Numerical simulations of fluidized bed reactor for adsorption cooling and desalination systems

Due to its numerous advantages, fluidization is a process employed across various industrial sectors. It ensures the effective mixing of materials, maintains a constant temperature, and facilitates intensive heat and mass exchange between the fluid and solid particles. Fluidization is most commonly used in drying, heating, cooling, and freezing processes. It has found significant application in the energy industry, where it is employed in specialized fluidized bed boiler furnaces. Since cutting-edge fluidized bed applications are adsorption cooling and desalination systems, the paper presents numerical simulations of the hydrodynamics of a fluidized bed under low-pressure conditions. The specialized CeSFaMB software for fluidized beds was used during the study. The simulator has undergone rigorous testing and has been successfully validated multiple times on real research units. Experimental research was conducted at the Intensified Heat Transfer Adsorption Bed (IHTAB) research unit at Jan Długosz University in Czestochowa. The tests were conducted under low-pressure conditions (1000-2500Pa) at 25°C. A pressure difference induced the fluidization process. A detailed analysis of the fluidized bed's hydrodynamic parameters is of particular practical importance because factors such as the rising velocity of bubbles or the porosity of the fluidized bed significantly impact heat transfer within the bed. As a result, this influences the efficiency of adsorption cooling and desalination systems. Moreover, the study revealed a maximum relative error of 9.3% between the experimental results and numerical simulations, highlighting robust performance in simulating the bubbling fluidized bed.