CFD Modeling and Experimental Validation of Sulfur Trioxide Decomposition in Bayonet Type Heat Exchanger and Chemical Decomposer for Different Packed Bed Designs

Authors

Vijaisri Nagarajan, University of Nevada, Las VegasFollow
Valery Ponyavin, University of Nevada, Las VegasFollow
Yitung Chen, University of Nevada, Las VegasFollow
Milton E. Vernon, Albuquerque, NMFollow
Paul Pickard, Albuquerque, NM
Anthony Hechanova, University of Nevada, Las VegasFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

3-2009

Publication Title

International Journal of Hydrogen Energy

Volume

34

Issue

6

First page number:

2543

Last page number:

2557

Abstract

The growth of global energy demand during the 21st century, combined with the necessity to master greenhouse gas emissions has lead to the introduction of a new and universal energy carrier: hydrogen. The Department of Energy (DOE) Nuclear Hydrogen Initiative was investigating thermochemical cycles for hydrogen production using high-temperature heat exchangers. In this study a three-dimensional computational model of high-temperature heat exchanger and decomposer for decomposition of sulfur trioxide by the sulfur–iodine thermochemical water-splitting cycle with different packed bed designs has been done. The decomposer region of the bayonet heat exchanger also called as silicon carbide integrated decomposer (SID) is designed as the packed bed region. Cylindrical, spherical, cubical and hollow cylindrical pellets have been arranged inside the packed bed. The engineering design of the packed bed was very much influenced by the structure of the packing matrix, which was governed by the shape, dimension and the loading of the constituent particles. Staggered and regular packing methods are used for packing the pellets in the packed bed region. The numerical model is created using GAMBIT and fluid, thermal and chemical analyses were performed using FLUENT. The decomposition percentage of sulfur trioxide is found for the packed bed region with different pellets and the numerical results obtained is compared with the experimental results. A comparison is made for the decomposition percentage of SO₃ for the packed bed approach and the porous media approach.

Keywords

Bayonet heat exchanger; Decomposition (Chemistry); Heat exchangers; Hydrogen as fuel; Hydrogen production; Packed bed design; Sulfur Trioxide; Sulfuric acid decomposition; SI thermochemical cycle

Disciplines

Energy Systems | Engineering | Heat Transfer, Combustion | Mechanical Engineering | Oil, Gas, and Energy

Language

English

Permissions

Use Find in Your Library, contact the author, or interlibrary loan to garner a copy of the item. Publisher policy does not allow archiving the final published version. If a post-print (author's peer-reviewed manuscript) is allowed and available, or publisher policy changes, the item will be deposited.

Repository Citation

Nagarajan, V., Ponyavin, V., Chen, Y., Vernon, M. E., Pickard, P., Hechanova, A. (2009). CFD Modeling and Experimental Validation of Sulfur Trioxide Decomposition in Bayonet Type Heat Exchanger and Chemical Decomposer for Different Packed Bed Designs. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 34(6), 2543-2557.