Modeling and simulation of fixed bed adsorption column using integrated CFD approach

The understanding of detailed fluid flow in the fixed bed adsorption column is substantially crucial since the mass and heat transfer in the bed is influenced by the column hydrodynamics. In this study, an integrated CFD model was developed to model and simulate the adsorption dynamics and hydrodynamics of gaseous fluid (CH, and CO2 mixture) in the fixed bed adsorption column. The developed integrated model was used to determine the CO2 concentration factor at the column (which indicating the CO2 adsorption capacity) as a function of time, based on different operating conditions. The simulated results were compared with experimental data and found to give a good agreement with error less than 2.5%. The effect of various influencing parameters such as feed velocity, bed porosity and feed concentration were studied to investigate their influences on the CO2 adsorption capacity. Besides, the effect of inlet CO2 concentration on the bed temperature profile was also studied in the present study. © 2010 Asian Network for Scientific Information.