Numerical Analysis of Variable Mass Flow Inside Improved Structure Circular Distributor in Tubular Reactor

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Abstract

The circular distributor plays an important role in uniform distribution of the coolant in the shell side of multi-tubular fixed bed reactor. In this paper, a three-dimensional industrial scale circular distributor physical model was established and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model was employed to simulate the variable mass flow inside the circular distributor in the shell-side of multi-tubular fixed-bed reactor. The improved model was adopted with uneven distributing holes, using ellipse form inlet and setting two 45° deflector baffles on both sides respectively. Velocity and static pressure distribution inside the circular distributor were investigated, which were also compared with those inside the traditional distributor. The effects of number of outlet distributed holes and inlet molten salt flow rate on the performance of molten salt uniform distribution in the shell-side were also researched. Compared with traditional distributor, the improved circular distributor had a better performance. The improved distributor with 24 distributed holes can meet the requirements of the uniform distribution of fluid. When the number of distributed holes was more than 36, the situation of fluid uniform distribution was basically stable. With the decrease of inlet molten salt flow rate, fluctuation of static pressure at the inlet was weakened, which reduced energy consumption and had a better performance on the uniform distribution of fluid.

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	Articles by authors
	Jiang Bin
	Xue Shanglong
	Dong Jiaxin
	Hao Li

Keywords： propylene oxidation reactor； circular distributor of molten salt； variable mass flow； computational fluid dynamics(CFD)； fluid distribution

Received 2014-04-08;

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Cite this article:

Jiang Bin, Xue Shanglong, Dong Jiaxin, Hao Li.Numerical Analysis of Variable Mass Flow Inside Improved Structure Circular Distributor in Tubular Reactor[J] Chemcial Industry and Engineering, 2016,V33(3): 89-95

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