Particle formation and heat transfer in a gas-solid hydrolysis reactor with cupric chloride conversion to copper oxychloride

Abstract This paper presents a new predictive heat and mass transfer model of the gas-solid reaction in a cupric chloride decomposition and hydrolysis reactor during thermochemical water splitting in a copper-chlorine (Cu-Cl) cycle. The hydrated cupric chloride droplets descend in a narrow vessel through a reactor which forms a more coherent flow than a traditional hydrolysis spray reactor. The reactor operates based on falling solid particles and the gas-solid flow behavior in the reactor is analyzed to predict the total relative velocity of steam in its interaction with the CuCl2 (s). Aspen plus software and past literature are used for the thermodynamic and kinetic parameter evaluation. The present model reveals new physical insights into the gas/solid hydrodynamics in the hot zone of the hydrolysis reactor. From the analysis and results, the total relative velocity of steam through the height of the furnace varies from 0.32 m/s at the bottom to 0.12 m/s at the top. Furthermore, at the steam/CuCl2 molar ratio of 15 for an increase of cupric chloride volumetric flow rate from 8 ml/min into 25 ml/min, the average net heat transfer rate increases from 1.85 kW into 5.45 kW.