Modelado de un intercambiador de calor para planta piloto de lecho en surtidor

Abstract

Although the spouted bed technology was first developed for drying of granulate solids, it has been used for thermal processes such as pyrolysis, gasification, combustion and drying of suspensions. The temperature and air flow rates of these processes vary in a wide range. Thus, the present work aims designing and modelling a versatile heat exchanger for the implementation of a gas burner into a multi-purpose spouted bed technology based pilot plant. Design procedure begins with the estimation of the temperature of the combustion gases in the burner, which has been validated by means of literature references. This value is used together with maximum pressure for material selection and design parameters. Considering the operation conditions for all the applications, the exchange area for heat transfer has been established for maximum energy requirement, 800 Nm3/h and 450 ºC, which gives the dimensions of the heat exchanger. The dynamic model involves the estimation of the overall heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop. Thus, the model has been used for simulating different fuels, air flow rates and heat exchange areas in order to assess that any application considered can be carried out in the pilot plant.