Experimental setup and procedure

The scope of work in the present study is limited to study the deviation in the calculation of actual inventory in a CFB riser caused by the friction and acceleration pressure drops, especially for the calcium looping process. The experiments are performed in two experimental set ups,

1. The cold model of 10kWth bench scale test plant at University of Stuttgart (cold model) (Figure 57a)

2. The 10 kWth CFB riser at University of Stuttgart. This set up was earlier used for studying CaL process (bench scale test plant). (Figure 57b) The details of the two experimental set ups are given in Table 18. The cold model is a hydrodynamically scaled cold model of the 10kWth bench scale test plant. The geometric ratio is 1:2.3. The details of the cold model and bench scale test plant are available in previous works such as [71] along with their hydrodynamic studies.

Although the cold model and bench scale test plant are dual fluidized bed systems (CFB + BFB coupled with cone valve and loop seals), in the present work only the CFB

Figure 57 - Experimental set up for estimation of friction and acceleration losses in a small scale CFB

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risers are used for the investigation.

The theoretical aspects about the pressure drop in a CFB are covered earlier in chapter 2, section 2.2.3. To summarize, a pressure drop in a CFB riser is caused due to static pressure drop, friction between gas and solid particle, friction between particle and wall and the acceleration of particles. The static pressure drop is the pressure drop caused by the weight of the particles or the solid inventory (𝑀_{𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑒𝑟}) present in the riser.

The friction and acceleration pressure drops are mainly the function of friction factor and the velocity formulated in Eq. (17) to Eq. (19).

To estimate frictional pressure drop experimentally, the most common method employed is the quick closing valves method, cited at [115]. Another method is the use of optical fiber probes [116]. In the first method, the solid inventory is trapped inside the riser, weighted and converted to pressure drop using Eq.(13). This calculated pressure drop is compared with the pressure drop measured by instruments. In the optical fiber probe method, the actual solid suspension is measured and converted to pressure drop using Eq.(13). In both methods, the difference between the calculated and measured pressure drop is linked to the friction and acceleration pressure drop as per Eq.(15). In this work the method of quick closing valve is used because it is simple and its implementation is possible in the available experimental set up. Although one should notice that the method of quick closing valves has some limitations, apart from being non-continuous this method cannot reveal separate friction pressure drop and acceleration pressure drop in a riser. Also the extent of the friction and the acceleration pressure drop in the various sections of the riser cannot be measured.

The cold model of 10kWth bench scale test plant is modified with the quick closing valves as follows. As shown in Figure 57a, the primary air flow in the CFB riser and the loop seal aeration is mounted with a solenoid valve 1 and 2 to cut off the air flow to riser and loop seal suddenly. Both the solenoid valves are controlled by a single ON/OFF type electric switch. The ball valves, namely ball valve I and ball valve II are Table 18 – Experimental conditions used in friction and acceleration losses measurement

Cold model bench scale test plant (Hot)

Scaling ratio Cold : Hot

Diameter (mm) 30 71 1:2.33

Height (m) 5.1 12.4 1:2.33

Temperature (°C) 20 630

Velocity (m/s) 2-4.3 3.5 - 6.1 1:1.53

Particles Iron oxide 5100 kg/m³ 140 µm.

CaO/CaCO3 1800 kg/m³300-500 µm

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installed in the return leg inlet into the CFB and after CFB exit to the cyclone respectively as shown in Figure 57a.

Figure 57b shows the modified 10 kWth bench scale test plant. The air supply in the test plant is done via MFCs. The quick closing arrangement in the bench scale test plant is achieved through the mass flow controllers (MFC). The MFC can also stop the air flow into the riser and the loop seal instantaneously via controller in the computer.

The manual closing butterfly valve is installed on the return leg, similar to ball valve I of cold model. The valve similar to ball valve II of cold model could not be realized in the test plant due to technical difficulties.

In cold model as well as bench scale test plant the manual operation of the ball valves was preferred over the automatic actuators, because the manual closing action was much faster (less than a second) than the automatic action (automatic actuator required 3 s to close). This swiftness is critical in trapping the riser inventory inside the riser only [115].

The particles used in the cold model are shown in Table 18. The particles are same as used in chapter 5. The particles in the bench scale test plant were a mixture of CaO/CaCO3. The operational velocities and pressure drops selected for the experiments in both cold model and bench scale test plant were in suitable range for calcium looping process and discussed earlier in section 5.2. However, the purpose of the hydrodynamic scaling is only limited to create the similarity in hot and cold conditions.

7.2.1. Procedure

The experimental procedure used is different to the standard experimental procedures explained earlier in section 3.3.3. The cold model and bench scale test plant experiments were carried out as follows. The initial experimental steps are same as those used in single loop CFB experiments explained in section 3.3.3. The total solid inventory was weighed and put into the empty loop seal of the CFB as shown in Figure 57a, and Figure 57b. The riser was operated through primary air and normal loop seal fluidization. The pressure drop in the riser was measured by means of a differential pressure transducer. The average riser pressure drop was adjusted to a desired value in mbar by addition or removal of total solid inventory. The steady state was considered when the pressure drop in the riser remained constant with uniform fluctuations. The pressure drop data was recorded for a period of 10 minutes and then the riser primary air and loop seal aeration was suddenly stopped by means of quick closing valve mechanism. In cold model solenoid valve 1 and 2 and ball valve I and II are closed at the same moment. In bench scale test plant both MFC are stopped at computer command and same time butterfly valve was closed manually. For every experimental condition (i.e. riser velocity and riser total pressure drop) multiple

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experimental runs (min 3 runs-max 6 runs) were performed to ensure the reproducibility of the results.

7.2.2. Data analysis

The inventory trapped inside the riser and the return leg are weighed separately and compared with the measured pressure drop. The static pressure drop ∆𝑝_{𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑐} for a given experiment is calculated from Eq. (16) as follows, by neglecting the static pressure drop of the gas in the riser.

∆𝑝_{𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑐} = ∫(1 − 𝜀)𝜌_𝑠𝑔𝑑ℎ =𝑀_{𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑒𝑟}𝑔 𝐴_{𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑒𝑟}

(51) Where, 𝑀_{𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑒𝑟} is the trapped inventory in the riser and 𝐴_{𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑒𝑟} is the cross sectional area of the riser. In this study a separate friction and acceleration pressure drop could not be calculated, therefore for simplification reasons both pressure drops are summed up as (∆𝑝_{𝑓𝑟+𝑎𝑐𝑐}). Eq. (17), Eq. (18) and Eq. (19) could be simplified into Eq. (52) as

where

∆𝑝_𝑓𝑟 = ∆𝑝_{𝑓𝑟 𝑔}+ ∆𝑝_{𝑓𝑟 𝑠} (53)

and ∆𝑝_{𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑒𝑟} is the time averaged pressure drop measured during the experimental steady state. The fraction of friction and acceleration pressure to the total riser pressure drop measured is represented by 𝜓, and defined by Eq. (54)

𝜓 = ∆𝑝_{𝑓𝑟+𝑎𝑐𝑐}

∆𝑝_{𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑒𝑟} (54)

The inventory trapped in the return leg is weighed and the particle height in the standpipe is also measured (only in cold model) during the experiment and after valve closure only for cold model experiments. The inventory trapped in the return leg and the one in the standpipe is later used in the analysis of inventory distribution of CFB system. In bench scale test plant these measurements were not possible.