TITLE: Gas/Slurry Flow in Coal-Liquefaction Processes (Fluid Dynamics in a Three-Phase-Flow Column). Final Technical Progress Report, 1 October 1979-31 March 1982.

AUTHOR: D. H. S. Ying;   R. Sivasubramanian;   S. F. Moujaes;   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],  Apr 82,  365p.

NTIS REPORT NO.: DE83001643

ABSTRACT:

A commercial coal liquefaction plant will employ vertical tubular reactors feeding slurry and gas concurrently upward through these vessels.  In the SRC-I plant design the 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 Wilsonville or any pilot plant, this program addressed the need for additional data on behavior of three phase systems in large vessels. Parameters that were investigated in this program were studied at conditions that relate directly to projected plant operating conditions. The fluid dynamic behavior of the three-phase upflow system was studied by measuring gas and slurry holdup, liquid dispersion, solids suspension and solids accumulation. The dependent parameters are gas and liquid velocities, solid particle size, solids concentration, liquid viscosity, liquid surface tension and inlet distributor. Within the range of liquid superficial velocity from 0.0 to 0.5 ft/sec, gas holdup is found to be independent of liquid flow which agrees with other investigators. The results also confirm our previous finding that gas holdup is independent of column diameter when the column diameter is 5 inches or larger. The gas holdup depends strongly on gas flow rate; gas holdup increases with increasing gas velocity. The effect of solids particles on gas holdup depends on the gas flow rate. Increasing liquid viscosity and surface tension reduce gas holdup which agrees with other investigators. Because of the complexity of the system, we could not find a single correlation to best fit all the data. The degree of liquid backmixing markedly affects chemical changes occurring in the dissolver, such as sulfur removal, and oil and distillate formation. (ERA citation 08:011616)

REPORT  NUMBER: DOE/ET/14801-30

CONTRACT  NUMBER: AC22-79ET14801