Institutional Repository of Institute of Process Engineering, CAS (IPE-IR)
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Computational fluid dynamics simulations of phase separation in dispersed oil-water pipe flows
The separation of liquid-liquid dispersions in horizontal pipes is common in many industrial sectors. It remains challenging, however, to predict the separation characteristics of the flow evolution due to the complex flow mechanisms. In this work, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations of the silicone oil and water two-phase flow in a horizontal pipe are performed. Several cases are explored with different mixture velocities and oil fractions (15%-60%). OpenFOAM (version 8.0) is used to perform Eulerian-Eulerian simulations coupled with population balance models. The 'blending factor' in the multiphaseEulerFoam solver captures the retardation of the droplet rising and coalescing due to the complex flow behaviour in the dense packed layer (DPL). The blending treatment provides a feasible compensation mechanism for the mesoscale uncertainties of droplet flow and coalescence through the DPL and its adjacent layers. In addition, the influence of the turbulent dispersion force is also investigated, which can improve the prediction of the radial distribution of concentrations but worsen the separation characteristics along the flow direction. Although the simulated concentration distribution and layer heights agree with the experiments only qualitatively, this work demonstrates how improvements in drag and coalescence modelling can be made to enhance the prediction accuracy. (c) 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
Sequential hydrogenation of nitroaromatics to alicyclic amines via highly-dispersed Ru-Pd nanoparticles anchored on air-exfoliated C3N4 nanosheets
Developing efficient and green catalytic systems is highly desired in the syntheses of alicyclic amines via hydrogenation of nitroaromatics. Herein, we developed Ru-Pd dual active site catalysts in which Ru and Pd species were anchored and highly dispersed on air-exfoliated carbon nitride (Ru-Pd/C3N4-air). As-prepared catalysts were employed in the hydrogenation of nitrobenzene (NB) to cyclohexylamine (CHA). Compared with single Ru or Pd based catalysts, Ru-Pd dual active site catalysts obtained a higher CHA production rate of 26.7 mol CHA mol(-1) Ru center dot Pd h(-1) at 80 degrees C and 3 MPa H-2. The activation energy for the hydrogenation of the nitro group and benzene ring was calculated as 26.26 kJ mol(-1) and 66.30 kJ mol(-1), respectively. Intrinsic kinetic studies demonstrated that Pd was the dominant metal for hydrogenation of nitro group, while Ru was dominant for benzene ring. Thereinto, the corresponding non-dominant metals enhanced activation and dissociation of H-2, thereby improving catalytic activity significantly. This excellent performance of Ru-Pd catalysts could be attributed to highly dispersed Ru-N-x and Pd-N-x at a nanoscale distance, which was conducive to metal-assisted hydrogenation. Stability investigation showed that the performance of Ru-Pd catalysts could be essentially maintained at a high level. Additionally, the substrate scope could be successfully extended to hydrogenation of other nitroaromatics with different substituents
A mesoscale bubble-induced turbulence model and simulation of gas-liquid flows
In gas-liquid two-phase flows, bubble motion significantly affects liquid phase turbulence, and adding bubble-induced turbulence (BIT) source term is widely used to improve the simulation accuracy. This paper presents a new BIT model based on the energy-minimization multi-scale (EMMS) methodology. The model was constructed by considering two mesoscale factors, i.e., the sub-grid structures through analyzing the slip velocity and the gas holdup gradient, and the equivalent diameter of turbulent eddies calculated by the EMMS-based turbulence model. In order to verify its performance, the model was incorporated to the Eulerian-Lagrangian simulating framework and applied to two typical experimental systems. Both mean flow characteristics and turbulence quantities were well predicted, and the new model showed advantages over traditional BIT models, especially at higher gas velocities. Moreover, a strategy for counting energy dissipation in the simulation was devised and performed whereby the dual effects of promotion and suppression on liquid phase turbulence by bubbles can be reflected. The simulations demonstrated that BIT dominated the energy dissipation and turbulence was enhanced by BIT at higher gas velocities, while shear-induced turbulence dominated the energy dissipation and turbulence is reduced due to the suppression by bubbles at lower gas velocities