Multi-scale Modelling of Transport Phenomena in Multiphase Chemical Reactors

JAM Hans Kuipers
Department of Chemical Engineering and Chemistry Eindhoven University of Technology - Netherlands

3:30pm - April 13, 2017
ETLC 1-001

Faculty Host: Dr. Petr Nikrityuk

Abstract:

Dense multiphase flows involving momentum, mass and heat transfer are frequently encountered in industrial processes involving granulation, coating and polymerization. In these flows the complex phase interactions govern the prevailing flow phenomena such as the formation and evolution of heterogeneous structures to a large extent. These structures have significant impact on the quality of the contact between the phases and as a direct consequence thereof strongly affect reactor performance. Additional complexities arise due to enhanced dissipation due to wet particle-particle collisions which prevail in processes such as spray drying, coating, granulation and gas phase polymerization.

Due to the inherent complexity of these multiphase flows a multi-scale modeling approach is adopted in which the interactions between the phases can be properly accounted for. The idea is essentially that detailed models are used to generate closures for the interphase transfer coefficients to feed continuum models which can be used to compute the system behavior on a much larger (industrial) scale. In this contribution recent advances in the area of multi-scale simulation of dense multi-phase flows will be highlighted with emphasis on coupled mass, momentum and heat transfer. In addition, areas which need substantial further attention will be discussed.

Biography:

Hans Kuipers graduated in 1985 at the department of Chemical Engineering of the University of Twente. In December of the same year he started with his Ph.D. study at the Reaction Engineering group of University of Twente on detailed micro balance modeling of gas-fluidized beds. In June 1990 he received his Ph.D. degree in Chemical Engineering and was appointed as assistant professor in the Reaction Engineering group headed by Prof. W.P.M. van Swaaij. In 1994 he was appointed as associate professor in the same group. In 1999 he became fulltime professor in Fundamentals of Chemical Reaction Engineering at the University of Twente. Since August 2010 he is a fulltime professor at Eindhoven University of Technology and heads the group Multiphase Reactors. He teaches amongst others introductory and advanced courses on transport phenomena and multiphase reactors. His research interests are in the area of multiphase reactors