TITLE: Gas/Slurry Flow in Coal Liquefaction Processes (Fluid Dynamics in 3-Phase Flow Columns). Quarterly Technical Progress Report, 1 October-31December 1980.

AUTHOR: D. H. S. Ying;   R. Sivasubramanian;   E. N. Givens.

INST.  AUTHOR: Air Products and Chemicals, Inc., Allentown, PA.

SPONSOR: Department of Energy, Washington, DC.

LANGUAGE: English

PUB.  TYPE: Technical Report

PUB.  COUNTRY: United States

SOURCE: Department of Energy [DE],  Feb 81,  41p.

ABSTRACT:

The 6000 T/D SRC-I demonstration plant will employ vertical tubular reactors feeding slurry and gas concurrently upward through these vessels.  This reactor is essentially an empty vessel with only a distributor plate located near the inlet. Because the commercial plant represents a considerable scale-up over either Wilsonville or Ft. Lewis, this program is addressing the need for additional data on behavior of three-phase systems in large vessels. Parameters are investigated at conditions that relate directly to the projected demonstration plant operating conditions.  Air/water/sand 3-phase flow system in both a 5-inch diameter and a 12-inch diameter column is used in this cold-flow simulation study program.  Although a complete analysis of the entrance effects is not complete, apparently the type of distributor used does not seem to affect the solids distribution profiles. The amount of solids retained in the column increases linearly with decreasing slurry velocity while changes in linear gas velocity does not affect the solids distribution profiles for the conditions studied (liquid velocity ranging from 0.01 to 0.05 ft/sec and gas velocity ranging from 0.05 to 0.43 ft/sec). The data clearly indicate that withdrawing solids from the bottom of the column results in a decreased amount of solids in the column and the solids concentration profile changes accordingly. The results also show that large particles were preferentially removed by virtue of their faster settling rate.  Experiments were conducted to investigate the effects of settled particles and particle-particle interaction on solids accumulation. The results indicate that the presence of large particles does not influence the accumulation or distribution of fine particles. The column enclosure was completed and several screening tests were made to identify the organic liquid/liquid to be used in the 12-inch diameter column. (ERA citation 07:003138)

REPORT  NUMBER: DOE/ET/14801-15

CONTRACT  NUMBER: AC22-79ET14801