Simulating the meso-scale processes in two-phase chemical reactors

Research goal

The aim of the project is to provide a numerical framework for simulating multi-phase catalytic chemical reactors using the Lattice Boltzmann (LB) method. The mesoscopic nature of the LB method allows for an efficient implementation of many relevant phenomena such as phase separation, mass and heat transfer, and catalytic surface chemistry. A large part of the project will deal with combining these implementations and validating the resulting framework using canonical cases from literature. The final part of the project will be to use the framework to analyse an existing chemical reactor on relevant issues such as the occurrence of hot-spot formation.

Researcher

Project leader

Prof.dr.ir. Harry van den Akker

Cooperations

S. Sundaresan (Princeton uni.)

Funded by

Shell Global Solutions
ISPT