bottom and top of the RBR, and expelled radially outwards from the periphery of the reactor.

The flow rate, measured in bed volumes per second, through a packing of a typical polymeric resin in a RBR S2 is shown in the figureFlow rates through the bed of catalyst or adsorbent can also be calculated using CFD. The flow rate, measured in bed volumes per second, through a packing of a typical polymeric resin in a RBR S2 is shown in the figure below. The flow rate increases steadily with increasing stirring speed, which is how the mass transfer limitations of many reactions are readily removed with an RBR.

 

Further reading

Topics Reactor Engineering, Technical concept

Products SpinChem® Vessel V2

Details

Conditions: The flow was simulated in ANSYS Fluent 17.1 using the steady MRF model at 500 rpm and the SST k-omega turbulence model on a mesh of 0.96 million elements. All dimensions used was identical to the SpinChem® RBR S221 and closely matched the SpinChem® flower baffled reaction vessel V221.