Chemical Engineering Science 54 (1999) 2151}2160

Mixing and reaction in the circulating #uidized bed } A

three-dimensional combustor model
T. Knoebig, K. Luecke, J. Werther*
Technical University Hamburg-Harburg, Denickestr. 15, D 21071 Hamburg, Germany

Abstract
Horizontal gas and solids mixing processes may play a dominant role in circulating #uidized bed (CFB) reactors with a small
height-to-diameter ratio, which is typical for CFB combustors. A semi-empirical approach was chosen to describe the threedimensional combustion of coal in a circulating #uidized bed with a rectangular cross section. Since the combustion process is rather
complex, the underlying gas}solid #ow structure was modeled in a simpli"ed semi-empirical way to keep the computational time
within reasonable limits. In the upper part of the CFB the #ow domain is divided into two phases, a dilute up-#owing suspension and
a dense downward #owing cluster phase. For both phases the mass balances for gas and solids are solved. Since no momentum
balances are made up in the model, additional information is needed from measurements of the up and down #owing local solid mass
#uxes. In the bottom zone a bubbling #uidized bed is assumed. As an application the combustion chamber of the 12 MW CFB boiler

of the Chalmers University of Technology is modeled. The results demonstrate the strong in#uence of the coal feed and the solids
return on the spatial distributions of volatiles, char, oxygen and carbon monoxide. Depending on the contents of volatiles and on the
reactivity of the char the distributions of reactants and reaction products are far from being uniform over the cross section of the
combustion chamber. The model is intended to serve as a basis for future modeling of gaseous emissions.  1999 Elsevier Science Ltd.
All rights reserved.
Keywords: Mixing and reaction; Circulating #uidized bed; 3D mathematical model; Coal combustion; Volatile release; Char hold-up

1. Introduction
Modeling of coal combustion in the circulating
#uidized bed (CFB) is rather di$cult. The #uid dynamics
of this gas}solid two-phase #ow are very complex and
strongly dominated by particle}particle interactions.
Furthermore, the numerous homogeneous and heterogeneous catalytic gas-phase reactions and their kinetics
for the description of the combustion phenomena and the
pollutant formation and destruction are not completely
known. Therefore, it is necessary to develop simpli"ed
modeling approaches, which can describe both, the
gas}solid #ow structure and the combustion process with
su$cient accuracy. A three-dimensional model of the
gas}solid #ow should consider the non-uniform spatial
solid distribution and the internal recirculation of the
* Corresponding author. Tel.: 0 49 40 7718 3039; fax: 0 49 040 7718
2678.
E-mail address: werther@tu-harburg.de (J. Werther).

particles against their net upward motion inside the riser

which is typical of CFB combustors.
Combustion chambers of industrial large-scale CFB
furnaces have typically cross-sectional areas exceeding
5;5 m and heights above 30 m. Reactants are locally
introduced into the combustion chamber, i.e. the coal is
fed through several feed points into the bottom section
and secondary air is injected through nozzles located on
the riser wall several meters above the distributor plate.
Since the lateral mixing processes of gas and solids are
slow in comparison to the dominating vertical convection and the reaction of the components, the gaseous
species and the char particles inside the combustion
chamber are not evenly distributed over the lateral cross
section.
Three-dimensional models describing the #ow behavior of gas and solids in CFB riser are either empirical or
based on the fundamental equations of #uid dynamics.
Computational #uid dynamic (CFD) models employ the
full set of partial di!erential equations that describe the

0009-2509/99/$ } see front matter  1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 0 0 9 - 2 5 0 9 ( 9 8 ) 0 0 3 5 9 - 5

2152

T. Knoebig et al./Chemical Engineering Science 54 (1999) 2151}2160

conservation of mass, momentum, energy and chemical

species. The grade of complexity of the CFD models is
di!erent according to the desired application. However,
these models are at present just too complex to serve as a
basis for reactor modeling. Furthermore, their computational times are very long due to the unsteady character
of the numerous partial di!erential equations, which
restricts their application to pure #uid dynamical simulations at present.
A semi-empirical model approach, which is based on
experimental "ndings and empirical correlations obtained from measurements, provides the possibility to
account for the complex #ow patterns inside CFB combustors with comparatively low computational e!ort.
This allows an application of this type of model to the
complex reaction schemes typical for the combustion
process. But even the semi-empirical description of the
#ow structure is for three dimensions still at the beginning of its development and such models are therefore
relatively scarce in literature. HyppaK nen et al. (1991)
reported a three-dimensional CFB combustor model for
the design of CFB furnaces. However, this latter model is
based to a large extent on measured data and will thus be
limited to the database it was developed from. For more
predictive semi-empirical three-dimensional models,
some general experimental "ndings concerning the
gas}solid #ow patterns inside CFB combustors which
usually have rectangular cross-sections should be considered.
Detailed probe measurements in a laboratory-scale
CFB riser with square cross section were performed by
Zhou et al. (1995). They presented time-averaged porosity and velocity pro"les on several horizontal planes in
the CFB and concluded that just as in CFB risers of
circular cross sections there is a dilute region in the core
of the square riser where most particles move upwards,
and a surrounding annular region, where the particle
concentration is high and most particles move downwards. This result is also supported by measurements
with "ber optical probes by Wang et al. (1993). They
reported the iso-mass-#ux lines to be concentric rectangles. Werdermann (1992) performed measurements
of lateral mass #ux pro"les in the cross-section of a
large-scale CFB combustor (cross-sectional area
5.1 m;5.1 m). He reported the iso-mass-#ux lines to be
concentric rectangles, too. All the above-mentioned
authors found that the local #ow variables change signi"cantly in the annular wall layer of the CFB riser only,
whereas in the center of the riser almost constant #ow
variables were measured.
In the present paper a three-dimensional CFB combustor model is suggested which is intended to serve as
a basis for future emission modeling. In order to be able
to account for the complex kinetics of pollutants formation and destruction the #uid dynamic part of the model
is kept comparatively simple by using a semi-empirical

approach for the description of the three-dimensional

gas}solid #ow in the CFB.

2. Theory
The present CFB combustor model can be divided into
three major parts: a submodel of the gas}solid #ow
structure, a reaction kinetic model for local combustion
and a convection/dispersion model with reaction. The
latter formulates the mass balances for the gaseous species and the char at each "nite control volume in the #ow
domain. It needs #ow-structure information (e.g. local
gas and solids velocities and solid volume concentrations) which are provided by the submodel of the
gas}solid #ow. Kinetic information for the reactions is
supplied by the reaction kinetic submodel which contains
descriptions of devolatilization and char combustion,
respectively. Solving the mass balances of the convection/dispersion model results in three-dimensional distributions of the gaseous and solid species.
2.1. 3D Modeling of the yow structure
The #ow structure submodel is based on the work by
SchoK nfelder et al. (1994). According to the axial solid
volume concentration pro"le, the riser is axially divided
into four di!erent regions. In the bottom region of the
combustion chamber with high solid volume concentrations, a shallow bubbling bed is assumed according to
Svensson et al. (1993). The #ow domain is subdivided
here into a suspension phase and a bubble phase. Both,
the bubble gas and the suspension gas #ow upwards. The
bubble rise velocity, the bubble size, the bubble volume
fraction and the suspension porosity are calculated by
extrapolating the Werther and Wein (1994) bubbling-bed
model to the high gas velocities used in the CFB. The
height of the bottom bed has to be determined from
experimental data. The upper dilute region of the CFB
combustion chamber is subdivided into an upward #owing lean suspension (lean phase) and descending clusters
(dense phase). Both phases may coexist at any position in
the #ow domain, but the volume fraction of the dense
phase is higher in the vicinity of the wall. In order to
account for gas backmixing, it is assumed that the gas of
the dense phase is entrained in the downward direction
by the descending clusters. Upper dilute zone and bottom zone are connected by the splash zone, which has the
same structure as the upper dilute zone but with higher
solid volume concentrations and therefore with higher
solids mass #uxes. The solids of the suspension phase are
accelerated in the splash zone, until they reach the fully
developed zone in the upper part of the riser. Above the
dilute region the exit region is modeled as a simple
continuous stirred-tank reactor with an in"nitesimal
small height.

T. Knoebig et al./Chemical Engineering Science 54 (1999) 2151}2160

2.1.1. The yow structure in the upper dilute zone

The model of the gas}solid #ow in the upper dilute
zone calculates solid volume concentrations of the
phases, gas and solid velocities and volume fractions of
the dense phase. For this purpose, solid and gas balances
are formulated and solved for each phase. Since the
momentum balances are not solved, additional information from measurements is necessary. Following the suggestions by Kruse and Werther (1995), one pair of horizontal pro"les of the up and down #owing solids mass
#uxes measured in the combustion chamber with a suction probe is used as input data. However, the Kruse and
Werther approach has to be extended to derive a complete picture of the 3D distributions of gas and solids
velocities and solids volume concentrations in the upper
dilute zone. Bearing in mind Werdermann's (1992) experimental "ndings, some model assumptions for the
three-dimensional #ow structure in large-scale industrial
plants are now made:
(i) The local #ow variables change signi"cantly in the
wall region of the riser only.
(ii) In the core region of the riser the local #ow variables
are constant.
(iii) The pro"les of the #ow variables in the wall layer are
invariant in the direction parallel to the wall.

2153

zone and the lower end of the upper dilute zone. The
height of the splash zone is iteratively calculated until
the #ow variables at the common boundary between the
upper dilute zone and the splash zone are equal.
2.2. 3D Model mass balances
The convection/dispersion model with reaction formulates the mass balances on a "nite control volume for the
gaseous components involved in the combustion process,
i.e. O , CO, CO , H O and for the char. This results

 
in a set of nine second-order partial di!erential equations for three dimensions which are solved with a discretization method described by Patankar (1989) to
obtain the 3D distributions of the gaseous species and
the char.
In order to keep the computational e!ort within reasonable limits, no enthalpy balance is included in the
model. The cold wall layer in the vicinity of the membrane walls (cf. Werdermann, 1992) is taken into account
by considering a lower temperature in the wall layer than
in the core of the combustion chamber.
The mass balance equations and their supporting correlations are summarized in Table 1.

With these assumptions, the information of one pair of

horizontal solid mass #ux pro"les of the up- and down
#owing solids in the combustion chamber obtained from
suction probe measurements can be extrapolated to
a mass-#ux distribution over the whole lateral cross
section.
The cross-sectional average solid volume concentration which varies with height h can be taken from
pressure drop measurements as suggested by Kruse and
Werther (1995). Alternatively, the solid volume concentration may be assumed to be invariant with height and
can then be estimated with the slip factor criterion suggested by Pugsley and Berruti (1996).

2.2.1. Gas mass balances in the bottom zone

Due to the large cross-sectional area of industrial combustion chambers and because of the very shallow
bottom bed with a height less than 1 m (Svensson et al.,
1993), horizontal gas mixing in the bottom region is
neglected. Thus, vertical convection is the dominating
transport mechanism for the gas. The bubble phase is
assumed to be free from solid particles. The mass exchange coe$cient k between the two phases is calGE
culated according to Sit and Grace (1978). Because of the
increase of bubble size and velocity, the bubble volume
fraction is decreasing with height. This is leading to
a convective exchange #ux between the phases which
is taken into account by introducing the coe$cient
k
.
@X

2.1.2. The yow structure in the splash zone

Basically, the #ow structure in the splash zone is the
same as in the upper dilute zone. However, the average
solid volume fraction is much higher here and its vertical
gradient is signi"cant. The vertical change of the crosssectional average #ow variables in the splash zone
is calculated according to the approach suggested by
Pugsley and Berruti (1996).
The splash zone submodel connects the upper dilute
zone and the bottom zone. The particles are accelerated
in the splash zone by the upward #owing gas, until
they reach the fully developed region in the upper dilute
zone. Hence the boundary conditions for the splash zone
submodel are given by both the upper end of the bottom

2.2.2. Gas mass balances in the upper dilute and splash

zones
The control volume in the upper dilute zone of the
combustion chamber is divided into a dense and a lean
fraction. In contrast to the bottom region, horizontal
dispersion is taken into account here. The dispersion
coe$cient D describing the lateral dispersion #ux is
taken from Kruse et al. (1995). The coe$cient is assumed
to be equal in the x- and y-direction, respectively. The
vertical gas convection #uxes of the dilute and
dense phases have opposite orientations. Since the solid
volume concentration in the dense phase is higher than in
the lean phase, the char carbon concentration may also
be higher in the dense phase. This leads to di!erent reaction rates in both phases and thus to a di!erence in the

2154

T. Knoebig et al./Chemical Engineering Science 54 (1999) 2151}2160

Table 1
Summary of mass balances and supporting correlations
No.
1

Equation

Comment

*((1!e )c )
@ GQ !k a(c !c )!k
c !(1!e )R
Q
GE G@
GQ
@X G@
@ GQ
*h
h"0: c "c
G@


Balance for species i in suspension phase;

boundary condition at gas distributor

*(u!u (1!e )c )
Q
@ G@ #k a(c !c )#k
0"
c !e R
GE G@
GQ
@X G@
@ G@
*h
h"0: c "c
GQ


Balance for species i in bubble phase;

boundary condition at gas distributor

0"u

*(u (1!e (h)))

@
k
(x, y, h)" Q
@X
*h

Convective exchange coe$cient in bottom

zone

*(D(1!f )(1!c ) *c /*x) *(D(1!f )(1!c ) *c /*y)

B
TJ GJ
B
TJ GJ
0"!
!
*x
*y
*(u (1!f )(1!c ) *c ) *(v c ) *(w c )
B
TJ GJ # J GJ # J GJ
# J
*h
*x
*y

Balance for species i in lean phase; boundary

conditions (cN
is the local average of the
GQ@
concentrations of the bubble and suspension
phases at the surface of the bottom bed)

!ka(c !c )#k c !(1!f )R

GB
GJ
 GJ
B GJ
*c
*c
x"0, : GJ"0, y"0, : GJ"0, h"H : c "cN
W *y
@X GJ
GQ@
V *x
5

*(u (h) f (x, y, h)(1!c (h)))

B
TB
k (x, y, h)" B

*h

*(u f (1!c )c )
TB GB #ka(c !c )!k c !f R
0" B B
GB
GJ
 GJ
B GB
*h
h"H: c "cN
GB
G

*(u (1!f )(1!c )) *(u f (1!c )) *v

*w
B
TJ # B B
TB # J# J
0" J
*h
*h
*x
*y
GFFFFFFFHFFFFFFFI
/

Convective exchange coe$cient in splash

and upper dilute zones
Balance for species i in dense phase;
boundary conditions (cN
is the average
G
concentration in the upper stirred tank)

Gas balance over an individual control

volume

*
*

0"Q#
#
, x"0, : "0, y"0, : "0
V *x
W *y
*x *y

Equation of #ow potential

; boundary
conditions

c "o c w , c "o c w , c "o (1!e )w

AJ
N TJ A AB
N TB A AQ
N
Q AQ

Char concentrations written in terms of char

mass fractions

10

*
*
u c o (1!f )w
B AQ
0"D o (1!e )
#
w (x, y)!r(w (x, y))! NJ TJ N
! N
Q *x *y AQ
AQ
H (1!e )
@X
@
u c o f w
! NB TB N B AB
H (1!e )
@X
@
*w
x"0, : AQ"0,
V *x

*w
y"0, : AQ"0
W *y

*(D(1!f ) *w /*y)
*(D(1!f ) *w /*x)
B
A
B
A
!c o
TJ N
*y
*x
*(u (1!f )c w )
*(u f c w )
NJ
B TJ A #o
NB B TB A
#o
N
N
*h
*h
*(v w )
*(w w )
NJ A #o c
NJ A !(1!f )R !f R
#o c
N TJ *x
N TJ *y
B AJ
B AB
*w
*w
x"0, : A"0, y"0, : A"0, h"H : w "w
V *x
W *y
@ A
AQ

Char balance in bottom zone; boundary

conditions; char combustion is denoted by a
sink-term r; at both the coal feed and the
solids return element additional sources have
to be de"ned to account for char entering the
combustor

11

0"!c o
TJ N

Char balance for the lean and the dense phase

in the upper dilute and splash zones;
boundary conditions

12

*c
x"0, : "0
V *x
*c
*c
c
#  !r , r "  ,
0"D
! *x

 t
*y
*c
 y"0, : "0
W *y

Mass balance of volatilable carbon;

boundary conditions; at the coal feed
element additional sources have to be
de"ned considering the volatiles in the feed

T. Knoebig et al./Chemical Engineering Science 54 (1999) 2151}2160

concentrations of the gaseous species, which causes

a mass transfer between the dense and the lean phase.
The mass transfer is governed by the product of the mass
transfer coe$cient k based on unit mass transfer area and
the volume speci"c mass transfer area a between the two
phases. A correlation for k ) a proposed by SchoK nfelder
et al. (1996) was applied in the model calculations.
Since the #ow conditions are changing with height in
the upper dilute zone, a lateral convective exchange #ux
between the dense and the lean phase occurs. Very similar to the bottom zone this convective exchange #ux is
considered in the mass balance by introducing the exchange coe$cient k .

The lateral velocities v and w in the mass balance of
J
J
the lean phase also originate from the variation of the
#ow parameters with height. In particular, the distribution of the upward gas velocity in the lean phase u over
J
the cross-sectional area is changing with height such that
the pro"le is #attening out (Kruse and Werther, 1995).
This change of the velocity distribution together with
changes of the other #ow parameters requires the introduction of lateral convective volumetric #uxes in the xand y-direction, respectively, in order to close the gas
mass balance on the individual control volume. Since the
dense phase is a particulate phase which is dispersed in
the lean phase the lateral convective #ux occurs in
the lean phase only. Considering the area the #uxes are
crossing they can be related to lateral velocities and
the gas balance over an individual control volume can be
written as in Eq. (7), Table 1. After introducing and
solving the equation of the #ow potential
, the velocities
v and w can be calculated as the derivatives of
.
J
J
Between the bottom zone and the splash zone an
intermediate gas mass balance is formulated to connect
regions with di!erent #ow structures.
2.2.3. Char mass balance in the bottom zone
For the char in the shallow bottom bed, complete
vertical mixing is assumed, which reduces the system in
the bottom region to two dimensions.
Char is entering the bottom bed with the feed coal but
also from the solid return leg with the recycled solids
from the cyclone. The char is distributed over the crosssectional area by horizontal dispersion. The lateral solids
dispersion coe$cient D is taken from the correlation by
!
Bellgardt and Werther (1986). Originally derived from
measurements in #uidized beds operating at low super"cial velocities its application to CFB conditions is certainly an extrapolation.
At both the coal feed point and the solids return point
no convective #ows are considered. Instead the coal and
char, respectively, are assumed to be distributed via dispersion into the combustor. In the case of the solids
return element any contribution of the in-#owing ash to
the local state of #uidization in the bottom zone has been
neglected.

2155

2.2.4. Char mass balance in the upper dilute and splash

zones
It is assumed that the char is #owing up- and downwards with the same velocity as the bed material in the
lean phase and the dense phase, respectively. Since no
information about the char mass transfer between the
phases is available, a further assumption is necessary. As
a "rst approximation, it is assumed that the char weight
fraction w of the bed material is the same in both phases.
A
The solids dispersion coe$cient is assumed to be the
same as for the gas.
2.3. Kinetic model
The kinetic model as it is used here considers devolatilization and char combustion in a rather simple way, i.e.
neither the coal feed particle distribution nor e!ects of
fragmentation and attrition are considered.
2.3.1. The volatile release model
Volatiles are entering the combustor with the feed coal
particles. They are released while these particles are dispersed in the bed. In agreement with other authors
(Adanez et al., 1995; Stenseng et al., 1997) it is assumed
that the volatiles are released in the bottom zone of the
CFB only. The volatiles are released during the devolatilization time t
which may be calculated according to

Pillai (1981).
Each coal particle which contains at a given time
t(t
still some volatile matter is a source of volatiles.

If we consider an element dx dy H in the bottom zone it
@X
will contain a certain mass of carbon bound in the form
of volatile matter in the coal particles which may be used
to de"ne a concentration c of volatilable carbon based

on the unit bottom zone volume. The local rate of release
of volatilized carbon per unit bottom zone volume is then
assumed to be proportional to c .

It is assumed that the volatile carbon is immediately
upon its release converted to CO, i.e. the sink term
r in the volatile release balance corresponds to a

source term in the CO mass balance. This is again a
simplifying assumption which implies, of course, that
su$cient oxygen is locally available for the CO
formation.
2.3.2. Char combustion
The char combustion rate at each control volume is
calculated from (cf. Bellgardt et al., 1987).
r "!k M c c .
A
K! A A -

(13)

The oxygen consumption caused by char combustion is

described by
R
"!k
cc .
- 
K- A -

(14)

2156

T. Knoebig et al./Chemical Engineering Science 54 (1999) 2151}2160

For the CO and CO production by char combustion we


have
R
"2(k !k )c c .
(15)
!- 
K!
K- A -
(16)
"(2k !k )c c .
R
K! A -
K-
!- 
According to experimental "ndings by Hembach (1991)
the ratio k
/k
is as a very "rst approximation asK- K!
sumed to be constant with a numerical value of 0.8. CO
may be further oxidized to CO . The reaction rate for CO

oxidation is taken from Bellgardt et al. (1987) who adjusted the rate expression suggested by Howard et al.
(1973) to the conditions in a #uidized bed combustor.

3. Results and discussion

3.1. Application of the model to the Chalmers university
CFB boiler
The model has been used to simulate the geometry and
the operating conditions of the 12 MW CFB boiler

operated by the Chalmers University of Technology,
GoK teborg/Sweden. The combustor which is described in
detail elsewhere (e.g. A> mand and Leckner, 1988) has
a square cross-sectional area of 1.6;1.6 m and a total
height of 13.5 m. Fuel is injected from one side into the
bottom part of the furnace. From the opposite side recycled bed material which still contains unburned char is
returned into the riser (Fig. 1).
The operating conditions were taken from Zhang
(1992) with u"6.3 m/s, G "31.9 kg/(m s), oxygen conQ
tent in #ue gas 3.5 vol%, combustion temperature 8503C
and a total riser pressure drop *p "6000 Pa. The
 
characteristics of the bituminous coal used, i.e. proximate
and ultimate analysis were taken from A> mand and Leckner (1994). They found that the carbon content in the bed
material at the riser exit was about 1 wt%.
In order to demonstrate the e!ects of coal feed and
solids return arrangement the present calculations were
restricted to the case of single-stage combustion where all
the combustion air is entering the combustor through the

Fig. 1. The CFB combustor operated by the Chalmers University of

Technology, GoK teborg/Sweden.

gas distributor. The simulation of two-stage combustion

which is the standard operating mode for utility boilers
requires the additional consideration of the injection of
secondary air into the riser the modeling of which is
subject of ongoing work.
The mass balances of the gaseous species and the char
were solved simultaneously using the "nite-volume
method. For this purpose the riser was subdivided into
288 000 control volumes: 180 slices in vertical direction,
each slice containing 40;40 cells in the horizontal. One
solution of the balances in the combustion chamber
requires a computational time of approximately 2.5 h on
a HP Exemplar S Class (SPP-2000) computer. Since the
simulations contain an iterative determination of the
mass #ux of recycled char the total calculation time for
one operating condition may exceed 12 h.
In the present case no information was available about
the numerical value of k . However, the char mass
K!
fraction at the combustor exit, w
, could be calculated
A 
from the information given by A> mand and Leckner
(1994) about the measured char content in the bed material at the cyclone entry. The unknown rate constant
k
was iteratively "tted such that the calculated char
K!
mass fraction at the riser exit matched the measured one.
A numerical value of k "2.2 m/(kg s) was obtained
K!
for the operating temperature of 8503C.
Fig. 2 shows the release rate of volatiles and the char
concentration distribution in the plane A (cf. Fig. 1)
which is located at a height of 0.55 m above the distributor, i.e. at the upper end of the bottom zone. In the left
part of this "gure the two-dimensional distribution of
carbon released per unit time and per unit reactor volume in the form of volatiles is plotted. According to our
simplifying assumption that the carbon in volatiles is
immediately converted to CO the 2D distribution of
carbon sources from the volatilization process is equivalent to a 2D distribution of CO sources. This calculation
has been performed with a devolatilization time

Fig. 2. Release of volatiles and char concentration distribution on

plane A, (F"coal feed, R"inlet of solids return line; r

min 0.03 kg/(m s), max 0.5 kg/(m s), linear spacing of iso-lines; char
carbon min 7.7 kg/m, max 51 kg/m, linear spacing between iso-lines).

T. Knoebig et al./Chemical Engineering Science 54 (1999) 2151}2160

2157

t
"10 s. The non-uniformity of the distribution of

the volatile release lies just between the two extremes of
the instantaneous devolatilization at the feed point which
is underlying the &&plume''-model by Park et al. (1980) and
the uniform distribution over the riser's cross-sectional
area. It should be noted here that the further combustion
of the released volatiles depends on the local bed temperature. If the bed has not a homogenous temperature as
assumed in the model the calculated gas pro"les may
di!er from the reality.
In the right part of Fig. 2 the char carbon concentration distribution is plotted. Not unexpectedly, we observe
a local maximum at the coal feed point. A second, and
much larger maximum exists at the inlet of the bed solids
recycle. It is obvious that a lot of char is recycled with the
cyclone ash. However, the appearance of the maximum is
due to the particular way of the description of the char
recycle in the model: the model ignores that a mixture of
char and ash is #owing into the combustor at the solids
recycle. This will in reality lead to mixing of bed suspension with recycled material details of which are not
known at present. In particular, the magnitude of possible horizontal convective #ows is not known. The
model assumes a dispersion of the char from the solids
recycle point and this leads automatically to the occurrence of the maximum of char concentration. In addition,
the amount of recycled char is a!ected by the collection
e$ciency of the cyclone. The model assumes in a very

"rst approach a collection e$ciency of 100%. In reality

carbon will be lost with the #ue gas lowering further the
amount of recycled char and thus the char concentration
near the solids return point.
Fig. 3 shows the concentration distributions of O and

CO, respectively, in the planes A and B, the latter being
located at the height of the cyclone inlet at 11 m (cf.
Fig. 1). The release and conversion of the volatiles as well
as the char combustion lead to a strong oxygen consumption at both, the local feed point and at the inlet of
the solids return which is re#ected in the plot of the plane
A. Two minima of the oxygen concentration occur as
a consequence the location of which is identical to the
occurrence of local CO maxima. It is particularly the

Fig. 3. O and CO distributions on plane A (below) and plane


B (above) for the reference case, (linear spacing between iso-lines for O ,

logarithmic spacing for CO; plane A: O min 0.5 vol%, max 10 vol%,

CO min 0.94 vol%, max 6 vol%; plane B: O min 0.15 vol%,

max 6.6 vol%, CO min 0.018 vol%, max 1.13 vol%).

Fig. 4. O and CO distributions on plane A (below) and plane


B (above) for two-fold increase of boiler capacity by doubling the width
of the combustor, (plane A: O min 0 vol%, max 14.5 vol%,

CO min 0.70 vol%, max 9.7 vol%; plane B: O min 0 vol%,

max 11.2 vol%, CO min 0.01 vol%, max 9.44 vol%).

2158

T. Knoebig et al./Chemical Engineering Science 54 (1999) 2151}2160

vicinity of the coal feed point where very large CO values

are observed. As is seen from the concentration distributions in the plane B the basic non-uniformity which is
created through the pointwise feeding of coal and recycled char remains throughout the riser. The non-uniform CO distribution which reveals the existence of a CO
plume which extends from the bottom to the top may be
critical with respect to the CO emissions of the boiler.
For example, German regulations require the CO emissions to remain below 250 mg/m (day's average, standard conditions, dry basis) which corresponds to
0.020 vol% CO. In the present case at the exit of the riser
this limit cannot be matched and one has to rely on
a su$cient destruction rate in the cyclone.
3.2. Results of parameter variations
The model enables to check the in#uence of operating
and geometry parameters on the performance of the
combustor. An important question in the design of CFB
combustors is the minimum number of feed points which
is required to distribute a given coal mass #ow over
a given cross-sectional area of the combustion chamber.
Fig. 4 presents the results of a simulation where the bed
area was doubled by simply extending two side walls by
a factor of two. Coal feed rate and air mass #ow were
doubled, too, while all other parameters remained unchanged. The result is a strong CO plume which leads to
an increase of the averaged CO-concentration at the inlet
of the cyclone from 0.032 vol% in the reference case

described above to a value of 0.180 vol%. Obviously, one

coal feed point serving 5.12 m of bed area is not enough
from the emission viewpoint with the present riser height.
In order to oxidize the CO in the plume further a much
higher combustion chamber would be required.
Fig. 5 shows the results of a similar calculation where
only the two other sides of the combustor were extended
by a factor of two. Basically the same e!ect as above is
observed which leads to a CO concentration at the inlet
of the cyclone of 0.217 vol%.
In some industrial CFB combustors the coal feed is
introduced into the solids return line between the siphon
and the riser. The coal and the unburned char in the
recycled bed material are then entering the combustor at
the same point. As it is demonstrated by the results of the
respective calculation depicted in Fig. 6 the added e!ects
of the release of volatiles and the combustion of char
create a strong plume in the vicinity of the inlet of the
solids return line which increases the CO concentration
at the cyclone inlet to about 0.419 vol%. Although introducing the feed coal into the solids return line may
present operational and construction cost advantages
this practice appears not to be advisable from the emissions point of view.

4. Conclusions
In the present work a semi-empirical approach was
chosen to describe the three-dimensional mixing and

Fig. 5. O and CO distributions on plane A (below) and plane B (above) for two-fold increase of boiler capacity by doubling the length of the

combustor, (plane A: O min 0 vol%, max 12.2 vol%, CO min 0.84 vol%, max 10.6 vol%; plane B: O min 0 vol%, max 9.3 vol%,


CO min 0.016 vol%, max 10.2 vol%).

T. Knoebig et al./Chemical Engineering Science 54 (1999) 2151}2160

D
A
f
B
G
Q
h
H
H
@X
k
k

k
GE
k
K!
Fig. 6. O and CO distributions on plane A (below) and plane

B (above) for introduction of the coal feed into the return line, (plane A:
O min 0 vol%, max 12.1 vol%, CO min 0.80 vol%, max 9.52 vol%;

plane B: O min 0 vol%, max 8.6 vol%, CO min 0.024 vol%,

max 10.8 vol%).

combustion of coal in a circulating #uidized bed riser

with rectangular cross section. The model enables the
e!ects of geometry and operating parameters on the
three-dimensional distribution of gaseous and solid species inside the combustion chamber to be examined. The
application of the model is illustrated by simulating the
12 MW CFB boiler operated by the Chalmers Univer
sity of Technology. The calculations demonstrate the
strong e!ect of gas and solids mixing on gaseous emissions of the combustor.
The model is intended to serve as a basis for future
NO, N O and SO emission modeling. This task is being


undertaken within the framework of a project founded
by the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC)
by a joint e!ort of the authors' group together with
groups from Finland (Prof. Hupa), Sweden (Prof.
Leckner), Denmark (Prof. Dam-Johanssen) and Portugal
(Dr. Gulyurtlu).

c
c
A
c
T
c


W
*p
 
Q
r
r

R
t

u
u

v
w
w
A
x
y

interfacial mass transfer area based on reactor volume, m/m

concentration, kmol/m
char concentration, kg/m
solid volume concentration, dimensionless
concentration of volatilable carbon per unit

reactor volume, kg/m

coe$cient of dispersion in the x- and y-directions for gas and solids in upper dilute and
splash zones, m/s
lateral dispersion coe$cient for solids in the
bottom bed, m/s
volume fraction of the dense phase, dimensionless
external solid mass #ux based on reactor
cross-sectional area, kg/m/s
height above gas distributor, m
total riser height, m
height of dense bottom region, m
coe$cient of mass transfer between dense and
lean phase, m/s
coe$cient of convective exchange between
phases, 1/s
coe$cient of mass transfer between bubble
and suspension phase for species i, m/s
overall reaction rate constant for char combustion, m/kg/s
overall reaction rate constant for oxygen consumption, m/kg/s
length of riser in the x-direction, m
width of riser in the y-direction, m
total pressure drop over riser, Pa
source term, Eq. (8), 1/s
char consumption rate, Eq. (10), kg/m/s
release rate of volatilized carbon, Eq. (12),
kg/m/s
reaction rate, kmol/m/s
time, s
temperature, K
vertical velocity, m/s
super"cial gas velocity, m/s
horizontal velocity component (x-direction),
m/s
horizontal velocity component (y-direction),
m/s
char mass fraction of bed material, dimensionless
coordinate, m
coordinate, m

Greek letters
e
e
@

Notation
a

k
K-

2159

o
N

porosity, dimensionless
bubble volume fraction in the bottom bed,
dimensionless
apparent solid density, kg/m
#ow potential function, m/s

Indices
b
bz

bubble phase
bottom zone

2160

c
conv
d
h
i
in
l
p
s
t
vol
x
y

T. Knoebig et al./Chemical Engineering Science 54 (1999) 2151}2160

char
convective
dense phase
in the h direction
number of species
inlet
lean phase
particle
suspension phase
top of riser
volatiles
in the x direction
in the y direction

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