Heat transfer, packed beds thermal conductivity

De Wasch and Froment (1971) and Hoiberg et. al. (1971) published the first two-dimensional packed bed reactor models that distinguished between conditions in the fluid and on the solid. The basic emphasis of the work by De Wasch and Froment (1971) was the comparison of simple homogeneous and heterogeneous models and the relationships between lumped heat transfer parameters (wall heat transfer coefficient and thermal conductivity) and the effective parameters in the gas and solid phases. Hoiberg et al. (1971)... 

Packed Bed Thermal Conductivity 587 Heat Transfer Coefficient at Walls, to Particles, and Overall 587 Fluidized Beds 589... 

The heat-transfer properties of the suspended-bed operations appear superior to those of the packed-bed operations. In particular, the former have a high effective thermal conductivity, and the development of uneven temperature distributions is therefore less likely. 

Ogura, H., et al., 1991. Thermal conductivity analysis of packed bed reactor with heat transfer fin for Ca(OH)2/CaO chemical heat pump, Kagaku-kogaku Ronbunsyu, 17 (5), 916-923. 

Heat transfer in packed beds. Effective thermal conductivity as a function of Reynolds number. Curve 1 Coberly and Marshall. Curve 2 Campbell and Huntington. Curve 3 Calderbank and Pogorski. Curve 4 Kwong and Smith. Curve 5 Kunii and Smith. (From G. F. Froment, Chemical Reaction Engineering, Adv. Chem. Ser., 109, 1970.)... 

Argo and Smith (106, 107) have presented a detailed discussion of heat transfer in packed beds and have proposed the following relation for the effective thermal conductivity in packed beds ... 

The equations describing the concentration and temperature within the catalyst particles and the reactor are usually non-linear coupled ordinary differential equations and have to be solved numerically. However, it is unusual for experimental data to be of sufficient precision and extent to justify the application of such sophisticated reactor models. Uncertainties in the knowledge of effective thermal conductivities and heat transfer between gas and solid make the calculation of temperature distribution in the catalyst bed susceptible to inaccuracies, particularly in view of the pronounced effect of temperature on reaction rate. A useful approach to the preliminary design of a non-isothermal fixed bed catalytic reactor is to assume that all the resistance to heat transfer is in a thin layer of gas near the tube wall. This is a fair approximation because radial temperature profiles in packed beds are parabolic with most of the resistance to heat transfer near the tube wall. With this assumption, a one-dimensional model, which becomes quite accurate for small diameter tubes, is satisfactory for the preliminary design of reactors. Provided the ratio of the catlayst particle radius to tube length is small, dispersion of mass in the longitudinal direction may also be neglected. Finally, if heat transfer between solid cmd gas phases is accounted for implicitly by the catalyst effectiveness factor, the mass and heat conservation equations for the reactor reduce to [eqn. (62)]... 

Effective thermal conductivities and heat transfer coefficients are given by De Wasch and Froment (1971) for the solid and gas phases in a heterogeneous packed bed model. Representative values for Peclet numbers in a packed bed reactor are given by Carberry (1976) and Mears (1976). Values for Peclet numbers from 0.5 to 200 were used throughout the simulations. 

Figure 1736. Effective thermal conductivity and wall heat transfer coefficient of packed beds. Re = dpG/fi, dp = 6Vp/Ap, s -porosity, (a) Effective thermal conductivity in terms of particle Reynolds number. Most of the investigations were with air of approx. kf = 0.026, so that in general k elk f = 38.5k [Froment, Adv. Chem. Ser. 109, (1970)]. (b) Heat transfer coefficient at the wall. Recommendations for L/dp above 50 by Doraiswamy and Sharma are line H for cylinders, line J for spheres, (c) Correlation of Gnielinski (cited by Schlilnder, 1978) of coefficient of heat transfer between particle and fluid. The wall coefficient may be taken as hw = 0.8hp.

Extensive experimental determinations of overall heat transfer coefficients over packed reactor tubes suitable for selective oxidation are presented. The scope of the experiments covers the effects of tube diameter, coolant temperature, air mass velocity, packing size, shape and thermal conductivity. Various predictive models of heat transfer in packed beds are tested with the data. The best results (to within 10%) are obtained from a recently developed two-phase continuum model, incorporating combined conduction, convection and radiation, the latter being found to be significant under commercial operating conditions. 

Mechanistic equations describing the apparent radial thermal conductivity (kr>eff) and the wall heat transfer coefficient (hw.eff) of packed beds under non-reactive conditions are presented in Table IV. Given the two separate radial heat transfer resistances -that of the "central core" and of the "wall-region"- the overall radial resistance can be obtained for use in one-dimensional continuum reactor models. The equations are based on the two-phase continuum model of heat transfer (3). 

There is even more uncertainty in estimating the heat-transfer coefficient at the wall of the tube than in estimating the effective thermal conductivity in the bed of catalyst. The measurement is essentially a difficult one, depending either on an extrapolation of a temperature profile to the wall or on determining the resistance at the wall as the difference between a measured over-all resistance and a calculated resistance within the packed bed. The proper exponent to use on the flow rate to get the variation of the coefficient has been reported as 0.33 (C4), 0.47 (C2), 0.5 and 0.77 (HI), 0.75 (A2), and 1.00 (Ql). 

The choice of a model to describe heat transfer in packed beds is one which has often been dictated by the requirement that the resulting model equations should be relatively easy to solve for the bed temperature profile. This consideration has led to the widespread use of the pseudo-homogeneous two-dimensional model, in which the tubular bed is modelled as though it consisted of one phase only. This phase is assumed to move in plug-flow, with superimposed axial and radial effective thermal conductivities, which are usually taken to be independent of the axial and radial spatial coordinates. In non-adiabatic beds, heat transfer from the wall is governed by an apparent wall heat transfer coefficient. ... 

While the above criteria are useful for diagnosing the effects of transport limitations on reaction rates of heterogeneous catalytic reactions, they require knowledge of many physical characteristics of the reacting system. Experimental properties like effective diffusivity in catalyst pores, heat and mass transfer coefficients at the fluid-particle interface, and the thermal conductivity of the catalyst are needed to utilize Equations (6.5.1) through (6.5.5). However, it is difficult to obtain accurate values of those critical parameters. For example, the diffusional characteristics of a catalyst may vary throughout a pellet because of the compression procedures used to form the final catalyst pellets. The accuracy of the heat transfer coefficient obtained from known correlations is also questionable because of the low flow rates and small particle sizes typically used in laboratory packed bed reactors. 

Figure 17.36. Effective thermal conductivity and wall heat transfer coefficient of packed beds. Re = r/ G/jjL, dp = SVpjAp, s = poros-...

Due to the Langrangian formulation applied to the solid phase, the use of an effective thermal conductivity as usually applied to porous media is not necessary. In a packed bed heat is transported between solid particles by radiation and conduction. For materials with low thermal conductivity, such as wood, conduction contributes only to a minor extent to the overall heat transport. Furthermore, heat transfer due to convection between the primary air flow through the porous bed and the solid has to be taken into account. Heal transfer due to radiation and conduction between the particles is modelled by the exchange of heat between a particle and its neighbours. The definition of the neighbours depends on the assembly of the particles on the flow field mesh. 

A numerical model is presented to describe the thermal conversion of solid fuels in a packed bed. For wood particles it can be shown, that a discretization of the particle dimensions is necessary to resolve the influence of heat and mass transfer on the conversion of the solid. Therefore, the packed bed is described as a finite number of particles interacting with the surrounding gas phase by heat and mass transfer. Thus, the entire process of a packed bed is view as the sum of single particle processes in conjunction with the interaction of the gas flow in the void space of a packed bed. Within the present model, neighbour particles exchange heat due to conduction and radiation with each other. 

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