CFD modeling of the catalyst oil slurry hydrodynamics in a high pressure and temperature as potential for biomass liquefaction

Abstract

The paper presents the simulation of a catalyst-para n oil slurry hydrodynamics under high pressure and temperature in a convex bottom reactor with a Rushton turbine which was conducted with an application of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling. An analysis to obtain a uniform distribution of solid catalyst particles suspended in para n oil was carried out as a potential for biomass liquefaction. The e ects of the particle diameter, bed density, liquid viscosity, and the initial solid loading on slurry hydrodynamics in high pressure and temperature behavior were investigated using the Eulerian–Eulerian two-fluid model and the standard k-" turbulence model. The main objective was to assess the performance in agitating highly concentrated slurries to obtain slurry velocity, concentration, the degree of homogeneity, and to examine their e ect on the mixing quality. The results of the analysis are applied to predicting the impact of the most e cient conditions on slurry suspension qualities as potential for biomass liquefaction.