Fluidization in Aspen Plus

Guide for Circulating Fluidized Bed

Aspen Technology
Bedford, MA
2013

© 2013 Aspen Technology, Inc. All rights reserved

 Why Model a Fluidized Bed?

 Problem: Loss of fines, unknown particle size distributions or

flow rates, high operating costs

 Benefits:
– Gain a better
understanding of particle
size distributions and flow
rates throughout process
– Minimize loss of fines due
to optimal designed gas-
solid separation sections
– Reduce operating costs
due to optimal gas and
solids flow rates

© 2013 Aspen Technology, Inc. All rights reserved | 2

 Fluidization in Aspen Plus

 Aspen Plus fluidized bed model

– describes isothermal fluidized bed
 fluid mechanics (one-dimensional)
 entrainment of particles

– considers
 particle size and density / terminal velocity
 geometry of the vessel
 additional gas supply
 impact of heat exchangers on bed temperature and fluid mechanics
 chemical reactions and their impact on the fluid-mechanics and
vice-versa

– provides different options/correlations to determine

 minimum fluidization velocity
 transport disengagement height
 entrainment of solids from the bed
 distributor pressure drop (porous plate / bubble caps)

© 2013 Aspen Technology, Inc. All rights reserved | 3

 Model short description
- fluid-mechanics

 Model of the fluidized bed considers two zones

– Bottom zone
 high solids concentration
 fluid mechanics according to Werther and Wein.
– considers growth and splitting of bubbles

– Freeboard
 comparable low solids concentration
 fluid mechanics according to Kunii and Levenspiel

 User defines bed inventory by specifying the pressure drop or the

solids hold-up
– height of the bottom zone and the freeboard can be determined
– bubble related profiles (e.g. bubble diameter, bubble rise velocity etc.),
interstitial gas velocity, pressure and solids volume concentration profile
can be calculated
– by use of selected entrainment correlation the solids mass flow and PSD at
the outlets can be calculated

© 2013 Aspen Technology, Inc. All rights reserved | 4

 Model short description
- chemical reactions
 Model allows to consider chemical reactions
– assumptions:
 gas in plug flow
 solids ideally mixed
 each balance cell is considered as CSTR
– model considers
 impact of volume production/reduction on the fluid mechanics
 change in PSD due to reaction

 Use reaction object to define

– stoichiometry
– reaction kinetics

Remark: Chemical reactions are not considered in this demo guide. Please see the “Reactions in Fluidized Beds”
demo guide for further details on how to consider reactions in fluidized beds

© 2013 Aspen Technology, Inc. All rights reserved | 5

 Model short description
- Change in particle size
 Particle size distribution may change due to chemical reaction
– available options that allow to calculate or set the bed PSD

Remark: Chemical reactions are not considered in this demo guide. Please see the “Reactions in Fluidized Beds”
demo guide for further details on how to consider reactions in fluidized beds

© 2013 Aspen Technology, Inc. All rights reserved | 6

 Fluidization in Aspen Plus
- Fluidized Bed GUI
• Define bed inventory by
defining bed pressure
drop or bed mass Specifications
• Define voidage at Tab
minimum fluidization
• Select Geldart group for
the bed material

• Specify minimum
fluidization velocity • Select correlation used for
or select a the calculation of the TDH
correlation to • Specify gradient used for
determine it determination of TDH based
on calculated solids volume
concentration profile

• Define decay
constant for the • Select correlation
freeboard used for the
determination of
the entrainment
flow
• Overwrite
correlation
parameter if
necessary

© 2013 Aspen Technology, Inc. All rights reserved | 7

Fluidization in Aspen Plus
- Fluidized Bed GUI

Operation Tab
Define temperature in the vessel by specifying either:
• heat duty
• temperature

© 2013 Aspen Technology, Inc. All rights reserved | 8

 Fluidization in Aspen Plus
- Fluidized Bed GUI
Geometry Tab

Specify Dimensions
• Height of the vessel
• Solids outlet location (relative to the
height)
• Cross-section (circular or rectangular)
• If the vessel diameter changes with
height or remains constant

Define the vessel diameter

as function of height

Specify the location

of additional gas
inlets

Remarks:
- All locations are relative to the vessel height
(0  bottom, 1 top)
- Table for additional gas inlets is only active if streams
are connected to the additional gas inlet port

© 2013 Aspen Technology, Inc. All rights reserved | 9

 Fluidization in Aspen Plus
- Fluidized Bed GUI
Gas Distributor
Define distributor pressure drop method Tab
• Constant pressure drop
• Calculated based on geometry and given Select distributor type
orifice discharge coefficient • Perforated plate
• Bubble caps

Define
distributor
geometry

© 2013 Aspen Technology, Inc. All rights reserved | 10

 Fluidization in Aspen Plus
- Fluidized Bed GUI
Heat Exchanger
Tab
Define heat exchanger
geometry

Define heat transfer

coefficient
Select if arithmetic or
logarithmic temperature
difference should be used

Remark:
- Heat exchanger input form is only active if streams are
connected to the heat exchanger inlet and outlet

© 2013 Aspen Technology, Inc. All rights reserved | 11

 Fluidization in Aspen Plus
- Fluidized Bed GUI
Shows list of available Reactions
reaction sets Tab

Shows list of selected Defined reaction sets

reaction sets can be edited via the
reactions section in
the Navigation Pane

Select or remove
reaction sets

Add new reaction set

© 2013 Aspen Technology, Inc. All rights reserved | 12

 Fluidization in Aspen Plus
- Fluidized Bed GUI
PSD
Tab

Select method that should be

use to determine the PSD
after the reaction occurred

Remark:
- PSD input form is only active if a reaction set is selected on the
reactions input form

© 2013 Aspen Technology, Inc. All rights reserved | 13

 Fluidization in Aspen Plus
- Fluidized Bed GUI
Define solver Convergence Tab
tolerance and
maximum
number of
solver steps

Define minimum
relative deviation
Define number of cells
used by the solver
used for the
to recalculate the
discretization of the
height of the zones
bottom zone and the
freeboard

Define a flash
parameter

© 2013 Aspen Technology, Inc. All rights reserved | 14

 Circulating Fluidized Bed Example

 The following example will demonstrate how a fluidized bed

process can be simulated and optimized with Aspen Plus
– Simulation of a fluidized bed with external gas-solid separation
and recycle of entrained material
– Optimization study to decrease energy demand

© 2013 Aspen Technology, Inc. All rights reserved | 15

 Open CFB_Example.bkp

Open the layout FLOWSHEET

Entrained
particles are
separated by a
gas cyclone and
recycled back to
fluidized bed

Fabric filter is used

to remove particles
Solids entering the from the overflow
fluidized bed are of the gas cyclone
mostly entrained with
the gas stream
 circulating fluidized
bed
Product from fluidized
bed is conveyed to
the final storage

© 2013 Aspen Technology, Inc. All rights reserved | 16

Fluidized bed example

Custom table allows the user to define:

- the fluidization gas flow rate
Certain fluidization air flow rate is - the solids feed flow rate
necessary to entrain nearly all solids
 circulating FB Custom table shows results for:
 discharge stream is close to zero for a - entrained solids mass flow
circulating FB - discharge flow rate
- superficial gas velocity in the FB
Lower gas flow rates will lead to a - primary blower duty
bubbling or a fixed bed - total pressure drop of the FB

© 2013 Aspen Technology, Inc. All rights reserved | 17

Review the Input for the Fluidized bed

Bed mass is set to

1000 kg

Min. fluidization
velocity is
automatically
calculated according
to Wen & Yu
Vessel has a height of 6
meters and a constant
diameter of 1 meter
The TDH model
is important for
this example as
it is a circulating
FB

Gas distributor is a perforated

plate with 4000 orifices
Vessel is assumed to be
Distributor pressure drop is adiabatic (heat duty = 0)
calculated based on the  Material leaves fluidized bed
geometry of the distributor with the mixing temperature

© 2013 Aspen Technology, Inc. All rights reserved | 18

 Review the Input for the Gas Cyclone

 Simulation mode used with

the efficiency correlation
according to Muschelknautz
 Used the Stairmand-HT
design concept to determine
cyclone geometry

 Cyclone main diameter is

set to 0.4 m.
 Specific measurements are
calculated according to the
Stairmand-HT design
concept

© 2013 Aspen Technology, Inc. All rights reserved | 19

Review the Input for the Fabric Filter

Design mode used

Pressure drop
calculated from
specific
resistance.
Separation efficiency
curve defined as
95% separation at
500 nm

Filtration area is
calculated based on
estimated velocity
and baghouse
characteristics.

© 2013 Aspen Technology, Inc. All rights reserved | 20

 Fluidized bed example – Run the model

Run the model

Open the
layout RESULTS

Ignore the TDH warnings

 Here we are not concerned that the

height of the freeboard is smaller
than the calculated TDH, since we
are modeling a CFB and therefore it
is intended that the solids are
entrained.

© 2013 Aspen Technology, Inc. All rights reserved | 21

Fluidized bed example – Review Results

At an air flow rate of 10,000 kg/hr, the solids

discharge flow from the fluidized bed is
approx. zero.
 circulating fluidized bed
 overall pressure drop is ~469 mbar

Plot shows that entrained material has

the same PSD as the feed material
 all solids are entrained
 circulating fluidized bed

© 2013 Aspen Technology, Inc. All rights reserved | 22

Review Results

Profiles for the overall vessel Profiles for the bottom zone of the fluidized bed
- Superficial velocity - Bubble diameter
- Interstitial velocity - Volumetric bubble flow
- Solids volume fraction - Bubble rise velocity
- Pressure - Bubble volume fraction

© 2013 Aspen Technology, Inc. All rights reserved | 23

 Fluidized bed example – Case Study

Open the layout FLOWSHEET

Change fluidization gas flow

rate to 8,000 kg/hr and run
the model

© 2013 Aspen Technology, Inc. All rights reserved | 24

 Review Case Study Results

 Decreasing the fluidization gas flow rate

– Decreases the overall pressure drop
– Decreases the entrainment flow rate
– Increases the discharge flow rate
 no longer a circulation fluidized bed

 Idea: Search for the flow rate that will result in a circulating
fluidized bed and the minimum pressure drop
– Use sensitivity to see how the fluidization gas flow rate influences the
overall pressure drop and the discharge flow rate

© 2013 Aspen Technology, Inc. All rights reserved | 25

Process Optimization – Setup Sensitivity

Activate the pre-defined sensitivity task

Open the layout SENSITIVITY SETUP

© 2013 Aspen Technology, Inc. All rights reserved | 26

 Process Optimization – Setup Sensitivity

Entrainment flow rate,

Fluidization air flow rate
discharge flow rate and
is varied from 8,000
overall pressure drop will
kg/hr to 10,500 kg/hr in
be tabulated for each step
10 steps
of the sensitivity analysis

Entrainment flow rate,

discharge flow rate and
overall pressure drop are
defined as flowsheet
variables

© 2013 Aspen Technology, Inc. All rights reserved | 27

 Process Optimization – Run the Sensitivity

Run the model

Open the layout SENSITIVITY RESULTS

© 2013 Aspen Technology, Inc. All rights reserved | 28

 Fluidized bed example

Again, Ignore the

TDH warnings

What flow rate should be used?

© 2013 Aspen Technology, Inc. All rights reserved | 29

Process Optimization – Review the Results

Fluidization gas flow

rate of 9,100 kg/hr is
sufficient to have a
circulating fluidized bed

© 2013 Aspen Technology, Inc. All rights reserved | 30

Process Optimization
- Run with Optimized Values

Deactivate the sensitivity task

Switch to layout FLOWSHEET

Enter optimal value (9,100 kg/hr) for the

fluidization gas flow rate and run the
model

© 2013 Aspen Technology, Inc. All rights reserved | 31

 Process Optimization – Review Results

 With the optimized flow rate it is possible to decrease

– the pressure drop by ~12%
– the volume flow by ~9%
 Decrease in energy for the primary blower by ~20%
𝑉∗𝑑𝑃
𝑃𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 = where 𝑉 is flow rate, 𝑑𝑃 is the pressure drop, and 𝜂 is efficiency
𝜂
Poweropt = 0.91*V base*0.88*dPbase= 0.80*Powerbase

Base Case Optimized Case

© 2013 Aspen Technology, Inc. All rights reserved | 32