Particle gas simulation for performance prediction of commercial scale FCC regenerator cyclone system

Abstract

Cyclone separators are commonly used as solid gas separation devices. These devices are relatively cheap and have simple construction and also moderate pressure drop. This is the reason why they are used in many engineering processes such as dryers, coal gasifiers, and circulating fluidized bed combustion and also in the refineries for separating catalyst from flue gases and other reactor product in fluidized catalytic cracking (FCC). The driving force for the separation of particles is the centrifugal force. Separation efficiency is the amount of particles that are collected at the bottom. Efficiency of cyclone separation is affected by a number of factors such as gas inlet velocity, mass solid flux entering, and particle size and cyclone body dimension. Using computational particle fluid dynamics Barracuda software we performed simulations to understand the effect of vortex finder diameter on the cyclone performance through computational particle fluid dynamics Barracuda software. This software is well suited for simulating dense particle laden fluids due to its numerical solving methods for both particle and fluid. Simulations were carried out for two stage FCC regenerator cyclone system having 3D geometry and without any chemistry. Two cases of simulation are performed and the results of both are compared to predict the one which gives better cyclone particle collection efficiency.