Detailed modelling of a flue-gas desulfurisation plant

This paper presents a CFD model for a flue-gas desulfurisation plant, and its application to an operating plant. The FGD plant is of the wet-scrubber type, with co-current and counter-current sections. The sorbent used is limestone, and, after cleaning the flue gases, the limestone slurry is collected in an oxidation tank for the production of gypsum. The model uses an Eulerian-Eulerian treatment of the multiphase flow in the absorber and the tank. The essential mass-transfer mechanisms (such as SO2 and O-2 absorption and CO2 desorption) are accounted for, as are also the main chemical kinetics leading to the formation of gypsum. Given the different nature of the flow in the absorber and tank, two separate simulations are conducted for each of these domains, and the solutions are iteratively coupled through boundary conditions during the calculations. The model is applied to the FGD plant of the Teruel powerstation located in Andorra (Teruel, Spain). The powerstation is fired with a high-sulfur coal (up to 4.5 percent), and the FGD system has been designed for a desulfurisation capacity of 1.4 million N m(3)/hr for a desulfurisation efficiency in excess of 90 percent. Validation of the model is conducted by comparison with available plant data for two design coals and two desulfurisation efficiencies. The model accuracy is reasonable, given the complexity of the aero/hydrodynamical and thermo-chemical phenomena involved. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.