Numerical Investigation of Integrated Design on Uniform Fluid Distribution for Radial Flow Adsorber

Non-uniform distribution of air in radial flow adsorber restricts the development of large-scale air separation units (ASUs). The cross-sectional areas of central and annular channels, bed porosity and structure parameters of distributor in central channel are summarized as the main factors affecting the distribution performance of adsorber. Effects of these three primary factors in flow distribution are investigated using computational fluid dynamics (CFD). Considering the coupling relationship between adsorption and regeneration processes of adsorber, a comprehensive optimization scheme is proposed. It concludes that, the optimal design of cross-sectional diameters of central and annular channels is 0.25 and 0.86 m, and the adsorption and regeneration uniformity can reach 95.36 and 94.81%, respectively. Moreover, with the decrease of bed porosity, pressure drop uniformity and static pressure will rise, and the reasonable range of porosity should be between 0.2 and 0.3. Finally, it is proved that the uniformity of adsorption and regeneration can be simultaneously improved by adjusting the structural parameters of the bottom distributor, and results show that the uniformity of adsorption and regeneration can increase by 0.29 and 2.30%, respectively.