A fundamental model of wax deposition in subsea oil pipelines

Wax deposition in subsea pipelines is a significant economic issue in the petroleum industry. A mathematical model has been developed to predict the increase in both the deposit thickness and the wax fraction of the deposit using a fundamental analysis of the heat and mass transfer for laminar and turbulent flow conditions. It was found that the precipitation of wax in the oil is a competing phenomenon with deposition. Two existing approaches consider either no precipitation (the independent heat and mass transfer model) or instantaneous precipitation (the solubility model) and result in either an overprediction or an underprediction of deposit thickness. By accounting for the kinetics of wax precipitation of wax in the oil (the kinetic model), accurate predictions for wax deposition for both lab‐scale and pilot‐scale flow‐loop experiments with three different oils were achieved. Furthermore, this kinetic model for wax precipitation in the oil was used to compare field‐scale deposition predictions for different oils. © 2011 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 2011     

LES–Lagrangian‐particles‐simulation of turbulent reactive flows at high Sc number using approximate deconvolution model

Large eddy simulation (LES) with the approximate deconvolution model is combined with Lagrangian particles simulation (LPS) for simulating turbulent reactive flows at high Schmidt numbers Sc. The LES is used to simulate velocity and nonreactive scalar while reactive scalars are simulated by the LPS using the mixing volume model for molecular diffusion. The LES–LPS is applied to turbulent scalar mixing layers with a second‐order isothermal irreversible reaction at Sc = 600. The mixing volume model is implemented with the IEM, Curl's, and modified Curl's mixing schemes. The mixing volume model provides a correct decay rate of nonreactive scalar variance at high Sc independently of the number of particles. The statistics in the LES–LPS with the IEM or modified Curl's mixing scheme agree well with the experiments for both moderately‐fast and rapid reactions. However, the LPS with the Curl's mixing scheme overpredicts the effects of the rapid reaction. © 2016 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 62: 2912–2922, 2016     

An experimentally validated heat and mass transfer model for wax deposition from flowing oil onto a cold surface

A transport model is proposed for wax deposition onto a cold finger from flowing wax-containing oils. The model solves transient energy and mass balances simultaneously for a reversible first-order kinetic rate for precipitation of pseudo-single-component wax, and the effects of yield stress using a critical solid wax concentration to withstand flow-induced stress at the deposit-fluid interface. The model can predict the time evolution of the deposit thickness, and the spatial and temporal evolution of temperature and wax concentration as validated using cold finger experiments. It was found that for high wax content oils, deposit thickness growth is dominated by heat transfer. For low wax content oils that are unable to gel, the thickness growth is slow and accompanied by occasional sloughing. Regardless of the mechanism controlling the growth, mass transfer cannot be neglected as wax diffusion into the deposit continues to take place after the deposit has stopped growing.     

Galvanic deposition of silver on 80‐μm‐Cu‐fiber for gas‐phase oxidation of alcohols

Microstructured Ag‐based catalysts were developed by galvanically depositing Ag onto 80‐μm‐Cu‐fibers for the gas‐phase oxidation of alcohols. By taking advantages including large voidage, open porous structure and high heat/mass transfer, as‐made catalysts provided a nice combination of high activity/selectivity and enhanced heat transfer. The best catalyst was Ag‐10/80‐Cu‐fiber‐400 (Ag‐loading: 10 wt%; Cu‐fiber pretreated at 400 °C in air), being effective for oxidizing acyclic, benzylic and polynary alcohols. For benzyl alcohol, conversion of 94% was achieved with 99% selectivity to benzaldehyde at 300 °C using a high WHSV of 20 h^?1. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) calculation and experimental result illustrated significant enhancement of the heat transfer. The temperature difference from reactor wall to central line was about 10–20 °C for the Ag‐10/80‐Cu‐fiber‐400, much lower than that of 100–110 °C for the Ag‐10‐Cu‐2/Al₂O₃ at equivalent conversion and selectivity. Synergistic interaction between Cu₂O and Ag was discussed, being assignable to the activity improvement. © 2014 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 60: 1045–1053, 2014     

Particle‐scale simulation of the flow and heat transfer behaviors in fluidized bed with immersed tube

A kind of new modified computational fluid dynamics‐discrete element method (CFD‐DEM) method was founded by combining CFD based on unstructured mesh and DEM. The turbulent dense gas–solid two phase flow and the heat transfer in the equipment with complex geometry can be simulated by the programs based on the new method when the k‐ε turbulence model and the multiway coupling heat transfer model among particles, walls and gas were employed. The new CFD‐DEM coupling method that combining k‐ε turbulence model and heat transfer model, was employed to simulate the flow and the heat transfer behaviors in the fluidized bed with an immersed tube. The microscale mechanism of heat transfer in the fluidized bed was explored by the simulation results and the critical factors that influence the heat transfer between the tube and the bed were discussed. The profiles of average solids fraction and heat transfer coefficient between gas‐tube and particle‐tube around the tube were obtained and the influences of fluidization parameters such as gas velocity and particle diameter on the transfer coefficient were explored by simulations. The computational results agree well with the experiment, which shows that the new CFD‐DEM method is feasible and accurate for the simulation of complex gas–solid flow with heat transfer. And this will improve the farther simulation study of the gas–solid two phase flow with chemical reactions in the fluidized bed. © 2009 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 2009     

Coupled simulation of the flue gas and process gas side of a steam cracker convection section

A coupled simulation of the flue gas and process gas side of the convection section of a steam cracker is performed, making use of the CFD software package Fluent. A detailed overview of the operating mode of the different heat exchangers suspended in the convection section is obtained. The asymmetric inlet flow field of the flue gas in the convection section, and the radiation from the convection section walls leads to large differences in outlet temperatures of the tubes located in the same row. The flow fields and temperature fields in the tubes of a single heat exchanger differ significantly with e.g., outlet temperatures of the hydrocarbon‐steam mixture ranging from 820 K to 852 K. Moreover, the simulations reveal the presence of hot spots on the lowest tube row, possibly causing fouling. © 2009 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 2009     

Two‐dimensional model of methane thermal decomposition reactors with radiative heat transfer and carbon particle growth

A two‐dimensional model of methane thermal decomposition reactors is developed which accounts for coupled radiative heat and polydisperse carbon particle nucleation, growth, and transport. The model uses the Navier–Stokes equations for the fluid dynamics, the radiative transfer equation for methane and particle species radiation absorption, the advection–diffusion equation for gas and particle species transport, and a sectional method for particle species nucleation, heterogenous growth, and coagulation. The model is applied to a tubular laminar flow reactor. The simulation results indicate the development of a reaction boundary layer inside the reactor, which results in significant variation of the local particle size distribution across the reactor. © 2011 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 58: 2545–2556, 2012     

A multiscale,biophysical model of flow‐induced red blood cell damage

A new model for mechanically induced red blood cell damage is presented. Incorporating biophysical insight at multiple length scales, the model couples flow‐induced deformation of the cell membrane (～10 µm) to membrane permeabilization and hemoglobin transport (～100 nm). We estimate hemolysis in macroscopic (above ～1 mm) 2‐D inhomogeneous blood flow by computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and compare results with literature models. Simulations predict the effects of local flow field on RBC damage, due to the combined contribution of membrane permeabilization and hemoglobin transport. The multiscale approach developed here lays a foundation for a predictive tool for the optimization of hydrodynamic and hematologic design of cardiovascular prostheses and blood purification devices. © 2014 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 60: 1509–1516, 2014     

Heat transfer and flow pattern in co‐current downward steam condensation in vertical pipes‐II: Comparison with published work

The condensation of pure steam flowing downward inside a vertical tube has been extensively studied. Considerable amount of experimental and analytical efforts can be found due to the significance of this subject in practice. In this work, a critical review of the most important experimental, analytical and computational fluid dynamic (CFD) investigations have been presented. CFD simulations for the geometries of Goodykoontz and Dorsch [Goodykoontz and Dorsch, NASA TN D‐3326, 1966; Goodykoontz and Dorsch, NASA TN D‐3953, 1967], Kim and No [Kim and No, Int. J. Heat Mass Transf. 2000;43:4031–4042] and the present work have been performed and compared with the experimental data reported in these investigations. CFD predictions of the pressure drop and the heat transfer coefficient (HTC) were in close agreement with the experimental values. A preliminary regime map has been constructed for downward flow steam condensation inside pipes. Finally, all the published semi‐empirical correlations for the HTC have been critically analysed and compared with the CFD predictions. An attempt has been made to make specific recommendations. © 2012 Canadian Society for Chemical Engineering     

Numerical simulations of a full‐scale cable tray fire using small‐scale test data

This paper presents a computational fluid dynamics (CFD)‐based modeling strategy for the prediction of cable tray fire development. The methodology is applied to a set of five horizontal trays (each 2.4‐m long and 0.45‐m wide) that are positioned with a 0.3‐m vertical spacing and set up against an insulated wall. Each tray contains 49 power PVC cables. Ignition is performed with an 80‐kW propane burner centrally positioned at 0.2 m below the lowest tray. A collection of four groups of cables per tray (made of one homogeneous material) is considered. These groups are separated by longitudinal slots of air to “mimic” their relatively “loose arrangement.” The thermal properties and surface ignition temperature are estimated from cone calorimetry (CC). When the ignition temperature is reached, the cables burn according to a prescribed heat release rate per unit area (HRRPUA) profile obtained from CC, as is or in a modified shape. A realistic flame pattern is predicted. Furthermore, using only data from CC, the peak HRR is underpredicted, and the time to reach the peak is overpredicted. The proposed “design” for the modified HRRPUA CC‐profile significantly improves the results.     

A generalized CFD model for evaluating catalytic separation process in structured porous materials

A hybrid multiphase model is developed to simulate the simultaneous momentum, heat and mass transfer and heterogeneous catalyzed reaction in structured catalytic porous materials. The approach relies on the combination of the volume of fluid (VOF) and Eulerian–Eulerian models, and several plug-in field functions. The VOF method is used to capture the gas–liquid interface motion, and the Eulerian–Eulerian framework solves the temperature and chemical species concentration equations for each phase. The self-defined field functions utilize a single-domain approach to overcome convergence difficulty when applying the hybrid multiphase for a multi-domain problem. The method is then applied to investigate selective removal of specific species in multicomponent reactive evaporation process. The results show that the coupling of catalytic reaction and interface species mass transfer at the phase interface is conditional, and the coupling of catalytic reaction and momentum transfer across fluid–porous interface significantly affects the conversion rate of reactants. Based on the numerical results, a strategy is proposed for matching solid catalyst with operating condition in catalytic distillation application.     

Three‐dimensional CFD‐PBM coupled model of the temperature fields in fluidized‐bed polymerization reactors

A three‐dimensional (3‐D) computational fluid dynamics model, coupled with population balance (CFD‐PBM), was developed to describe the gas–solid two‐phase flow in fluidized‐bed polymerization reactors. The model considered the Eulerian–Eulerian two‐fluid model, the kinetic theory of granular flow, the population balance, and heat exchange equations. First, the model was validated by comparing simulation results with the classical calculated data. The entire temperature fields in the reactor were also obtained numerically. Furthermore, two case studies, involving constant solid particle size and constant polymerization heat or evolving particle‐size distribution, polymerization kinetics, and polymerization heat, were designed to identify the model. The results showed that the calculated results in the second case were in good agreement with the reality. Finally, the model of the second case was used to investigate the influences of operational conditions on the temperature field. © 2011 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 2011     

A functional subgrid drift velocity model for filtered drag prediction in dense fluidized bed

Due to computational time limitations, fully resolved simulations using the two‐fluid model of the flow inside industrial‐scale fluidized beds are unaffordable. The filtered approach is used to account for the effect of small unresolved scales on the large resolved scales computed with “coarse” realistic meshes. Using a fully resolved simulation, we highlight the need to account for a subgrid drift velocity to obtain the correct bed expansion when using coarse meshes. This velocity, defined as the difference between the filtered gas velocity seen by the particle phase and the resolved filtered gas velocity, modify the effective relative velocity appearing in the drag law. We close it as a correction of the resolved relative velocity depending on the filtered particle concentration and the filter size. A dynamic procedure is used to adjust a tuning parameter. Bed expansion obtained with a posteriori test on coarse‐grid simulations matches well to fully resolved simulations. © 2011 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 2012     

Transport and deposition patterns in drying sessile droplets

The literature on drying sessile droplets and deposition of suspended material is reviewed including the simple explanation of the “coffee ring” deposit given by Deegan et al.¹ Analytical and numerical solutions for the flow are given, including the effect of Marangoni stresses, pinning or movement of the contact line, and viscous, thermal, gravitational, and other effects. The solution space is explored using dimensionless groups governing mass, momentum, and heat transfer effects in the droplet, external gas, and substrate. The most common types of deposition patterns are summarized, including those produced by pinned contact lines, sticking‐and‐slipping contact lines, and Marangoni effects. The influence of contact‐line deposits is also reviewed, and the effects of colloidal, polymeric, and other depositing materials. Advanced applications from ink‐jet printing to disease diagnosis are discussed as well. The review helps readers take stock of what has been learned and what remains incompletely explained. © 2014 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 60: 1538–1571, 2014     

Three‐Dimensional Computational Fluid Dynamics Modeling of a Planar Solid Oxide Fuel Cell

A three‐dimensional computational fluid dynamics model was developed to study the performance of a planar solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC). The governing equations were solved with the finite volume method. The model was validated by comparing the simulation results with data from literature. Parametric simulations were performed to investigate the coupled heat/mass transfer and electrochemical reactions in a planar SOFC. Different from previous two‐dimensional studies the present three‐dimensional analyses revealed that the current density was higher at the center along the flow channel while lower under the interconnect ribs, due to slower diffusion of gas species under the ribs. The effects of inlet gas flow rate and electrode porosity on SOFC performance were examined as well. The analyses provide a better understanding of the working mechanisms of SOFCs. The model can serve as a useful tool for SOFC design optimization.     

A CFD study on a vertical chemical vapor deposition reactor for growing carbon nanofibers

A computational fluid dynamic (CFD) study has been carried out to simulate velocity, temperature, and concentration profiles in a vertical chemical vapor deposition (CVD) reactor used for growing carbon nanofibers (CNFs). CNFs were grown over activated carbon fibers (ACFs) wrapped over an especially designed perforated tube which was vertically mounted in the reactor. The numerical model analysis incorporated the conservation equations of momentum, energy, and species. Natural convection effects on the heat-transfer and the exothermic heat generation due to the decomposition of benzene were included. The model simulation results revealed that approximately uniform temperature and concentration profiles existed in the ACF-packed bed. In addition, multiple combinations of the heating length and the wall temperature of the reactor were possible to achieve the prescribed CVD temperature. Under the simulated CVD conditions, the present model predicted an average carbon deposition rate of 5 × 10⁻¹³ kg/m² s, which corresponded to the yield of ∼0.005 g of CNFs per g of ACFs. The simulation results of this study are important for the optimization of the CVD operating conditions to achieve a high and uniform CNF growth in the vertical reactor.     

下行床气粒流动行为的Eulerian-Lagrangian模拟

采用计算流体力学和离散单元方法耦合模型（CFD-DEM）对二维下行床内的气粒流动行为进行了全床数值模拟。模拟结果展示了下行床典型操作条件下特有的气固动态流动结构：沿流动方向存在明显的入口控制区、过渡区和（完全）发展区;颗粒聚团并不是出现在浓度相对较高的入口区,而是在过渡区之后的发展过程中逐渐形成较多的、松散的动态聚团结构。下行床发展段呈现典型的近壁浓环结构,这与实验结果基本一致。考察了颗粒之间以及颗粒与壁面之间的碰撞参数对下行床内气固流动结构的影响,发现完全弹性碰撞颗粒体系在入口区呈现最快速的颗粒分散;而对本文研究的操作条件,颗粒碰撞参数对发展段时均流体力学行为只产生轻微的影响。