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Analysis of the Particle Clustering Phenomenon in the Fluid Catalytic Cracking of Gasoil in a Downer Reactor
Author(s) -
Gomez Noel,
Molina Alejandro
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
chemical engineering and technology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.403
H-Index - 81
eISSN - 1521-4125
pISSN - 0930-7516
DOI - 10.1002/ceat.201800463
Subject(s) - fluid catalytic cracking , cracking , particle (ecology) , mechanics , reynolds number , chemistry , thermodynamics , materials science , physics , turbulence , oceanography , geology
Abstract A large eddy simulation (LES)‐discrete element method (DEM) investigation was carried out to study particle clusters in a canonical downer reactor during the fluid catalytic cracking of gasoil. The analysis considered two cases: with and without chemical reactions. The results of the system under cold‐flow conditions for the frequency and mean lifetime of clusters were in good agreement with experimental data. The changes in the hydrodynamic conditions generated by the cracking reactions led to clusters with shorter mean lifetime but higher frequency compared to the system without chemical reactions. Additionally, the frequency and mean lifetime of clusters were successfully correlated to an empirical expression as a function of the particle Reynolds number and the Stokes number, which summarize the hydrodynamic conditions of the downer.