Numerical simulation of semi-dry flue gas desulfurization process in the powder-particle spouted bed

Abstract Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) combined with the two-fluid model (TFM) was used for simulation of water vaporization and semi-dry flue gas desulfurization process in a two dimensional powder-particle spouted bed (PPSB), on the basis of gas-solid two-phase flow, the mathematical and physical models of water vaporization process and flue gas desulfurization reaction process have been established through reasonable hypothesis and simplification of the system. The numerical method was used to simulate the desulfurization reaction process and the heat and mass transfer in the powder-particle spouted bed. Simulation results indicate that water vaporization rate was high in spout and annular regions. The main area where flue gas desulfurization reaction occurs was annular area, as a result, the maximum value of desulfurization product rate appears in the annulus. Under the same condition, the desulfurization efficiency of simulation value is 75.75% when the value of slurry water content equals 40 kg-H2O/kg-dry_sorbent, which is close to but greater than the experimental value (75.03%). The desulfurization efficiency of spouted bed increases first and then decreases with the increase of water content of desulfurization slurry, and the optimum slurry water content for desulfurization process in powder-particle spouted bed was obtained by numerical simulation, which was 40 kg-H2O/kg-dry_sorbent.