CFD simulations of polymer devolatilization in steam contactors

Removal of volatiles and other unwanted products in a polymer mix is a critical step in polymer manufacturing. This process serves many purposes, such as improvement in the physical and chemical properties of the polymer, elimination of odours, recovery of monomers and solvents, and fulfilment of environmental regulations. In this study, the mixture of polymer and solvent, or cement, is mixed with superheated steam which causes the unwanted solvent to evaporate. As the cement droplets lose solvent and dry out, they are ejected as cement 'crumb' from the mixing device. This process is modelled using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to gain insight into the complex phenomena. The model simulates the heat transfer and phase changes associated with cement and steam, via 3D axisymmetric calculations. Using an Eulerian-Lagrangian approach, the superheated steam is modelled as the continuous phase and tracked in an Eulerian frame, while the cement droplets are treated using a Lagrangian tracking method, thus as a whole allowing us to track the particle sizes, temperatures, and solvent content. Furthermore, a parametric study is carried out to analyse the effect of initial polymer temperature on final polymer product. The simulation is carried out with three different initial polymer temperatures and the resulting solvent concentration, and the size of the cement particles between the three cases are compared. By increasing the cement operating temperature, the solvent concentration in the cement crumb is significantly lower, and the final cement crumb sizes shows a slight decrease, which indicates better production performance. Indeed, full 3D CFD calculations, presented to verify the axisymmetric assumption, show differences in the particle statistics, which could have implications for design considerations. Such studies can provide further insights into control parameters that can potentially enhance the efficiency of such a manufacturing process.