Iranian Journal of Chemical Engineering (IJChE)

Abstract In the current research, heat transfer within a pilot scale shell and tube heat exchanger is investigated. The heat exchanger consist of a shell and five copper tubes. Water as the cold stream and Boehmite-water nanofluid as the hot stream passes through the shell and tube side, respectively. The effect of nanofluid concentration (0.35, 0.7, and 1.5 %wt.), volume flowrate of the cold stream (0.6, 3, and 6 L/min), and the inlet temperature of the hot stream (40, 50, 60  were investigated on the overall heat transfer coefficient. Moreover, the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling of heat transfer within the pilot scale was performed to study the hydrodynamics of flow inside the heat exchanger. The experimental results and CFD predictions indicates that as the concentration of the nanofluid increases, the overall heat transfer coefficient will increase. This can be attributed to higher thermal conductivity of nanoparticles and the Brownian motion of the particles in the base fluid. Moreover, when the volume flowrate of the fluid increases, Reynolds number will increase, which cause the convection heat transfer coefficient and consequently the overall heat transfer coefficient to be enhanced. Also, at higher inlet temperature of the hot fluid, higher overall heat transfer coefficient was resulted. The maximum deviation between the overall heat transfer coefficients evaluated base on the CFD predictions and its value based on experimental measurements was 16.7%. This proves the ability of CFD technique in pursuing the experimental data. CFD simulation provide a meaningful knowledge about the hydrodynamics of each stream in the heat exchanger, which help us to optimize the performance of heat exchanger.

Abstract In this paper, CFD modeling of ferrofluid convection heat transfer in a micromixer with static magnetic field (SMF) and rotating magnetic field (RMF) is investigated. Applying a magnetic field and the existence of magnetic nanoparticles lead to the creation of transverse vortices in the micromixers by movement of nanoparticles, that improves heat transfer. There is a cylindrical pit in the microcmixer with heat source that is applied to its bottom wall. Top wall of the pit is adjacent to a fixed permanent magnet, which creates the SMF. CFD modeling first is done for heat transfer process in the micromixer in the absence of the magnetic field. Secondly, simultaneous effect of the SMF and magnetic nanoparticles on the flow pattern and heat transfer rate of ferrofluid is evaluated. Results showed that ferrofluid leads to the improvement of the heat transfer rate compared to pure water. The secondary flows induced by nanoparticles’ motion toward SMF decreases the velocity in the area of application of the magnetic field, so the heat transfer coefficient decreases. But, in the case of RMF, applying the magnetic field causes the nanoparticles to rotate inside the pit, which leads to an increase in the heat transfer coefficient. CFD results of heat transfer coefficient are compared with experimental results in a reliable reference and acceptable agreement between them is observed.

Abstract A new approach is proposed to evaluate various designs for gas-solid cyclone separators. This approach uses single-phase flow simulation results to find a quantitative measure of flow symmetry in a given cyclone. Flow symmetry is computed by averaging imbalances of   non-axial velocities throughout the cyclone. Using this approach, two standard design methods are evaluated and the cyclone with a more symmetric flow pattern is chosen as a starting point for further design improvements by reducing the diameter of its vortex finder. Two-phase computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations compute 90.2 % collection efficiency for the improved design. CFD simulations reveal using a cascade of four cyclones results in an overall 99.98 % collection efficiency. Once installed in the actual industrial setting, the cyclone cascade achieves a 98.56 % collection efficiency and a particle size distribution which is in good agreement with CFD computed results.

Abstract Reverse osmosis is a commonly used process in water desalination. Due to the scarcity of freshwater resources and wastewater problems, a lot of theory and experimental studies have been conducted to optimize this process. In the present study, the performance of reverse osmosis membrane module of salt–water separation was simulated based on computational fluid dynamics technique and solution-diffusion theory. Eight geometries of membrane modules four flat sheets, and four tubular membranes were investigated. It was found that if the membrane surface area and inlet flow rate were kept constant for the eight modules, the pressure drop and permeated flow rate would be approximately similar for some geometries (such as the performance of primary flat sheet channel is same as 3 tubular membranes with R=1/3 Rref). The results also showed that because of the phenomenon of concentration polarization, if it is possible to use more membranes with a smaller length, it can reduce the pressure drop and increase the permeation flux of water. Furthermore, the results showed that in similar conditions between the tubular and the plate membranes; the tubular one is more suitable for the water permeation due to its ease of construction and its ability to withstand ECP.

Abstract The high silica Mn-substituted MFI metallosilicate catalyst with Si/Al molar ratio of 220 and Si/Mn molar ratio of 50 was successfully synthesized by hydrothermal method. The catalyst sample was appropriately characterized by XRD, FE-SEM, EDX and BET techniques. The Mn-substituted MFI metallosilicate has not been reported as the potential catalyst for the methanol to propylene (MTP) reaction. The prepared catalyst was examined in the MTP reaction at the optimal operating conditions. Furthermore, for elucidating the flow field of the MTP fixed bed reactor, a three-dimensional (3D) reactor model was developed. A detailed reaction mechanism which was proposed for the MTP reaction over the Mn-impregnated MFI zeolite (Mn/H-ZSM-5) was properly employed. The reaction mechanism was integrated to a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) for simulating the kinetic, the energy equation and the hydrodynamics of the MTP process, simultaneously. The component distribution during proceeding of the MTP reaction was also simulated as a function of time on stream. The CFD modeling results were validated by the actual data which were obtained over the Mn-substituted MFI metallosilicate catalyst. With regard to the findings, the experimental data were in good agreement with the predicted values of the CFD modeling.