Journal
POWDER TECHNOLOGY
Volume 203, Issue 2, Pages 109-124Publisher
ELSEVIER SCIENCE SA
DOI: 10.1016/j.powtec.2010.04.002
Keywords
Euler-Euler model; Electrostatic modeling; Olefin polymerization; Fluidized-bed reactors; Segregation; Multi-fluid model
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Funding
- Univation Technologies at Iowa State University
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Electrostatics plays an important role in gas-solid polymerization fluidized-bed reactors. Agglomeration of polymer particles can occur due to either electrostatic and/or thermal effects, and can lead to reactor operability problems if not properly mitigated. In this work a first-principles electrostatic model is developed and coupled with a multi-fluid computational fluid dynamic (CFD) model to understand the effect of electrostatics on the bulk polymer, polymer fines, and catalyst particles. The multi-phase CFD model for gas-solid flow is based on the kinetic theory of granular flows and the frictional theory. The electrostatic model is developed based on a fixed, size-dependent charge for each type of particle (catalyst, polymer fines and polymer). The combined CFD model is first verified using simple test cases and then applied to a pilot-plant-scale polymerization fluidized-bed reactor. The multi-phase CFD model is applied to reproduce qualitative trends in particle segregation and entrainment due to electrostatic charges observed in experiments. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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