Computational Fluid Dynamics Modeling for Urea Hydrolysis in a Batch Reactor for Flue Gas Conditioning

• Published in: Chemical engineering & technology 2011-08, Vol.34 (8), p.1347-1352
• Main Authors: Sahu, J. N., Hussain, S., Meikap, B. C.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Ammonia; Applied sciences; Atmospheric pollution; Chemical engineering; Computational fluid dynamics; Exact sciences and technology; Flue gas conditioning; General processes of purification and dust removal; Hydrodynamics of contact apparatus; Hydrolysis; Pollution; Prevention and purification methods; Reactors; Simulation
• ISSN: 0930-7516; 1521-4125
• DOI: 10.1002/ceat.201000482

A computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model is proposed to simulate urea hydrolysis for ammonia synthesis as a safe feed stock to flue gas conditioning in thermal power plants. A series of parametric studies to investigate flow rates, thermal boundary conditions, and reactor geometry was performed and operating conditions and reactor geometry were optimized. Detailed 3D flow, heat, and chemistry simulations of ammonia were carried out with predicted conversions comparable to measurements and the dependence of the experiments on the reaction parameters was evaluated. Through simulation under the same conditions the output was generated and compared to the experimental plot. Profiles of temperature and flow patterns were successfully achieved through simulation. A computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model is proposed to simulate urea hydrolysis for ammonia synthesis. It is also capable of modeling fluid flow, heat transfer, and chemical reactions in complex reactor geo‐metries. CFD simulation proved to be a useful tool for diagnosing hydrolysis reactor mixing problems and for identifying practical countermeasures that could improve the reactor performance.